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Water Leak From Upstairs Apartment

Water Leak From Upstairs Apartment

Postby deb » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:49 am

We don't know if anyone has experienced this but we have extensive damage to our property due to the leaking shower waste of the upstairs apartment. It was literally raining in through the bathroom ceiling and extended into the second bedroom wardrobe. Our President had noticed the damage as he kindly inspects our apartment on a regular basis when we are in the UK.
We arranged a flight to get back out as soon as we could and in the meantime the President informed the upstairs tenants. They have another bathroom so could use that instead - or so we thought!

Once he cleared the two inches of water from the floor it was evident that the water had damaged the woodwork, fittings and fixtures and mold or mildew was on the furniture, clothing, shoes, luggage, bedding, towels and just about everywhere.
On entering our lovely little home the smell hit us as did the sound of dripping water. The tenants had continued to use the shower and the damage was shocking.
The Russian owner of the property above lives and works near Madrid. She was not interested when the agent, in Quesada, tried to get her to repair the shower tray waste. She avoided his phone calls and only occasionally answered her emails. He does not have an address for her.
After a long discussion with the tenants above they agreed to not continue to use that particular shower until it is fixed. That was a month ago and still we are waiting.
In the meantime I contacted our insurance company who have been out and assessed our damage which will I assume be claimed back from the neighbours insurance.
They have set a date for repairs of the 3rd of October but now we are really worried as our neighbour has not done anything about the leak. She indicated to the agent that she has contacted her insurance company and has given him a policy number.
We got in touch with our administrators of our urbanisation who advised that there is nothing they can do as it's a private matter between owners.
We are in an awful mess and wondered if anyone has experience of this kind of problem and what they can recommend.
By the way, the agent who is well known in Quesada for letting properties is now fed up with the whole situation and refuses to have anything to do with it.
deb
 
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Re: Water Leak From Upstairs Apartment

Postby donaduo » Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:54 pm

Name and shame the agent. If he's not protecting the interests of the apartment's owner, potential landlords on this forum nee to know who to avoid.
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Re: Water Leak From Upstairs Apartment

Postby deb » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:12 pm

donaduo wrote:Name and shame the agent. If he's not protecting the interests of the apartment's owner, potential landlords on this forum nee to know who to avoid.




Hi donaduo,

I have spoken directly in the office on a couple of occasions to this agent. At first he seemed really nice and willing to help but then after we said he should do something as he was the agent he changed and told us basically to stop bothering him and that he'd gone over and above what he should have done to help!

He now refuses to answer my emails, calls and texts. I haven't given up and just hope that he will see it's not good business practice to ignore this kind of thing. The tenants themselves feel he has some responsibility if the owner is not responding. He takes the monthly rent after all.

I can't mention his name on this site directly which I hope you understand but his office is located near to Consum.
I think they deal with holiday lets as well. It's a shame as you would think his reputation would mean something to him. That said perhaps he has some bigger issues to deal with and our problem is not significant enough to him?

Thanks for replying....it means a lot!
deb
 
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:20 am
Which part of Spain are you from?: Dona Pepa
Gender: Female

Re: Water Leak From Upstairs Apartment

Postby Paul Uden » Sun Sep 24, 2017 4:18 pm

The basic procedure is for the upstairs to claim it on their insurance, but then not everyone is insured. In any case they are responsible. A good agent would liaise with the owner to get the situation resolved. We are currently in a similar situation where the owner is uninsured, but luckily we only have cosmetic damage and they have accepted responsibilty and are cooperating, albeit it is taking several weeks already. I hope it works out for you in due course as it usually the downstairs that suffers most even though it is not their fault.
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Re: Water Leak From Upstairs Apartment

Postby deb » Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:21 am

Paul Uden wrote:The basic procedure is for the upstairs to claim it on their insurance, but then not everyone is insured. In any case they are responsible. A good agent would liaise with the owner to get the situation resolved. We are currently in a similar situation where the owner is uninsured, but luckily we only have cosmetic damage and they have accepted responsibilty and are cooperating, albeit it is taking several weeks already. I hope it works out for you in due course as it usually the downstairs that suffers most even though it is not their fault.



Thank you Paul, We arrive back in Quesada later this week. I'm dreading entering the apartment to see the mess. It's a shame but the agent is not responding to us anymore. Our only option is to walk into his office and confront him but on past experience I think he will be unwilling to do anything to help.

We are not 100% sure that the owner of the apartment above even has valid insurance. In the past she has run up a large community charge bill as she has a large mortgage on the apartment. Since the value of properties fell she is now presumably in negative equity and needs to rent it out long term. I would think she doesn't pay tax on the rental income either.

I hope you manage to get the repairs done to your property soon. It sounds as though your neighbour is co-operating. I have heard that there are many people not insured within communities. In the UK we own a buy to let flat whereby the building insurance is compulsory and is included in the annual maintenance or community fees to stop this problem arising.
deb
 
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Which part of Spain are you from?: Dona Pepa
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