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I have had some water damage from above, the owner kindly gave me her insurance details. I contacted them and they asked for my insurers, unfortunately we had forgotten since covid to reinsure our apartment. Their insurer will only talk to an insurer, whilst I realise we have been stupid in not getting up to date with our insurer, the damage has been caused by above, owner accepts responsibility, any advice please .
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2025 6:48pm
Super helpful member
Really shouldn't make any difference. Even if you had an insurer you would not be claiming off them. They will be trying to pass the buck somehow. Contact Citizens advice.
Paul1962 wrote on Fri Jan 24, 2025 2:00pm:
I have had some water damage from above, the owner kindly gave me her insurance details. I contacted them and they asked for my insurers, unfortunately we had forgotten since covid to reinsure our apartment. Their insurer will only talk to an insurer, whilst I realise we have been stupid in...
Read more...
... not getting up to date with our insurer, the damage has been caused by above, owner accepts responsibility, any advice please .
This happened to us but the leak came from a shower trap in our apartment. The apartment below was empty and hadn't been visited for some time, so we were totally unaware of the leak. When the owner of the property below us, a Dutch property landlord, finally visited the damaged was quite extensive.
We contacted our insurance, as he advised, but they told us that he should report it to his house insurance first and that his insurance would sort out the damage and claim from our insurance for liability. This put us in a very awkard position because he then said that he wasn't insured. We gave him our insurance telephone number so he could try to sort it out but he ended up getting a team of workers in to repair the damage.
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2025 8:29am
Read his post. He says that he hasn't renewed his house insurance, so he has none.
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2025 10:40am
Super helpful member
Jaycee75 wrote on Sat Jan 25, 2025 8:29am:
Read his post. He says that he hasn't renewed his house insurance, so he has none.
Read his post. The damage was as a consequence of a leak from the flat above. The damage should be claimed off their insurance not his. Technically if claiming off someone else's insurance you should have no need to inform anyone else.
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Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2025 2:21pm
Legendary helpful member
swcoulthurst wrote on Sat Jan 25, 2025 10:40am:
Read his post. The damage was as a consequence of a leak from the flat above. The damage should be claimed off their insurance not his. Technically if claiming off someone else's insurance you should have no need to inform anyone else.
The OP needs to get some legal advice otherwise the insurers of the property above can just ignore him. I do get the impression that insurance companies are very adept at ducking pay outs.
Rgds,
Aitch.
swcoulthurst wrote on Sat Jan 25, 2025 10:40am:
Read his post. The damage was as a consequence of a leak from the flat above. The damage should be claimed off their insurance not his. Technically if claiming off someone else's insurance you should have no need to inform anyone else.
I added my post to show the perspective from the other party, the owner apartment where the leak occured. Also to show that the insurance company will only deal with another insurance company in the case of a claim from a 3rd party. I suspect that this may be due to insurance companies having a contract with certain local tradesmen/companies.
The OP would be advised to engage a local loss assessor and take legal advice to sue the owner of the apartment above. This would invoke a public liability claim which should be covered by the other owners insurance.
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 11:44am
swcoulthurst wrote on Sat Jan 25, 2025 10:40am:
Read his post. The damage was as a consequence of a leak from the flat above. The damage should be claimed off their insurance not his. Technically if claiming off someone else's insurance you should have no need to inform anyone else.
' unfortunately we had forgotten since covid to reinsure our apartment. Their insurer will only talk to an insurer'
I think he's been given the wrong advice for whatever reason.
This post shows a very common problem I see here with people quoting what "should" happen. The problem is that they are quoting UK (or English) Law - which is valid in, well, the UK (or devolved bits as appropriate). But we are in Spain, so Spanish law and customs apply. So in the answers I suggest that you research Spanish Law.
I had a brief look.
In Spain the situation is complicated and the only situation in which the upstairs flat is directly liable if you can prove "negligence" on their behalf. That may cover leaving a tap on, poorly maintained pipework etc but only in their own pipework. But it would have to be proven. There are many other sources of leak that would not be considered negligence, not to mention leaks in the community pipework.
This is ultimately where insurance comes in - it's complicated and liability is isn't as straightforward as "water came from your flat".
Moral of the story - check all your insurances carefully and don't skimp.
trotter wrote on Sat Jan 25, 2025 3:22pm:
I added my post to show the perspective from the other party, the owner apartment where the leak occured. Also to show that the insurance company will only deal with another insurance company in the case of a claim from a 3rd party. I suspect that this may be due to insurance companies having a c...
Read more...
...ontract with certain local tradesmen/companies.
The OP would be advised to engage a local loss assessor and take legal advice to sue the owner of the apartment above. This would invoke a public liability claim which should be covered by the other owners insurance.
A good example of trying to apply UK law and practice to Spain. Bad advice.
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