Is there a way to navigate this without falling out with my neighbours? Leak related

[Beedeeoh]

For the last 2.5 weeks a damp patch has appeared and grown rapidly on the shared internal upstairs wall separating my house from next door neighbours. Their bathroom is on the other side of the wall. On my side it is the landing wall. In that time the patch has gone from nothing to around 1.5 square ft size and part of it is now black mould.

As soon as it appeared I had a plumber visit who checked the pipes on my side and concluded what I already suspected, that there is no problem on my side and it's coming from the neighbours' house. He actually tried to go round to speak to them but unfortunately they weren't in.

I then spent a week running around after my neighbours trying to get them to come and have a look. Twice they gave me a time they would come round then didn't turn up. I had to go round twice more before the husband finally came. He couldn't have been less interested but told me their shower is on the other side of the wall and he'd "have a look at it". (I couldn't help lamenting being a single woman, I felt completely dismissed).

That was over a week ago and since then, radio silence. I haven't heard anything to suggest they have done a single thing. I'm now quite angry and in the mood to go round to have strong words in the morning but I can be unnecessarily hot headed, plus we've all lived here for over a decade and I've never had a problem with them (or any sort of relationship with them at all really).

I suppose this is a What Would You Do? question, is there a better course of action than me losing my temper?

Chase them in writing asking for a date for remedy of the issue, and that the longer they leave it the more damage will be caused.
Ask for their home insurance details to arrange the remedial works. Be polite but factual and firm.

Oh, it hadn't even occurred to me that it would be a claim on their insurance. Can I ask how that would work in practice, would their insurer speak to me?

Thank you for the calm advice. I have the wife's number so can message her.

When this happens, you have to make a claim on YOUR insurance. But then if the incident is caused by next door then your insurance will claim off their insurance. But you still need to make a claim on your insurance to fix the damage at your property. That's how it works

There's an Instagram account called wecantreno who are going throught the same issue at the moment. They are having to take their neighbour to court to try and get the neighbour to fix the issue. Might be worth checking it out to see how they have dealt with it.

This.

Unfortunately I doubt whether any news like this is likely to be well received.

I'd write a letter as I said previously to try to get them to start to act before starting an insurance claim.

In writing to ensure there is a record.
Asking for insurance details to get them aware that if not resolved quickly insurance will get involved. So an implied rather than direct threat.

Depending on the response I would take the decision whether to involve my insurance company.

What needs to happen is:

1. They fix whatever is causing the leak
2. The wall needs to dry out.
3. Probably will need repainting. Possibly some anti-mould treatment.

The question is who actually doe sit an how it is paid for.

Thank you everyone,

I messaged the neighbour this morning asking for a date for remedial works and they basically responded to say they have had a "look around" and there is no leak on their side.

I contacted my insurance and started the Trace and Access claim process which hadn't even occurred to me. I'm thinking a formal process will spur them into more action but not feeling very hopeful.

Feeling down & stressed about it all though!

Good luck with it all. It is stressful but at least you have started the process of getting it all sorted out.

Well done! You gave the neighbours a chance to sort it out simply. They haven't . So going via insurance is the only way.