Who is responsible for flood damage caused by leaking toilet?
My laminate floor has been damaged because a washer on the water pipe to the toilet failed. It caused a very slow leak that wasnt noticed until the floor in the living room started to bow.
I contacted my housing association who sent an out of hours repairman asap to sort the leak. He said its a common problem. The washer fails and it causes a slow leak which is not noticeable until its too late. He said he would put a report in and recomend an inspector comes out who will assess the damage and probably have the laminate floor replaced. he also added that the housing association will try anything to get out of repairing or replacing it so i need to keep on at them.
Two weeks later a housing association repairman comes out, looks at the floor and says you need an inspector to look at this as its laminate and he wasnt sure if it was covered under the housing association insurance.
I contact the housing association who say they only cover bricks and mortar and my laminate floor was nothing to do with them. As they sorted the leak when they were informed about it, that is were their responsibility ends. Yeah, they acted quick to stop further damage, but what about the damage already caused!
Now, I always thought that if my property damges my property then I am responsible. But if someone elses property dames my property, then the owner of that property is responsible.
So my question is, who is responsible to replace or repair my floor?
Might need a little more
Might need a little more information on this.
Is this a flat or house?
Are you renting from the HA or are you an owner?
If you are are an owner is this a shared ownership arrangement?
Is the leaking toilet within the area you occupy?
Its a one bedroom groundfloor
Its a one bedroom groundfloor flat which i rent from the housing association. Only I live there.
The toilet is in my bathroom.
The water from the leak went under the lino in the bathroom, under the hallway tiles then into my living room under the laminate floor. There was no sign of a leak in the bathroom or hallway.
But on discovering it I lifted the lino in the bathroom and it was sopping wet underneath. The first repairman said because it was such a slow leak it had taken weeks to get under my laminate.
I believe that the HA as
I believe that the HA as landlord is responsible to put right this damage.
They must surely insure the building and it seems to me that the floor is part of that.
You should formally write to them requesting that they honour their obligation.
If they continue to refuse come back here.
The problem is, as they keep
The problem is, as they keep pointing out, it's my laminate floor which I put down.
The Housing Association said if I had informed them that I put it down then I may have been able to make a claim. But because I did not inform them then I have no claim. When I asked why, they replied because laminate reacts different to water than carpet or lino.
Nowhere in my rent agreement does it state I have to inform them to put down any kind of flooring. It's a bare concrete floor, so whoever lives here is going to put some kind of flooring down!
They said I will receive a letter to this fact but I still havent and have asked for it 3 times now over 3 weeks.
There may be a clause in your
There may be a clause in your agreement prohibiting alterations although in my view placing a laminate floor on top of concrete could hardly be called an alteration.
Maybe this is what they are trying to say.
My argument would be this:-
Either the floor is part of the fabric of the buiding in which case it will be covered under the HA's insurance or it is not.
If it is not part of the fabric then the floor is your chattel which has been damaged by the HA's failure to provide a proper plumbing system.
Either way in my opinion the HA is liable.
They keep telling me over the
They keep telling me over the phone its not their problem but they wont give that to me in writing!
What action can I take now?
Hi Windows 7, I think that
Hi Windows 7,
I think that you should formally write to the Housing Association setting out the basis of your claim using the information given to you via thelawforum.
If they do not respond in writing or they respond in writing but still deny that it is their responsibility then you should send a "letter before action" to the Housing Association. This is a specific letter that all claimants should send to potential defendants stating that it is the claimants intention to issue court proceedings against the defendant unless they respond to the claimant in a specific way.
Here you would be asking the Housing Association to pay for the damage. If the "letter before action" still does not produce any sort of result from the Housing Association you may need to consider bringing a small claim against the Housing Association.
I am a Legal Advisor employed by Sarginsons Law and specialise in Civil Litigation matters. I deal with disputes between individuals and businesses including Landlord and Tenant issues, debt recovery and property disputes.
Telephone 02476 553181