Block insurance excess high

Stephen P

I'm a landlord of an apartment, it's a top floor apartment. To the side of the apartment is a roof over another apartment, the roof is about the same level as the sitting room floor. During the summer the roof collapsed and water leaked into the apartment underneath. At the time no water had got into my apartment. The roof was repaired and that was that. I got a call today from my tenant to say the floor in the corner of the sitting room is warped badly, it's a solid wood floor. I believe the water from the damaged roof had leaked in and over the months has warped the floor. The management company is calling tomorrow to have a look. I asked if I could claim off the block insurance if they discover that the damaged roof was the cause. They said it wouldn't be worth my while to claim as the excess is €10k, that's due to a LOT of claims over the years. Surely I don't have to bare the cost of the repair as it was not caused by anything in my apartment or the tenants. Has anyone any experience of something similar? If I am unable to claim should I get legal advice?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Senecio

Surely the individual landlord is not expected to stump up for the excess?

Stephen P

Senecio wrote: »

Surely the individual landlord is not expected to stump up for the excess?

I would hope not, it would be cheaper to repair myself but I don't see why I should as it was not my doing.

Paulw

Stephen P wrote: »

I would hope not, it would be cheaper to repair myself but I don't see why I should as it was not my doing.

Who's doing was it?

An excess of €10k is not that unusual. It will depend on claims history and the insurance policy.

If you want to claim off the block insurance policy, then you pay the excess. The excess is there to discourage small claims.

It will really come down to how much the repairs will cost.

In general, flooring inside your unit is your sole responsibility. If you had lino or carpet down the the replacement cost would be minimal. A wooden floor costs a lot more, but that is not the fault of the management company. It was your choice to put it down.

Have a talk to your management agent, but it may actually be totally your cost.

Lantus

Typically only items inside the owners property that were there when the property was bought are covered. Its called consequential loss. So the kitchen may be covered but flooring, personal items and furniture would not be covered for example.

Block insurance is a high risk multi million product and to claim on it for a bit of flooring is lunacy. Your landlord contents insurance would cover this but I would not bother if the replacement cost is low enough.

Unfortuanatley the excess on these policies were set far to low so a few bad apples managed to extort new kitchens at the expense of everyone else who then had to pay hugely inflated service fees.

ted1

You could try to put in claim
Againest the MC.

the_syco

Stephen P wrote: »

The roof was repaired and that was that. I got a call today from my tenant to say the floor in the corner of the sitting room is warped badly, it's a solid wood floor. I believe the water from the damaged roof had leaked in and over the months has warped the floor.

Check where the water came in, and if the damage was caused by shoddy workmanship of whoever fixed the other roof?

Lantus

ted1 wrote: »

You could try to put in claim
Againest the MC.

You wont. The omc is indemnified against fault. If you want to pay the excess then pay but I'd imagine you can floor your apartment for less than 10k.

Stephen P

The roof collapsed due to inadequate drainage, rain water lodged on the roof, it wasn't properly slanted for the rain water to drain down the drain pipe. The roof wasn't strong enough to hold the rain water.

Lantus

Stephen P wrote: »

The roof collapsed due to inadequate drainage, rain water lodged on the roof, it wasn't properly slanted for the rain water to drain down the drain pipe. The roof wasn't strong enough to hold the rain water.

The omc maintain and own the building but they didn't build it. Suggesting it was their fault for the fault is like suing the taxi driver because his Octavia he bought was manufactured with a fault.

Anyway block insurance doesn't cover against defects or incorrect building

L1011

As an aside, I wouldn't be surprised to find that wood flooring is explicitly banned in your lease - it probably is more often than not these days - so claiming against the block insurance for something the MC bars you having wouldn't be that workable.

Its not guaranteed to be banned, but it very often is.

dori_dormer

Would it be possible to have it claimed under the roof claim if you can prove that's the cause?

Did no one come to check your apt when the claim was initially put in? Was everyone not told to check their property for potential damages at the time?

I know when my friend had a leak in her apt from above the entire building was assessed for damages

peteb2

No it wouldn't be possible. A block policy covers perils for damage to the building and liability to members of the public. He's a member of the management company and therefore cannot initiAte a successful public liability claim against himself. It's your contents cover or nothing.

And I'm going to suspect you don't have it. But you should as it covers your liability as landlord which the block policy won't!

Stephen P

I have contents insurance, I would be mad not to have it since it's a rented property. Wood flooring isn't banned by the MC. The apartment got flooded in 2008 from water lodging on the balcony and getting in under the flashing. The block insurance covered it and replaced the wood flooring in sitting room, hall and bedroom. A few more apartments got flooded that time and all got work done to repair the damage. A lot has happened since then the excess has risen to €10k.
I did inspect my apartment when the roof was damaged and there was no visible sign water had got in, that was my first concern. My tenant didn't even notify me about the roof collapsing, I only saw it when I went to do the annual inspection :mad:

Paulw

Stephen P wrote: »

I did inspect my apartment when the roof was damaged and there was no visible sign water had got in, that was my first concern. My tenant didn't even notify me about the roof collapsing, I only saw it when I went to do the annual inspection :mad:

Is it possible that this new damage then is not due to that issue? Is it possible that another leak caused the damage?

You need to find the root cause of the damage, before you go any further, because if you replace the flooring without fixing the cause then it will happen again and again.

Also, if the damage was not caused by the initial foor issue/repair, then maybe something else caused it, that the tenant would be liable for - flooded sink, washing machine fault, etc.

Stephen P

I haven't been able to visit the apartment yet but I think it's unlikely it's caused by something else. On the other side of the wall is the roof that collapsed. It may be a coincidence but I doubt it. The MC maintenance man is calling tomorrow to assess the damage. I'll get his report and take it from there.