There is a maintenance company for the building for my rented flat.
The owner from the below neighbour reported a leak to the maintenance company. After 3 weeks, the maintenance company sent my an email about the issue.
My tenant knew it and he didn’t notified me.
What are the responsibilities of a maintenance company. Should them notify me earlier? Can I blame them responsible? How can I complain about them?
Thank you
Why don’t you just give your contact details to the people in the flat below.
Unless the leak was the result of negligence or shoddy work, you have no liability for damage to the flat below. They have to claim on their insurance.
If they are asking me for the damage in their property due to a negligence from my ex-tenant, it is because they don’t have an insurance
They claim from the building insurance. Can they prove it was negligence from your ex-tenant?
Err no… None of the above is correct.
The leaseholder is responsible for any Escape of Water from his property how soever it was caused.
Yes, there can be an insurance claim, but there will be a policy excess and in flats £1,000 £5,000 is typical. It is almost certain that in the lease it will say that the lease holder is responsible for any unreimbursed sums (the policy excess)
That said, the 3 week delay is a concern… Arm yourself with some evidence… Are there notices in the building saying who to contact if there is a leak… Can you get proof that the management company was informed but failed to act for 3 weeks. They also have an obligation to mitigate losses and a 3 week delay needs justification
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Hi Chris,
Thank you for letting me know how is responsible for the leak. That is what I wanted to know.
About the building’s maintenance company, the landlord from the below flat, sent the first email to the MC on the 17th. After 5 emails, the MC sent me and email on the 21 December with the below telephone number. I called him the same day and he forwarded me all the emails. So, more than a month. My tenant knew about that but he didn’t notify me. I suppose the maintenance company should notify me. Please let me know if I can complain about them. Thank you
Not true. Many leaks are considered “acts of God” by insurance companies and unless negligence can be proven, there is usually no liabllity for the flat that leaked.
Good luck claiming it is an Act of God
The fact that you keep calling it a water leak shows your limited knowledge… It is an escape of water in legal terms
Can you give some examples where an escape of water from one flat into another is unavoidable and would therefore be considered an act of God
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It doesn’t matter what its called, and I have real world experience of this issue. Unfortunately if I post a link to websites that support my view, this post will go into moderation for days, but suffice it to say that by googling the issue I readily found advice from an insurance company, a firm of solicitors and the Leasehold Advisory Service on the matter. They make clear that unless it can be shown that the property from which the water escaped was either negligent or the owner failed to maintain the pipework, the owner of the flat below them would have no basis for a claim against them.
Well (and I know it isn’t that helpful now), my AST has a clause requiring my tenants to notify me IMMEDIATELY (and it does say it in capital letters) if they are advised of any water leaks or other issues brought to their attention by another resident or the management company. It is the only time I expect my tenants to phone me rather than use email.
4 days for the management company to contact you is not good, but it’s fairly typical and the fact that your tenant was aware of the problem does mean it would be difficult for you to hold them responsible. Your original post said it took them 3 weeks and that would be cause for a complaint.
I’m guessing this wasn’t a major leak so was probably coming intermittently from waste water rather than mains supply. Ironically that can lead to some agents & tenants treating it as less of an emergency than when water is pouring through a ceiling.
Hi Chris,
Good idea to add that clause to the contract. I would add it to the new contract
It took more than a month to the maintenance company to notify me. The leak was on the 17th Nov and they notify me on the 21st December
Well I have real world experience of dealing with about 10 escape of water claims each year (I currently have 3 open).
The “claim” comes not from the flat downstairs because their repairs will be made as an insurance claim, but there is a policy excess ( usually £1,500 - £5,000) which has to be paid by someone and under the terms of every lease I have ever seen, that will be the property where the water escaped from.
This from KDL Law may asist you Insurance Excess - Is this a service charge cost? – KDL Law
The important part is below for convenience:
***if the Leaseholder’s washing machine leaks or a pipe exclusively serving the demise bursts and causes damage elsewhere in the building, then that issue, the cause of the damage, is likely to be within the repairing obligations of the Leaseholder and not the Landlord. Most leases will preclude the Service Charge from being used to address a matter which contractually the Leaseholder is bound to repair/resolve. The same applies where the cause of the leak arises through a genuine accident - the overfilled bath for instance - as, whilst this is an unfortunate, unintended and entirely accidental event and does not result from a lack of repair, it is still an event that occurred through tenant default and thus not a matter falling to the Service Charge
Thank you for all the information
The repair to the pipes or installation within the leaking property was never in question. The dispute centred around whether any other properties affected by the escape of water had a claim against the OP. That is the issue I was addressing.
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