Neighbour just handed me outrageous bill?

If its something you could have foreseen like a persistent leak you didn’t fix then you could be held culpable. If it was just one of those things i.e an unforseen leak, then you have offered to make good and he has handed you a bill for £500 which you did not agree to.

In cases like this what usually happens is the ” offending flat” offers to either pay to have it done ( which you did) or pay the excess on an insurance claim via block insurers. The excess claim for escape of water is anything between £350 and £1,000 and I suspect he is trying it on.

I would send a letter stating you offered to remedy, but the leaseholder decided to do it himself.He has not provided full evidence of the remedial works. Under such circumstances you do not recognise either the debt or liability and it is therefore
” disputed”. I would also advise him to forward the claim to the block insurers.

Then wait and see what happens.

Ask your builder to give you a quote for the cost it would have been if he had done the work then offer to pay that amount, even a little more to be kind to settle the matter… But that seems a bit steep, its either a stitch up, a fake or he got stung, either way you offered to have your guy fix it which would have cost you X so it was his decision to pay someone more for the work..

At minimum (and even then it wouldn’t mean it’s automatically settled), I’d want invoices from the tradesman and evidence the work has taken place. At best, I’d say he’s titivated it himself over the stained area then tried it on for a commercial rate job of the entire wall/room/flat.

The above comments all suggest the same response. Wait and see the next demand. Remind whoever chases you that court fees may not be awarded in such a small claim? Offer him half to close the matter.

So by the sound of it, this topic is about a leak not caused by negligence or which were foreseeable but was “just one of those things”.

I have a similar issue that has arisen in the last week.
The owner of the flat on the next floor above has had a new kitchen fitted and installed a new dishwasher and washing machine. I’ve been sent a photo of our kitchen ceiling which has a large water stain discolouration but also a sizeable patch of black mould which apparently, is giving off an odour. Doesn’t look like the plaster is damaged and the ceiling is certainly in no danger of coming down so the damage is more superficial than not.

Reading the previous comments, the owner of the upstairs flat needs to call her contractors back to check on the source of the leak and make any necessary adjustments to prevent the leak recurring but in the meantime, can I ask who is liable for redecorating my kitchen ceiling? There is a block policy but the excess is likely to be greater than the cost of redecoration. Is the upstairs owner liable for the cost or does it fall on me?