Repeated flooding from flat above

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My OH's mum is disabled and stays in a council flat, the flat above her is a privately owned buy to let. Over the last five years she has had repeated problems with their plumbing leaking down into her flat, at one point her whole bathroom ceiling was replaced by the council.

In the last couple of weeks water has leaked down about four times. The landlord did eventually send a plumber after the second leak but they obviously haven't fixed the fault as she has just called and said water is coming into her cupboard where the consumer unit and electric meter are. I've spoken to the council tonight and they are sending an emergency electrician to check the electrics.

I tried to get the landlord details from the council but they couldn't find them. Given the amount of times this has happened I think it has gone from a genuine accident to simple negligence by the landlord. The council keep coming back with the line we can't do anything as the flat above is privately owned, but they seem to be quite happy to keep wasting money constantly repairing the ceiling.

I think the only way I'm going to get the landlord to do something is if I threaten their profits, as you can imagine having your home repeatedly flooded is quite stressful and my OH's mum has been in tears quite a few times over this. Does anyone know what I can hit them with? Can we send a plumber upstairs and send them the bill? Could we get a private company to do the repairs and again send them the bill? Are they breaking any laws?

TL:DR
flat repeatedly flooded by private buy to let above, landlord of this flat doesn't care, can I hurt them financially/legally to make them care

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I have spoken to both the current and previous tenants. I would say it's definitely nothing they are doing that is causing the leak. With regards to the management company is this the company that manage the flat on behalf of the owner?

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It's a block of council flats. All of them bar the one above my OH's mum are still owned by the council.

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Du1point8 said:

Ask for the buildings insurance off the management company and get it sorted, the same insurance company will cover the whole building so its in their best interests to get it sorted, plus then you have a guarantee on the work.

Wouldnt bother pissing around with the LL or anyone else.

I think from reading what has been said above this is a 'freehold'. I think the building was built in the 40/50s by the council who have looked after it directly since bar the one flat that sold under the right to buy. Just to be clear my OH's mum hasn't been out of pocket a single penny it has been the poor council tax payer footing the bill. This is what I think is the main problem the landlord won't get a proper fix and there's no reason to do so as each repair costs them nothing.


My OH's brother has asked the council to list how many times they have had to repair the flat over the last five years but they have now said he has to submit a freedom of information request to get this, which he has done. My OH's mum is on quite a cocktail of medication for her disabilities, so finds recalling this sort of stuff quite hard.