Second leak from upstairs flat!! Who is reaponsible

[Sundaycoffee]

I moved into my ground floor maisonette 2 years ago and spent a great amount of money redecorating the whole place. 3 months later a leak from the upstairs bathroom caused a huge brown stain all over my hallway ceiling and down the wall. The upstairs landlord (the flat is tenanted) got someone round to fix this. They told me there were gaps in the sealant around the bath causing water to leak through. They "fixed" it and I redecorated at my own expense all over again. (They didn't offer to fix my ruined hallway)
The walls and ceiling were freshly lined as i couldnt afford to replaster, so I had to pay someone to remove all the damaged paper, wait for the damp to dry out, reline the ceiling and wall and then paint. So not just a quick paint job.
This weekend (a year later) I come home from a weekend away to see the same leak has reoccurred. Obviously I'm now pissed off and I am wondering who is liable here?
I have already paid out once to get my flat redecorated. Other threads tell me I should be claiming on my insurance but I don't see why I should have to pay excess and premiums for something that isn't my fault.
Particularly as this is the second time this has happened. The landlord of the upstairs flat has clearly just done a cheapo fix which hasn't lasted.
Why should I be paying out on excess and insurance premiums (potentially each year if the fix continues to be temporary) just because they only want to spend a tenner on a tube of sealant and call it a day?
Where do I go from here and should they be liable for fixing this?

I would say that the landlord of the flat above would need to claim off their insurance to make good the damage in your flat. Especially as this is the second time. You may need to get quotes to satisfy their insurance company but I would definitely be handing them the bill.

Landlord upstairs is liable. Give them a quote for repairs and claim off their insurance.

You need to speak to your insurers. They will deal with the landlord and their insurers. The alternative, as you have said, is to keep paying to redecorate out of your own pocket.

You claim off your buildings insurance who claim off their building insurance. It’s a bugger as your renewal will go up and there will be an excess. On the upside they will probably strip it back and re plaster for you.

Your other option is to say to the landlord that it was such an expensive job last time that you will have to go through insurance this time unless he wants to pay £x himself. £x would be the cost of both jobs tbh.

See this is what I don't understand. Why should I have to pay an excess and premiums. What if this happens every year? My insurance keeps going up and up and pay loads in excess and all they have to pay for is a cheapo bodge quick fix that costs them nothing? And there's nothing I can do about it?

Or do they also have to pay an excess?

You should claim of upstairs landlord

I was landlord to a flat that leaked into downstairs. My insurance paid for everything for downstairs. Absolutely you don't have to pay out yourself

You don’t have to contact your insurance.

write the “dear sir unless” letter and if they don’t pay up file an action for damages in the small claims court against the upstairs tenant for negligence.

Good to know!!

Your insurance company should be able to recover the excess from their insurance company or small claims as it's very straight forward. His premium will also go up. Hugely if it happens again. It is freehold? My friend had a leasehold and one neighbour flooded another three times. The buildings insurance policy for the block went up massively including for the person being flooded.

Interesting. So is the negligence down to the tenant rather than the landlord? I assumed it was the landlords responsibility to upkeep their property but I suppose if the tenants are reporting broken grout/ sealant they wouldn't know....
The whole property is run down and I just don't think the landlord wants to put any money into it. She tried to sell it earlier this year and the photos of the bathroom you could clearly see mould/mildew and it looked like there was no grouting between the tiles whatsoever. The tenants have two boisterous primary school aged boys who I am told like to splash in the bath 🙄
They are a family of 4 in a one bed flat so I'm sure the property must be under stress

If it’s a flat do you not have a management company who arrange your buildings insurance?

We have a property management company but pay no service charges as its a maisonette. I already pay over £700 a year for my buildings insurance so just concerned about how much more this will rise if I have to claim. I appreciate thats the point of having insurance, but just seems very unfair when it's only because the upper flat landlord only do bodge fixes that only last short term.
I have reached out to them so waiting to hear back

Argh I've been in the same boat as you @Sundaycoffee i have a ground floor flat. Upstairs flat is rented out (managed by letting agent) - landlord is mortgage free & has left the flat to rot. We've had 6 leaks in 4 years, 4 from flat above 2 from flat above the one above (weird configuration). It's a nightmare. We have buildings insurance which we all pay into. But we've reached a point that we can't claim anymore for escape of water because they won't unsure us. First leak above was from faulty bathroom pipe, landlord agreed to pay the excess for the insurance claim. 2nd time it happened, water came through and the letting agents managing the property above took 4 days to send someone to fix it by which point my ceiling collapsed. It had been a slow leak from the bathroom that built up over time. Again went through insurance, asked landlord to cover costs. 3rd time upstairs have a balcony over our lounge bay window, tenant upstairs was keeping buckets of water on it and tipped one over the balcony which came through our ceiling. Landlord above said that balcony was part of the communal areas of the exterior of the property and basically made all 4 of the other flat owners pay to get him a brand new balcony. Nothing we could do because we wanted it fixed. Every 6 months we have a leak because it's an old property rented out and with landlords that only care about how much money they make, not about maintaining the property.

Hard to know whose negligence is responsible. You could throw the sueball at both jointly, and hope that between them they sort it out. Or let them both explain to the court why it’s the other’s fault.

You’d probably have to pay for the repairs first, but if you give them the opportunity to examine the damage first, take pictures, because you’re going to have it repaired and pursue them the for the costs, they can’t complain later.

I think it’s pretty significant this is the second instance.

It'll be the same buildings insurance policy for the freehold, to which you all contribute. So, whether the landlord claims or you claim, the cost of the premium may go up.

Are you two the only leaseholders?

Yes just an up and down maisonette. So the buildings insurance will just be one policy with the cost split between us?