Right Now: Make It Safe
If water is coming through a ceiling light or near sockets, don’t touch them. Switch off the electricity at the consumer unit if you can reach it from somewhere dry. Put buckets down, move belongings, and keep clear of any ceiling that’s sagging — old lath-and-plaster ceilings in tenements hold a lot of water before they give way.
Contact the Flat Above
Go upstairs and knock. Most leaks from above are a bath or shower seal, a washing machine hose, a toilet cistern or a pipe joint, and the neighbour can often stop it by turning off their stopcock or the appliance.
If nobody answers, try your factor if you have one, and leave a note. If water is pouring and you can’t get access, call an emergency plumber — in some tenements the flat’s stopcock is in the common stair and can be turned off from there.
Who Is Responsible for the Leak?
In Scotland, tenement repairs are governed first by your title deeds, and where the deeds are silent or unclear by the Tenement Management Scheme under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. As a general rule:
- A pipe, fitting or appliance that serves only one flat is normally that flat owner’s responsibility.
- Pipes that serve more than one flat — such as a shared rising main or soil stack — are often treated as common, with repair costs shared between the owners who use them.
- Your title deeds can change these rules, so check them or ask your factor or solicitor.
The Act also requires every tenement flat owner to have buildings insurance for their flat. For impartial help with tenement repairs, the Scottish Government’s guidance on mygov.scot and the Under One Roof website are good places to start. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Insurance: What to Do
- Photograph and video the damage and the source of the leak as soon as you can.
- Tell your home insurer promptly, and ask your neighbour to tell theirs.
- Keep receipts for any emergency work, drying equipment or replacement items.
- Ask the plumber for a short written note of what caused the leak — insurers and factors find it very helpful.
Getting the Leak Found and Fixed
Sometimes the obvious culprit isn’t the cause: water can track along joists and pipes and appear several feet from where it started, or even come from two floors up. We trace the source properly before anything is opened up, isolate what we can, and give you and your neighbour the facts to take to insurers. See our leak detection and repair service, or call us now if it’s still coming through.
