Constant water leaks from the flat above – what would you do?

Constant water leaks from the flat above – what would you do?

15:10 PM, 9th November 2012, About 12 years ago 12

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I’ve received the email below from a landlord called John Caversham who has a problem with constant water leaks from the flat above his. What would you do if you were John?

I have a problem and would be grateful if you could share your thoughts and put it out to the masses.

I have a ground floor flat in an old converted house with two flats above me. Have owned this property for 13 years and I have lost count of the amount of water leaks I’ve had from the flat directly above into my property. As I am a builder I have previously replaced ceilings at my own cost as the landlord above is so difficult and arrogant, (one of those shoddy landlords who spends the absolute minimum). 

There have been four water leaks from above this year alone.!

Had a call two weeks ago from my tenant to say water was pouring through the kitchen ceiling light fitting. The landlord above said his new tenants had plumbed their washing machine in and it must be that, and that he’d fix it. The problem seemed to go away, but today I received a call again from my tenant to say that water is again pouring through the ceiling, which has also gone black with fungus growing on it, it smells of damp  etc…..

I really want to take some sort of legal action now as enough is enough.

One of the issues is that the landlord who I deal with ‘professes’ to own the property isn’t actually the mortgagee.  The mortgage is in a different name who’s address I don’t have so I don’t really know who  to tackle legally. The landlord was convicted a few years ago of mortgage fraud so I suspect this could be one those dodgy mortgages.

So really I have two questions.

1. Is the mortgagee responsible or is it the responsibility of the person who ‘professes’ to be the landlord’ (A bit like car ownership-the name on the logbook isn’t necessarily the owner)?

2. What legal action if any can I take? I’m sure he will get round to fixing my ceiling just as he previously had done. However, his builders are usually dodgy cash in hand types who do a pretty poor job so I would like to fix it myself and claim all costs back,  plus claim for stress and aggravation. The insurance excess is now so high its not worth claiming.

Any thoughts and pointers gratefully received.

Best regards

John Caversham”


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Comments

Vincent C

20:12 PM, 15th July 2018, About 6 years ago

Hi All
I am the owner/leaseholder of a small ground floor studio flat and my flat has been badly damaged by a leak coming from the flat upstairs. The source of the leak was confirmed by the managing agent's contractor on the 6th of February 2018 and since then I have been chasing the owner of the flat above to rectify. I have lost my tenant and the building insurers have covered the rental loss but I want my flat to be repaired and this leak to be resolved once and for all.

The owner of the flat upstairs has been taking his time (even though he is claiming on insurance as he is saying that the leak from his flat has been caused by other leaks from the flats above him). Anyway, the point is

- he was informed by contractor's report on the 6th of February 2018 that there is a leak from his flat and to date, he has started the "repairs" but they hav'e been successful as this leak is still ongoing to date.

Could you kindly advise or tell me what are my options?

Anyone can recommend a good lawyer?

Insurers are not refunding me the council tax I have to pay because the tenant left and all the other utility bills (not much as the property is empty but still...)

DALE ROBERTS

22:48 PM, 15th July 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Vincent C at 15/07/2018 - 20:12Find out who the block insurers are and contact them immediately. There are strict criteria for lodging claims and water damage is usually dealt with as a separate category with a larger excess. And generally only "seek and find" costs are reimbursed. Once you are assured that you can lodge a claim against the block insurers they will assess the matter and pronounce on culpability. In my case they appointed a "recovery" firm to approach the owner in the unit above mine to refund them their costs to attend to the damages to my unit.
Bear in mind though that the leak above your unit will have to be attended to before any works can be effected in yours.

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