We had a leak.................

[Alison556]

Well, we didn't but my upstairs neighbour did.

Came home on Saturday to find water coming through the kitchen ceiling, pouring down the wall and out of the window frame and it was even pouring down the outside of the window from the lintel.

My upstairs neighbour - again!

She told me that her kitchen sink was blocked and that's what the problem was, but I can't see how a blocked u-bend could possibly cause water to pour from her house into mine. She's flooded us before and lied through her teeth about the cause (so she couldn't be held liable) and I'm wondering if she's doing it again.

According to her, she was draining the fat from mince and forgot to pour hot water down the drain after it (don't fancy her mince if it's got that much fat in it!) and it blocked the u-bend. She says the water started coming up her washing machine waste.

Am I right in my thinking that as long as she didn't have the taps on in the kitchen sink, it shouldn't have escaped the pipe and caused flooding? I can't understand how it could possibly have happened. Even if it was backflowing into her washing machine, there would have to have been a hellish amount of water to pour out of the machine? And the sink would have filled up before it overflowed? She's making out that because it came up the washing machine waste, it poured out that way.

That aside, I went up to her at 4.45pm on Saturday to tell her that water was pouring through the ceiling and she didn't get the plumber out till after 9am on Sunday morning and we had water coming through the ceiling and window frame constantly for that whole time - another reason that I can't see how a blocked drain could do that.

Can anyone tell me if it sounds feasible or if she's spinning me a line to get out of having to repair my kitchen again?

 

[seco services]

if she has a standpipe waste for her washing mashing and the pipe gets blocked further down yes the next place the waste will escape is the standpipe for the washing machine.
but as you say you had water coming through the whole time.
the waste will only overflow if someone is filling the sink the whole time.

 

[Alison556]

I'm not sure what a standpipe waste is but her washing machine waste is the same as ours - it's tapped into the sink waste above the u-bend.

I bloomin knew she was lying again - to get out of an insurance claim. Bloody woman.

Thanks though.

 

[seco services]

as you say its tapped into the sink waste then she hasn't got a standpipe.

 

[Alison556]

I've looked to see what a standpipe is - even if she did have one, would that still cause the type of leak she/we had? I'd have thought that water would still have to be running for it to overflow and keep on running?

 

[Onetap]

I bloomin knew she was lying again - to get out of an insurance claim. b****y woman.

Why should that get her out of an insurance claim? If your flat has been damaged by her water, ask for details of her house insurance. She'll learn rapidly then.

She's been negligent, she's liable. It's not your concern what her problem was. Probably claim on your insurance and they recover the costs from her insurers.

And no, the water would have stopped when she turned the washing machine off. Even if the washing machine solenoid valve had failed open, it would be simple to turn off the water at the valve on the hose outlet.

I would have turned off the mains water supply in the street. Leaving it running for 16 hours is just daft.

 

[Alison556]

She gave me her insurance details but my insurance company have said that if it's deemed accidental then her insurers won't pay out but I'm going to phone them back and see if somebody else can clarify that. I just didn't want left with a claim on my insurance and out of pocket for the excess.

I asked her to turn her water off but she said she didn't need to for a blocked drain and anyway she can't turn her water off - I've seen her stopcock and when she got her kitchen fitted, it's been made virtually inaccessable. I had tried to turn her water off the last time she flooded us and couldn't get in to it. And I don't know how to do it at the mains.

She just didn't believe me about the amount of water that was coming through the ceiling.

The last time she flooded us, she got her plumber (who is her brother-in-law) to report that it was a concealed pipe that had failed and she couldn't know anything about it, so couldn't be held liable - total lies because according to her, all her kitchen pipework was embedded in a brick wall!!!!!

 

[DCPlumbing]

An insurance company that doesn't pay out for accidental damage
Do they insure cars? will they only pay out if you intend to drive into another car? I would look a little deeper into that one.

Its also bad practice to pour any type of solidifying material down the drain. Following it down with hot water will only drive it deeper until it reaches the point at which the liquid returns to a solid. Your drains will probably be suffering the equivalent of very high cholesterol

 

[radsik]

Its also bad practice to pour any type of solidifying material down the drain. Following it down with hot water will only drive it deeper until it reaches the point at which the liquid returns to a solid. Your drains will probably be suffering the equivalent of very high cholesterol

My thoughts exactly, assuming you all share a drain then she is slowly blocking them by doing this which no doubt will cost everyone when they eventually start to back up!!

 

[Alison556]

There's four of us share the drain and she blocked it 4 times in the space of three weeks at the end of last year. Of course, she denied it was her, but the position of the choke meant it had to either come from her house or mine and I know for a fact that it didn't come from my house.

I'll definitely look into the insurance though.

Thank you for all the advice. Wish me luck!

 

[RigidRaider]

What a pain in the arse! Time to move home?

It's my belief that most of Britain's population is drunk after 6 pm, are you sure she wasn't out cold with a couple of bottles of Chardonnay beside her? Is she fat with watery, rheumy eyes?

It might be worth suggesting she pours the next lot of fat into an old yoghurt pot and drops it in the bin. My Mum used to keep the fat in a jar for cooking with.

 

[Alison556]

My purchase of the house only went through a month ago, so I don't wanna be moving!!!

And I don't think she's a drinker but I don't think she's every shared drains with anyone before! She's one of these people that can't be bothered with anything.

I still can't believe that her mince produced so much fat!!!!!! She must use really cheap and nasty mince - there's never any fat on my mince!

I still dispute the whole blocked sink story though. I think it's her brother-in-laws bad plumbing!

I told her two months ago I could hear dripping water and around that time, I noticed a water mark on my kitchen ceiling although it didn't feel wet to touch - and lo and behold that's exactly where the water came pouring through last weekend!

 

[The Baker]

My purchase of the house only went through a month ago, so I don't wanna be moving!!!

And I don't think she's a drinker but I don't think she's every shared drains with anyone before! She's one of these people that can't be bothered with anything.

I still can't believe that her mince produced so much fat!!!!!! She must use really cheap and nasty mince - there's never any fat on my mince!

I still dispute the whole blocked sink story though. I think it's her brother-in-laws bad plumbing!

I told her two months ago I could hear dripping water and around that time, I noticed a water mark on my kitchen ceiling although it didn't feel wet to touch - and lo and behold that's exactly where the water came pouring through last weekend!

What occures to me is that her "plumbing brother may be doing work to the property that the letting agent and the landlord have not autherised, also could her plumbers work contravine the water by-laws.

Talk to building control if the letting agent /landlord are not interested, what have you got to loose.

Tim

 

[Alison556]

Unfortunately, she's an owner occupier. I'd love to have somebody check over the work in her house because to flood me twice is more than a slight inconvenience. The man that lived in the house before never had any problems, but since she moved in, there has been nothing but bother with leaks and blocked drains. To let you understand, it's a block of four council houses that have been bought - I was the last to buy mine - lived there for nearly 10 years but just put my purchase through last month.

 

[Agile]

Alison, you are missing the point about claiming from her insurance!

You need to claim from HER !

If she is insured then her insurance will pay your claim on her behalf.

You need to write a letter headed Letter before Action and state the particulars of your claim, basically that she was negligent and caused water to overflow or leak and even though you had advised her of the consequences she was reckless as to the damage it was causing and did not bother to get professional assistance until the next day.

If she does not pay up then file an online claim in the county court.

Tony