Water damage from apartment above

dodzy

Hi folks,

A property that I look after for a friend has incurred light water damage from a leaking gas boiler from the apartment above (now fixed). Is it the responsibility of the owner of the above property to pay costs for repair work? I would have thought so.

And in the event they refuse, any suggestions?

john kinsella

You need to speak to the Mgt Co.

There will be an insurance policy in place but the excess is likely to be very high (over €1,000.00 from experience) so there probably wont be any scope for a claim.

The apartment owner above cannot be held liable unless negligence can be proven which I would imagine given it is just a leak is impossible.

Unfortunately it is just the nature of apartment ownership I'm afraid. Your friend will end up paying for it themselves.

whippet

it is a pain in the ass.

A mate of mine is in a similar bind ... he came back to his apartment after being away for a few months to find the ceiling on the floor and a lot of water damage.

The source of the water is a leaky shower in the apartment upstairs. The excess on the block insurance is €5k .. which is payable by my mate as he is the one making the claim.

In hindsite, I believe you can take out your own individual insurance policy on your apartment that will cover excess for block insurance claims.

My mate hasn't the 5k lying around to pay this and has a builder looking at the damage - the builder is of the opinion that the damage has affected the structural integrity of the divide between the two apartments and is looking to have the owners of the apartment upstairs removed on health and safety grounds until the repairs are complete .. this might force the hand of the management company or the property owner who's leak caused the damage.

exaisle

The fact that there is a high excess on the block insurance policy doesn't mean that you cannot seek payment for the damage caused. It just means that the insurance company won't cover the claim...so the claim falls back to the owner of the apartment. If they have already paid for the repair to the boiler, I dare say they'll be expecting you.

The upstairs apartment owner IS responsible for the damage caused. It's their responsibility to ensure that their boiler is in good working condition...it leaked...therefore it wasn't....so they were negligent.(Harsh, I know but there you have it)

I'd suggest that you speak to the owner of the apartment upstairs. If they refuse to stump up, you can pursue them through the small claims court but obviously one would hope that it doesn't come to that and given that there's a small amount involved, I'd be inclined to accept any reasonable offer they made.

dont bother

this happened to me also.
the owner of the apartment above is liable.
the small claims only pay out if the amount you are looking for is less than 2000.
anything above this amount you will be taking the liable party to the District Court.

in my case, the liable party has ignored letters from me, left me without power or light for over 2 months and the management company will do NOTHING if you are in this situation.

just skip the bullsh!t and go straight for the owner of apartment above. it will save you months of lies from management company who will only weaken your case because of the time elapsed.

sue the owner above. it's the ONLY way.