water leak from upstairs neighbours

[mtk]

Hi all,

There is a water leak from our upstairs neighbours to our kitchen ceiling. We've had a plumber look at both properties to assess the situation but he seemed totally uninterested to take on the job. He mentioned that it might be easier for our plasterboard ceiling to be ripped off rather that the upstairs floorboards lifted to fix the leak, but without conducting a proper survey. We now know that it is the washing machine from the upstairs flat that is causing the leak, which has left 2 huge wet patches on our ceiling. Is it fair for our ceiling to be removed if we're not liable for the leak?
Any advice on this would be very helpful. Both parties involved are owners of the properties, with a shared freehold.

Many thanks,
M.

 

[SimonG]

Surely if you know its the upstairs wm then why isnt it going through their insurance?

 

[lame plumber]

get them to sort the issue asap, then you can sort your ceiling and send them the bill, which will bounce back to your building insurers, but I would insist its their problem if they know they have a leaky wm.

 

[mtk]

The insurance company are asking for a "plumbers report on the cause of the damage". It's been a week now and no one has looked at it properly because the upstairs neighbours are not too keen to have their floorboards lifted. They're discussing bringing leak experts with more sophisticated means (whatever this is...) or opening our ceiling. we're trying to cooperate, but it seems to us that going through our ceiling is totally unfair.

 

[mtk]

They've admitted it is something they must fix, but just because this plumber suggested opening up our ceiling to investigate the source of the leak, they are now reluctant to have their floor lifted and want to go through our ceiling. Have you come across this suggestion before?

 

[lame plumber]

then get another plumber to look asap, confirm washing machine watertight before looking at ceilings coming down. If your ceiling is knackered, seems a no brainer to drop it, fix the fault and get a nice new stain free ceiling. Just one of the problems of being in flats, **** always goes downhill. if its just a wm leak, cant see the need to investigate further though

 

[mtk]

Thanks for your reply "lame plumber".
Our ceiling is not knackered (just stained), they want to bring it down just to investigate where the leak came from!
There are water stains in 2 different places, so that's why we need to have a thorough look.

 

[plumben]

if they wish to go though your ceiling to fix the leak i see no issue with that as it's already wet and damaged but make sure there going to fix the hole in the ceiling and re plaster the whole ceiling and then decorate it at there expense

 

[mtk]

The problem is that the drain pipes from their washing machine run from their bathroom to their kitchen (3 metres total length), and there are 2 possible sources of the leak along this route (one at one end of our ceiling and one right in the midle). This means that our ceiling would need to come down completely to investigate and fix the leak.
There's also integrated down-lighters and insulation in the way.

 

[Masood]

I've been in this situation so many times with tiled or laminate floors in the flat above. Get their insurers to agree to pay for the investigative work including removing and reinstating your ceiling. Should not be a problem as it'll be cheaper than redoing the flooring upstairs. You may even get a couple of nights in a hotel while the dusty work is being done.

 

[stevetheplumber]

before dropping the ceiling check the waste pipe runs the same direction as the joists if its across them and notched you will not be able to do much from below it shouldnt be but worth checking

 

[lame plumber]

if the building is shared freehold, the insurer will be one company doing the whole building, its them that will decide which way to work as they pay for anywork in any flat, tbh if your insulation is wet rip it out now ceiling down and get on with it, should only take 2-3 days to sort out

 

[thompsonbrown]

They've admitted it is something they must fix, but just because this plumber suggested opening up our ceiling to investigate the source of the leak, they are now reluctant to have their floor lifted and want to go through our ceiling. Have you come across this suggestion before?

Ask for there insurance company's name and contact them.