You are right of course, you shouldn’t be out of pocket by a penny but unfortunately the builder gave you a rather bum steer by telling you to claim yourself, probably unintentionally, but also I suspect to make you ‘go away’ rather than what is technically correct.
I’m afraid I don’t really concur with the answers above which are all about the plumber. It might be his fault ultimately, but that’s irrelevant from your perspective.
I think there are two answers… the technically correct solution and a practical one.
The technical answer is that you shouldn’t have gotten involved with anyone except the owners (not the tenants) of the flat upstairs. The leak was on their property it is they who have the direct liability to you; not the plumber, builder or anyone else. They should have paid you the full amount of any damages. That’s it, end of your involvement.
Of course they could then have claimed the money back from their insurance, or the plumber for being pants or their property managers for sending in a pants plumber or ‘Uncle Tom Cobbley and all’ for all you care. My point is none of that should have been your concern; the leak was on their property not yours. It is they who should be trying to get the £250 back from someone not you. I suspect this is why they have offered to pay half; deep down they probably know that they are liable for the lot.
That’s the technically correct answer and the solution is that you tell the owners of the flat above to pay up the full £250 or you will take them to court where you will win.
The practical answer is based on the fact that of course you may not want to do that. Who wants to fall out with their neighbours after all? In that case I’m afraid the answer is to take the £125 from you neighbours and write the rest off to experience.
You can’t really go after the plumber yourself, you didn’t hire him, you don’t know what he was paid to do and you can’t say what he did or didn’t do. A silly example is the plumber could stand in court and say “I told them not to use the bath without reconnecting the waste pipe, so it’s not my fault”. Silly I know, but you see my point.
If you do decide to pursue this, the best advice (as someone else has said) is to go and see the local CAB.
You have my sympathy since it is obvious all you’ve tried to do is ‘the right thing’ and the plumber really should have held his hands up, admitted his error and claimed on his insurance. It’s unlikely if he was sent in by a management co that he doesn’t have insurance as you usually need cover to get on a managers ‘approved’ list (they are too scared someone might come after them), but he probably doesn’t want to because a) he has an excess & b) his premiums will go up.
I hope whatever you decide to do that it gets sorted soon.
Cheers.
Your Insurance Company should be dealing with this and getting your policy excess back for you. They know where the liability lies and should be claiming their own costs, including your excess) from either the owners of the other flat or their plumber. Put your case in writing to your own Insurer and see what happens. If you don’t get a satisfactory response contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. The plumber may have liability insurance, but it is ridiculously easy in this country to trade without any cover at all.
Not sure how it works in the UK but it sounds like you will need to take them to court. The master policy (policy covering all of property) if there is one should cover this. NO I take that back since the contractor was negligent in his repair his general liability policy should cove that. suing him is probably going to be your only option though.
get the plumbers details and go for a third party claim off his public liability insurance.
take pictures of all the damage your flat sustained. if the plumber ain’t having no of it and refuses to pay the excess take him to court .
Ask yourself . was your flat in reasonable decorative order before the leak.
what damage the leak has caused before the repair was done during / after it was sort of fixed.
incompetent plumber in my eyes why should you have to pay just because its your flat .
This sounds like a situation where you’re going to have to take someone’s thumbs. Go to your local hardware store and get a pair of curved pruning snips. I would start with the plumber, being that this whole thing is his fault in the first place, and he knows very well that he can’t earn a living without his thumbs.
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You are right of course, you shouldn’t be out of pocket by a penny but unfortunately the builder gave you a rather bum steer by telling you to claim yourself, probably unintentionally, but also I suspect to make you ‘go away’ rather than what is technically correct.
I’m afraid I don’t really concur with the answers above which are all about the plumber. It might be his fault ultimately, but that’s irrelevant from your perspective.
I think there are two answers… the technically correct solution and a practical one.
The technical answer is that you shouldn’t have gotten involved with anyone except the owners (not the tenants) of the flat upstairs. The leak was on their property it is they who have the direct liability to you; not the plumber, builder or anyone else. They should have paid you the full amount of any damages. That’s it, end of your involvement.
Of course they could then have claimed the money back from their insurance, or the plumber for being pants or their property managers for sending in a pants plumber or ‘Uncle Tom Cobbley and all’ for all you care. My point is none of that should have been your concern; the leak was on their property not yours. It is they who should be trying to get the £250 back from someone not you. I suspect this is why they have offered to pay half; deep down they probably know that they are liable for the lot.
That’s the technically correct answer and the solution is that you tell the owners of the flat above to pay up the full £250 or you will take them to court where you will win.
The practical answer is based on the fact that of course you may not want to do that. Who wants to fall out with their neighbours after all? In that case I’m afraid the answer is to take the £125 from you neighbours and write the rest off to experience.
You can’t really go after the plumber yourself, you didn’t hire him, you don’t know what he was paid to do and you can’t say what he did or didn’t do. A silly example is the plumber could stand in court and say “I told them not to use the bath without reconnecting the waste pipe, so it’s not my fault”. Silly I know, but you see my point.
If you do decide to pursue this, the best advice (as someone else has said) is to go and see the local CAB.
You have my sympathy since it is obvious all you’ve tried to do is ‘the right thing’ and the plumber really should have held his hands up, admitted his error and claimed on his insurance. It’s unlikely if he was sent in by a management co that he doesn’t have insurance as you usually need cover to get on a managers ‘approved’ list (they are too scared someone might come after them), but he probably doesn’t want to because a) he has an excess & b) his premiums will go up.
I hope whatever you decide to do that it gets sorted soon.
Cheers.
Your Insurance Company should be dealing with this and getting your policy excess back for you. They know where the liability lies and should be claiming their own costs, including your excess) from either the owners of the other flat or their plumber. Put your case in writing to your own Insurer and see what happens. If you don’t get a satisfactory response contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. The plumber may have liability insurance, but it is ridiculously easy in this country to trade without any cover at all.
Not sure how it works in the UK but it sounds like you will need to take them to court. The master policy (policy covering all of property) if there is one should cover this. NO I take that back since the contractor was negligent in his repair his general liability policy should cove that. suing him is probably going to be your only option though.
get the plumbers details and go for a third party claim off his public liability insurance.
take pictures of all the damage your flat sustained. if the plumber ain’t having no of it and refuses to pay the excess take him to court .
Ask yourself . was your flat in reasonable decorative order before the leak.
what damage the leak has caused before the repair was done during / after it was sort of fixed.
incompetent plumber in my eyes why should you have to pay just because its your flat .
This sounds like a situation where you’re going to have to take someone’s thumbs. Go to your local hardware store and get a pair of curved pruning snips. I would start with the plumber, being that this whole thing is his fault in the first place, and he knows very well that he can’t earn a living without his thumbs.