Burst Kitchen Tap Flexi Hose - Insurance Question

Lchunkyduck on 30/06/2023 - 22:15

Hi all, hoping someone can offer some advice please.

Owner-occupied apartment in Canberra. Woke up to burst kitchen flexi hose at 3am in January, flooded my kitchen and half the living area. Called flood emergency services to attend.

Unfortunately water also entered adjoining neighbour's apartment and they called a different flood service to attend.

The neighbour's carpet drying/cleaning bill has been sent to the strata manager, who has advised me the building strata insurance does not cover carpet, so I have to pay the $2.6k bill. (Also wondering if part of this bill is structural drying of the cement slab, which should be covered by building insurance and would need to be separated out.)

At the time I did not have contents insurance for my place (I purchased it straight away after the flood). Am I responsible for the bill for my neighbour's wet carpet? I would have thought the neighbour would claim on their contents insurance and then I may pay their excess out of good will. But does that mean their insurance company would come pursue me for damages? Thanks in advance. Just so confused about insurance, for example if their bed, TV and clothes were all damaged, would I be liable for those too?

Thanks in advance, just want this 5 month saga to be over.

Home & Garden Home Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • mbck on 30/06/2023 - 22:31
    +1

    That's not how it works. The neighbour would pay their excess, and their insurer will seek from you to pay for the damages.

    They do have to itemise the bill (it'll be how long the dryer was rented for), so I don't think it'll be too much.

    Technically if you had insurance, then your neighbour's insurer will talk to your insurer. Youll only be liable for your excess.

    In this case as you have no insurance, you'll have to eventually talk to their insurer and negotiate.

    https://scanlancarroll.com.au/flooding-or-water-flow-from-yo…

    • chunkyduck on 30/06/2023 - 22:48

      Thank you for your reply.

      I'll talk to the strata manager and carpet cleaners to see if they can itemise the bill in detail. So far it just says "Labour $1,087. Equipment $1,322. Materials, chemicals, PPE $125. I thought the strata manager would know to send the bill to my neighbour so they could lodge a claim with their insurer.

      Thanks for the link too. I'm just confused because it's not as if I caused my pipe to burst. I would understand I'm responsible if I made a bath tub overflow or I axed a pipe. I just thought this would fall under a different category, but I guess I've never had to deal with anything like this before so not sure how it works.

      • mbck on 30/06/2023 - 23:01

        Happened to me when i was living in an apartment.

        Upstairs blocked their toilet, and it leaked a few floors down. Unfortunately the plumber couldn't ascertain who was at fault. So strata covered for the ceiling and walls, while each tenant were responsible for their contents.

        You could try arguing that the landlord (assuming you're renting) didn't look after the plumbing (but you'd need evidence of this). Could also argue the builder didn't do it properly (again, need evidence of this).

        Also remember, whatever the figure is, you can try fighting it. Get the itemised bill for anything the neighbour is claiming, and maybe try getting a third party to quote the work. That may help shave some of the end figure.

        You can also get into a payment plan.

        Good luck and all the best.

        • chunkyduck on 30/06/2023 - 23:11

          Thanks for sharing your experience.

          This is an apartment I have purchased. I think the flexi hose just wore out (in just under 5 years), so unlikely I could argue the builder was at fault. Just general wear and tear, plus a bit of bad luck.

          Thanks heaps for your reply. Been stressing about this for so long, just want it to be over.

  • thatonethere on 01/07/2023 - 08:22

    If you dont want to pay just ignore the bill, mention it will be covered by their insurance (if they have any - like you).

    They could take you to xCAT for payment.

    Also check any strata rules which may direct you to pay as well.

    Wont win you a xmas card from the neighbour though.

    • chunkyduck on 01/07/2023 - 12:09

      The strata manager has asked me if I want to pay now, otherwise they'll add it to my levies if I can't pay now.

      I'm friendly with the neighbour so I don't want to do the wrong thing. I guess I'll have a chat to the strata manager on Monday to see if the bill includes drying of the concrete slab, which should fall under the building insurance.

