Ownership between ceiling and floors of apartments!?

maria gstones

Hi, I'm new to the forum and I'm looking for a small bit of advice.
I own an apartment and a different landlord owns the apartment below me. He contacted me recently as he was made aware during an inspection of his property recently that there had been a leak through his ceiling, and he is assuming,probably correctly, that it came from my apartment.
We only found out about this now as he noticed the water stain on his ceiling, and when he did his tenant told him she had come home from work one day over a month ago to find alot of water on the floor so she just mopped it up and said nothing!My tenants inform me that there has been no particular incident.
Personally if it is the fault of my apartment I will work with him to correct any damage, however I want to know where does the liablilty for me begin and end and since it is a problem with the structure of the apartment building should I be bringing it up with the management company?
If this problem becomes a bigger problem in the future and is not the fault of just my apartment I do not want to screw myself by assisting with the initial repairs just to keep the peace if it opens me up to a liability I do not have.
Has anyone experierience with this issue?
thanks
Sorry about the long post.

snowfinch

Hi Maria,

I had a similar issue last year in my apartment block, but the leak was coming from the roof. In a nutshell, there was no liability on any apt owners part as the roofs/floors/ceilings are covered under the building insurance which we pay as part of our management fees. This insurance was also mandatory for me to get my mortgage so I am assuming that a similar scheme is in place in most blocks.

I would contact the management company and speak to them there about the building insurance and confirm that it covers damage to those things. As I didn't have any contents damage I don't know if it will go as far to cover/replace items damaged by leaks.

Hope this helps

maria gstones

Thanks for such a prompt response. I will contact the management co. so. We do have block insurance so I will just have to find out what it covers. There were no contents damaged either so i'm ok on that front too.

How Strange

OP, what room is above the area that the owner said the stain appeared?
Leaks from one apartment into another is usually (not always) caused by the seal around the bath or shower becoming worn so when it's in use small amounts of water get between the bath/shower and the wall, through the floor and over time it gets into the apartment underneath.

If the stain is below your bathroom, take off the seal and reseal the bath/shower. You can do it yourself quite easily or get a plumber to do it for a call out fee.

snowfinch wrote: »

In a nutshell, there was no liability on any apt owners part as the roofs/floors/ceilings are covered under the building insurance which we pay as part of our management fees. This insurance was also mandatory for me to get my mortgage so I am assuming that a similar scheme is in place in most blocks.

This isn't true. Any damage caused by the roof is covered by the building insurance but a scenario whereby a leak from one apartment causes damage to another is the responsibility of the owner to fix and the sooner the better to minimise damage. If the leak causes the ceiling of the other apartment to collapse then the owner of that apartment could make a claim against the building insurance, subject to excess, to repair/replace the ceiling.

The owner of the damaged apartment will need their own contents insurance to cover the loss of other items. Kitchen units are sometimes included in block insurance, sometimes not, and it depends on the fine print of the policy. Similarly wooden floors are not always covered in the block insurance.

If an apartment owner ignores a leak from their property into another thereby making the situation worse then the affected owner could take a case against them or the insurance company may consider suing them for negligence. Insurance companies aren't too happy about paying out for claims that result from negligence.

OP, the only responsibility you have is to check that the leak is not coming from your apartment. If it is get it fixed as quick as possible. If it isn't and the leak continues then escalate to the management company (in writing) as it may be a problem with communal plmbing between floors which then becomes a management company issue.

maria gstones

How Strange - Thanks very much for your reply.

I am heading out to the apartment this evening to have a look. Hopefully I can find the cause, if its something as simple as the bath seal it'd be a blessing. I'll be happy enough if that all that I have to get that sorted. I just hope I can find the cause and arrange for it to be stopped, so fingers crossed its not the buildings plumbing.


Thanks for the info.

Maria

Mary Hairy

Your lease for the apartment will set out the items for which you are responsible. Get a copy from your solicitor or bank and look at it.

Paulw

You may also find that your block insurance policy has a clause exempting water damage. It's becoming more and more common now.

Also, the excess on any single claim may be quite large, so it may not be worth while making the claim.

Basically, if your unit is causing the leak then you are responsible. It can happen, accidents can happen, when a sink or such overflows, and the tenant doesn't want to admit they did it.

You need to investigate the fault and get it repaired as quickly as possible.