Leaking roof has damaged landlord's property - who's liable?

[Mobile Chicane]

Hi guys/girls,

As above.

The recent storm has caused my roof to leak, and this has caused some water damage to a rug belonging to my landlord. (I rent fully furnished.)

When I took on the tenancy, a condition was to insure the landlord's possessions against accidental damage, which I'm afraid I didn't do, due to the excessive premiums involved. I'm a careful person, and thought I could do without the extra cover.

However, the roof has leaked, and the rug is now water marked. My question being, who is liable for this? It is my landlord's responsibility to claim on his buildings insurance for the roof leak, or mine to claim on my contents for the resulting damage?

TVMIA.

[davepoth]

Your contents insurance would claim from him for the hole in the roof, presumably, which would be paid out his insurance. There will be an excess so it's likely that nobody will get any money apart from the insurers.

[northandy]

Worth trying one of those rug doctor cleaning things on it?

[Mobile Chicane]

Unfortunately said rug will be an insurance claim to clean. It isn't the kind of thing you could just go over with Mr Muscle. It's big, too.

[Davel]

Just a thought but it's your Landlord's roof which has leaked and damaged his carpet.

Shouldn't he be claiming himself?

It's not through any negligence or damage on your part...

I should add that I am a Landlord and wouldn't even try to hold a Tenant liable in this type of situation!

Edited by Davel on Monday 30th December 22:43

[anonymous-user]

God I'm tight but I would probably pay the few quid for accidental damage,

Just out of interest, What if any other conditions have you not complied with as part of the agreement

[Mobile Chicane]

Davel said:

Just a thought but it's your Landlord's roof which has leaked and damaged his carpet.

Shouldn't he be claiming himself?

It's not through any negligence or damage on your part...

I should add that I am a Landlord and wouldn't even try to hold a Tenant liable in this type of situation!

That's good to know, however I'm concerned that the tenancy specifically said that I should insure the landlord's possessions against accidental damage.

I didn't do this, thinking the furniture was all old and knackered, and that if he should get crabby, it could easily be replaced with something equally old and knackered from Oxfam.

However it has subsequently come to light that the carpet I thought was a cheap machine-made Chinese fake, is in fact a hand-knotted Persian worth some £8-10k. (Independently verified.)

Hence my question: who is liable for the cleaning of this artifact? I certainly didn't know this when I took the tenancy on, otherwise I'd have insured it.

[Sheets Tabuer]

As a landlord (ok my family lives in my houses) I'd expect if my roof leaked and ruined my carpet I'd foot the bill.

perhaps I'm, too nice.

[Davel]

Mobile Chicane said:

That's good to know, however I'm concerned that the tenancy specifically said that I should insure the landlord's possessions against accidental damage.

I didn't do this, thinking the furniture was all old and knackered, and that if he should get crabby, it could easily be replaced with something equally old and knackered from Oxfam.

However it has subsequently come to light that the carpet I thought was a cheap machine-made Chinese fake, is in fact a hand-knotted Persian worth some £8-10k. (Independently verified.)

Hence my question: who is liable for the cleaning of this artifact? I certainly didn't know this when I took the tenancy on, otherwise I'd have insured it.

Accidental damage caused by you then yes - but this clearly isn't unless you damaged the roof...

[eldar]

Mobile Chicane said:

That's good to know, however I'm concerned that the tenancy specifically said that I should insure the landlord's possessions against accidental damage.

I didn't do this, thinking the furniture was all old and knackered, and that if he should get crabby, it could easily be replaced with something equally old and knackered from Oxfam.

However it has subsequently come to light that the carpet I thought was a cheap machine-made Chinese fake, is in fact a hand-knotted Persian worth some £8-10k. (Independently verified.)

Hence my question: who is liable for the cleaning of this artifact? I certainly didn't know this when I took the tenancy on, otherwise I'd have insured it.

LLs responsibility, as a leaking roof is part of the fabric of the property. The requirement for accident insurance will be for accidents under your control, as it were. IE dropping a glass of red wine on the carpet.

[Mobile Chicane]

Which I didn't - thank you.

[northwest monkey]

I thing the Building insurance will pay for the damage to the carpet - I claimed a few years ago for a downstairs toilet cistern that leaked while we were out. The insurance paid for the damaged flooring etc.

I'm a landlord, and although you admittedly haven't insured the carpet/rest of the belongings, in my opinion if there are £10k rugs etc, then he should be either paying the insurance himself, or swapping the rug for an Ikea one.

[Slagathore]

northwest monkey said:

I'm a landlord, and although you admittedly haven't insured the carpet/rest of the belongings, in my opinion if there are £10k rugs etc, then he should be either paying the insurance himself, or swapping the rug for an Ikea one.

Quite.

I'd love to meet the guy who leaves a £10k rug in a rented property.

Clearly adds no value, he's not going to get extra rent because of the lovely rug that was mistaken for a cheapy item that could be replaced from Oxfam. I can't imagine any scenario where leaving it in the property would make sense.

How do you know it's worth £10k? Have you confessed to the landlord you didn't take insurance out and that it's damaged and he told you it's worth that?

I'd expect his insurance to cover it, either way.

[Mobile Chicane]

Re: value. The landlord has admitted that the carpet came with the house when he bought it.

I'm guessing that he had no idea it was worth that much. If so, he'd have sold it / never have left it in a rental property.

However, so long as he can't stiff me for the cleaning, I'm happy.

Thanks to all who have contributed.

[oldcynic]

Surely you would have needed to now the value of the rug in order to insure it correctly?

[Davel]

Agreed but you'd only ever cover it for damage caused by you or your family / guests not for any damage caused as has happened here.

I also agree that it is far too expensive an item to leave in a Tenanted property. I'd be scared to even walk over it!

[northandy]

8-10k for a rug? In a rented house?. Blimey he's a trusting fella!.

[Burgmeister]

His roof leaked, his rug got wet, his problem.

Make sure he's aware thats what caused the marks though just in case he tries to do you out of some of your deposit when you decide to move on.

[Davel]

Oh and did anything of yours get wet as a result of the Landlord's leaking roof - and through no fault of yours?

Not serious really...

[dazwalsh]

He is a daft bugger having a rug of that value in there, but surely it can be cleaned in some way by a specialist?!

But it shouldn't come to that, his roof leaked on his property. Damage wasn't caused by you so it shouldn't go through your non existent insurance.

Edited by dazwalsh on Tuesday 31st December 19:29