Liability for damage in flats

[Chuckles]

Can anyone help me with this?

About a week ago, the guy in the flat below knocked on my door and said there was a problem in his bathroom. He showed me round and the ceiling was very damp and there was a patch of about 1 foot square which was sagging.

His bathroom is directly under mine.

A couple of days later I got a letter from the Management company saying he had informed them that it had caused the partial collapse of the ceiling plaster and damage to the walls. I'd actually dispute the damage to the walls as I used to get mould as well and it was due purely to poor ventilation/condensation.

I got a guy in to have a look at it and he found that there was a problem with where the plug joins the plastic pipe under the plug. When the water drains, there is a very small leak (like 1 drop every 5 seconds). This was due to their not being an O ring between the two.

I've lived there for 5 years and when I bought it, they had just put in the bathroom so had obviously cut corners.

It's fixed now, but given that it was such a tiny leak, I'll be a bit pissed if I have to pay for any damage to the flat below because it must have been like that for years and getting worse and worse and only brought to light when it was too late.

I've written this letter in response. Does it sound OK? I want to say it's now sorted but I don't want to admit liability if possible.

Dear *******

I refer you to your letter ref ********.

I can confirm that I have now instructed a contractor to investigate and repair the fittings to the bathroom of my flat.

When the bath was installed by a previous owner, an “O-Ring” was not fitted between the plug and the pipe which carries out water drained from the bath. This caused occasional droplets of water to spill onto the floor which potentially could seep through to the flat below.

He highlighted that the leak is so gradual any damage to the below flat must have occurred over a long period of time, and in his opinion, the damage could have been avoided if the problem was brought to light earlier.

I can also confirm that the leak has been repaired and saturation should now dry out.

As a matter of course, he also reapplied sealant to bath and adjacent wall although in his opinion, this was not to source of the problem.

If I am able to claim reinstatement for the partial or full cost of his work, please supply me with details on how to do this

This guy that fixed it was actually the girl I'm datings brother who did it for beer money so I'm not bothered about claiming back on insurence. Especially as I bet there's excess which will be much more!

Ta muchly