UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,
I own (leaseholder, mortgage fully paid off) a 2nd floor flat which is the top floor in a 3 storey building. It's in a block of 8 flats which are owned by a Housing Company (previously Council owned).

My tenants advised of water ingress in one of the bedrooms - and sure enough it's coming in through the outside wall, starting about one-third of the way down the wall. The wall was very wet when I checked.   When I spoke to the Housing Company they said that they would repair any damage to the building.  However any internal damage to the flat was my responsibility to sort/pay for.

Now I know the leak/ingress isn't caused by another flat, or a water tank since it's on the other side of the loft. There's no pipework on that side of the building or in the loft  either.  However I do know that there's a damaged gutter on the side of the property where I believe the leak has come in (when it rains, you can hear the water dripping from the gutter and hammering onto the windowsill).

Surely if damage is caused by a problem with the building, then the building owners should also be liable for repairing damage caused internally?   Quite simply, if it weren't for the damaged gutter, then I wouldn't have water in my flat. 


To cap it all, I have spoken to said Housing Company about 5 times over the past 8-10 years or so, asking them to sort out the gutter with them never doing anything about it. I'm seriously hacked off about it!

This illustrates one of the many drawbacks of buying a leasehold property.Flats are often the first step on the ladder for either one's own home or a BTL. I have learnt a lot over the years,and would never touch one with a bargepole again.In your case, I think it would be expected that you would claim on your own insurance.If this is just a case of getting it dry and painting that wall I doubt if it would be worth paying the excess however.Have they actually done the external work now?