  • BargainBenno on 01/07/2023 - 08:34

    If the neighbour does not have insurance and send you the bill, you have the option of not paying it but of course the neighbour may pursue you through the legal system. If the neighbour does have insurance, then really have no choice but to pay the bill because the insurance company will pursue you. It’s very unfortunate what has happened but being in a complex like you are in and not having any insurance is a risk.

  • Jetstream on 01/07/2023 - 09:18
    +3

    The damage happened as a result of events in your property = your problem.

    If you paid your neighbours excess ‘out of good will’, their insurance company would still come after you for the damaged about.

    You self insured, now you gotta pay

    • chunkyduck on 01/07/2023 - 12:12

      Ah okay, that makes sense.

      I suppose I'm just young and dumb, never thought my stuff was worth insuring (the most expensive thing I own is my couch) but didn't realise my contents insurance would extend to my neighbour's contents.

  • BargainBenno on 01/07/2023 - 10:25

    We had a situation where a man drove into the back of our old Ford laser and rear ended going about 40 in/h while we were stationary. He got out. We got out of the car and he said oh I’ll give you $500 to get it repaired cause the car was old. He had no 3rd party insurance and refused to pay any more. We took it to our Crash repair and it was $2500 to get fixed then to the insurance companies crash repairer and it was $3600 to get repaired (charge more due to being an insurance job!). Our insurance wrote off the car and we got $2500 but then the insurance company persued him because he was as fault. Not only did they ask for $2500 but another $600 in fees for their time and effort. Sometimes it’s better to just pay up.

    • chunkyduck on 01/07/2023 - 12:22

      I'm born and raised in Australia but never thought that not having insurance in this country could potentially result in financial ruin.

      If there was a lot of damage to my neighbour's contents, that means I could be up for tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars?

      I insured my apartment contents for 100k in January (I don't think I even have 100k of contents), I guess in the PDS it will tell me how much cover there is for damages to adjoining apartments? Acknowledge this may be a stupid question, I don't think school prepared me for the basics of adult life.

      Edit: I see on my policy certificate that the limit of liability is $20 million.

  • Rako on 01/07/2023 - 13:44

    If the flexi hose was part of the original plumbing could it be a strata issue? How old is the building? If a shower recess leaks & it's all original the body corporate is liable for the expense.

    • chunkyduck on 01/07/2023 - 13:59

      It's the original kitchen tap and flexi hose but I'm told that flexi hoses need to be replaced every few years. Something I never knew, wasn't in any manual I ever read. But it is the apartment owner's responsibility, so strata won't cover it.

      Time to fork out the money and just pay the bill.

      • Manny Calavera on 06/07/2023 - 10:08

        When you say flexi hose, do you mean something that you move on the upper side of the sink to get at dishes, or the actual bendy hose that feeds the tap on the underside?

        • Ciderfizz44 on 06/07/2023 - 23:47

          Yes

        • chunkyduck on 08/07/2023 - 20:30

          Yup, the bendy hose that feeds the tap, the stainless steel braided hose underneath the sink.

          I just ended up paying the bill which was $1.9k. The cleaning company ended up doing a detailed breakdown of the invoice and $600 was for the corridor cleaning, which is covered by strata insurance. Overall, not too bad an outcome. Lesson learnt.

          • Manny Calavera on 09/07/2023 - 10:20

            @chunkyduck: The lesson for insurance maybe, but having the tap feeder go is just plain unfortunate.

            • chunkyduck on 09/07/2023 - 23:55

              @Manny Calavera: Yup, unfortunate but apparently very common according to many articles on the web, eg. https://www.bcsystems.com.au/flexi-hose/

              So, also lesson learnt to inspect them regularly and have them replaced. Some advice is to replace every few years regardless of condition… This time I had to buy an entire new tap and have a plumber install it because the flexi hoses apparently don't all have the same size connectors. I had three plumbers tell me this, so not sure how difficult it is just to replace the flexi hose alone.

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