Updating post from Reddit.
Hi All,
I am letting out my flat whilst I am working overseas. I have buildings insurance (required by the builidng property management) and was also recommended to take out landlord insurance. I pay for full tenent management through an estate agents.
A month ago my tenents reported a leak, I have no pipes in the celing so assumed it was from upstairs. It took a while to contact the tenant upstairs to get acess and to also contact the landlord who lives in Australia. They eventually sent a plumber round and determined there was no leak on their end. Baffled, I got someone from my end to look who said it had to be from upstairs. It took them over a week to send the plumber round again to have another look. They finally admitted the liability for the leak.
Meanwhile my flat is still damanged.
My landlord insurance said the landlord above should pay for the repairs as they admitted liablity and that if the landlord above was uncooprateive I could claim via legal assiantace.
The bulidngs insurance company said that I should have to organise the repair but that there would be an excess aroud £850. In their email, to the landlord above they state that I may request support with covering the excess and this should be negotiated. When I was living in the flat previously, there was a different leak. the landlord above conveniently ghosted me on when trying to get him to pay for repairs.
I am not sure how to proceed with this repair and who should pay?
Do I pay and claim on legal insruance as I am sure he will try and get out of paying the excess?
Do you have legal cover / assistance through your buildings or landlord insurance?
What's been damaged - plasterboard ceiling or any carpet / contents / tenant's contents below?
Have you got it in writing the owner above admitting liability? If not get this asap - even just an email from you to them confirming your recent conversations etc.
Either way you'll probably need some formal written quotes moving forward.
Document everything, communicate by email failing that whatsapp message. Keep a timeline.
Unless they are going out of their way to arrange repair (unlikely) you're either going to need to arrange and pay for things yourself and claim back later or go through your Insurers. I would speak to your insurers in the first instance to see exactly what you're covered for etc and the level of help they can offer.
Edited for particularly atrocious spelling
Thank you - no worries re spelling! Mine is probably the same!
I have an email admitting liability from their side - they are just being incredibly slow and I feel really bad for the tenants as the delays from the other side have meant this has gone on for too long.
The ceilings and plasterboard are damaged.
The landlord insurance does have legal assistance and they have already said that I may have to claim through that. I have 3 quotes that the estate agents have organsied so will contact them to see what the best course of action is. I wasn't 100% sure what the difference is between buildings insurance and the landlord insurance is and if there was one that trumped the other if that makes sense.
That's good Landlord insurance covers you for legal in this situation. Buildings insurance might still be logical approach as the building fabric is damaged and they would be your usual pathway if you didn't have the landlord insurance as a backstop.
Remember that buildings cover is different from car insurance where you claim against the other party's policy and we all have to have 3rd party cover on the roads. It is not a criminal offence for a homeowner not to have insurance and the system works differently.
Usually you would have to claim through you buildings insurance and they would then in turn try and re-coup the money from the other party's insurance (if they have sufficient accidental damage / leak cover) or pursue the other party in court for the cost of works (if worth it) or just take the hit if low amount.
You said there is an excess so not sure who takes this hit initially but sounds like you should be able to recoup one way or another if the person above is admitting all liability and is adequately insured themselves. I'm not sure what the insurers meant by negotiation - sounds like they aren't trying to reclaim against the other party. Ask the other party for their contents insurance details and whether it covers accidental damage.
Having thought about things you and the person above have a shared buildings insurance policy that you both pay into? In which case you can't claim against them as you're both policy holders and one can't claim against oneself. That's where either their contents insurance might cover the accidental damage and/or your excess or your legal insurance might try to reclaim the excess if tother party won't pay.
Do you have block managers? Usually they would be involved.
Sounds like you're doing everything right. If it was me I'd keep speaking to the buildng insurance for more info and advice to ensure they have eveyrhing needed to resolve pay out quickly.
Keep the tenants informed that you're doing everything to resolve matter asap and are grateful for their patience and understanding.
edited within 10mins having rethought the shared insurance and excess situation