Water damage from leaks in flat above

[bobby123]

Rough time scal of events
Wk 1 Water leaking trough ceiling from flat above from it turns out a leaking cistern, in unoccupied flat above
Wk 3 owner initially denies there is a problem in her flat, water turned off only after threats to get police to break in
Wk5 Owner's first attempt to resolve issue failed Water still leaking
Wk 8 issue finally resolved after finding second leak.
I now find communal insurance policy has excess of £500, is the owner of flat above liable in law for my un-insured losses

[buildersmate]

The person responsible for the pipe or appliance is responsible for the damage. That is the baseline. If you have contents insurance, your best bet would be to get the claim done through that - your insurer then takes the hassle of dealing with the insurer of the flat above.

If someone is saying that you are caught by liability for the building insurance excess because it is common policy which also covers you, in spite of the foul-up occuring by the person above, that sounds ridiculous.

[Angela_Macready]

It depends on what damage the excess is to cover. If the leak caused damage to a communal area, it is likely that an insurance claim would have been made by your landlord to repair the damage as quickly as possible. Their insurance company may then try to recover the money from the owner and if they are successful, you should get the excess back (but your management company/landlord will probably take a fee for sorting it all out so you probably won't get all of it back).

Any expense incurred by you to cover the damage to your flat should be claimed from the owner directly although again, you may want your insurers to pay you now and try to recover the money from the owner later. If they are uninsured losses and the owner refuses to pay, you may have to go to the small claims court to get the money back.