Subsidence claim due to bad workmanship

[nickyla]

Hi,
I'm having a bit of a nightmare with my flat at the moment and wonder if anybody can help with some advice?

I own a 2 bed maisonette which occupies the top two floors of a victorian townhouse. There are 2 flats occupying the three floors below my flat which are owned by the same landlady.

A few months ago a window company was brought in to replace the sash windows in the two flats below mine with double glazing, including 3 sets of large bay windows which run down the rear of the property. My kitchen has a bay window which is part of this same structure, and since the windows beneath have been replaced large cracks (up to 8mm) have appeared down both sides of my bay, and the whole bay window area has visibly dropped, meaning that two of the windows no longer close properly and the window frames themselves have cracked and moved. I still have the original sash windows, which to be fair are not in good condition, but were functioning as windows which closed fully prior to this problem.

I have put in a claim on my buildings insurance as soon as i visited the property and saw the damage (my tenants didn't inform me of the problem), hoping that they would then recover damages from the window company (the whole building is joint freehold, and insured under the same policy which I pay one third of each year) and am still waiting for a decision from the insurers (the claim form went in about a month ago). The assessor that came out said there was a clear problem resulting from poor workmanship by the window company, who have probably removed structural elements from the windows, which were part of the original sash windows. The assessor also told me that his feeling is the insurance will not cover the damages since it is resulting from work on the property by an external company and my policy did not include accidental damage.

I'm very worried about the situation, as new tenants have moved in (one of whom is a good friend of mine) and I obviously need to get the problem sorted before the colder weather sets in (there are gaps of a couple of centimetres in some places where the windows no longer close properly).

Where will I stand legally if the insurers will not cover the damage?

many thanks,
Nicky

[ashburnham]

From what you have written it is 100% the fault of the window installers. This has also been confirmed by the assessor. It is true that your buildings insurance is unlikely to cover this but assuming the window company used was a professional business then they should have public liability insurance in place and it is them that the claim should be made against. If you have legal assistance/expenses cover (either separately or built in to your buildings insurance) then they will help. Even if you don't, your buildings insurer may provide some assistance anyway.

[nickyla]

Thanks. Have just had a phonecall from insurance company confirming that they will not cover the damage...and will not offer legal assistance.

I've no idea how to proceed with this as i have never made a claim against a company before. Should I obtain a structural engineer's report in the first instance? I'm very stressed out about it all as i am on a low income and have just wiped out my savings making repairs to the flat after some previous tenants left it in a state.

Many thanks

[Poppy]

Have you spoken to your fellow freeholder about the building's structural problem? Do they agree that the problem appears to be caused by the window company's work? What have they said? Has your fellow freeholder contacted the window company about a possible/probable claim?

You both need to present a united front on this matter.

[ashburnham]

I would suggest writing to the contractor holding them responsible for the damage caused. If they act correctly then they should forward your correspondence to their liability insurers for them to sort out and things will progress from there.

If you do not get a reply (either from the contractor or their insurer), contact them via phone to find out why. Try to obtain details of their liability insurer (name of insurer and policy number) and then you can submit a claim directly to them.

If unsuccessful with both of these "free" options then the only route to take would be either a small claims or a solicitor but this would be better than just sorting out the damage to you property yourself.

[nickyla]

Thanks very much for the advice...that's really helpful. Will get started on this asap and keep the site updated on progress.

[nickyla]

Hi all, I wonder if anyone can offer me further advice as the situation regarding the bay windows has developed somewhat (without a resolution) over the last year.

Going back to after I first posted on this website, I then commissioned a structural engineer to investigate the damage to the property and write a report that I could use to get the window company to pay attention to the problem that they had caused. This first report concluded that the newly installed double glazing to the bay windows on the 3 floors below my flat was not fit for purpose, with the central vertical glazing bar being too small and not transferring the vertical loads adequately. The report also stated that the lateral stability of the bay structure was likely to consist of physical attachments of the first and second floor joists to the timber frame of the bay, but that these are not very robust connections and are easily disturbed.

The window company that installed the double glazing did not carry out a survey of the bay structure prior to installation, had they done so it is unlikely that the work would have been carried out without my consent as the owner of one of the flats in the building (because the structure of the bay was at risk).

Following this report, the window company responsible met me at the property a couple of times and commissioned their own structural engineer to investigate the issues. The conclusions of this report were:

There is a degree of movement to the bay structure partially due to the installation of windows,

The central supports in the newly installed windows adequately support the timber frame construction about them

The cracking to the plaster in my flat was due to inadequate temporary support at the time of installation.

Following a series of meetings between the two structural engineers at the property, they have now established that there is a rotten piece of timber (part of the frame of the bay) at the base of the bay structure which is responsible for some historical subsidence of the bay, and that this should be addressed prior to any remedial works to ensure that a long term solution is met. It will also be necessary to investigate the fixing of the timber deck to the floor joists at each level and improve the fixing where required.

We are joint freeholders of the property (myself and the owner of the 2 flats beneath mine who instructed the window company to install the double glazing in the first place).

If anybody can help with answers to the following questions I would be most grateful:

Does the owner of the 2 flats beneath mine have a legal requirement to give support from below to my flat?

Will I be partially liable for the cost of necessary repairs to the bay structure within her part of the building (as joint freeholder?)

The window company have agreed to replace the bay window in my flat free of charge, and to repair the plasterwork where required. Is it reasonable to also expect them to reimburse the structural engineer fees that myslelf and the other property owner have incurred trying to remedy the situation (these are about £1300 to date) - if this was to go to court would they be considered liable for these?

Many thanks for your help

[leaseholdanswers]

Does the owner of the 2 flats beneath mine have a legal requirement to give support from below to my flat?

The structure is the responsibility of the freeholder;where it begins and ends depends on the wording of each lease. If the entire bay is demised to a flat owner then it is theirs to repair.

Will I be partially liable for the cost of necessary repairs to the bay structure within her part of the building (as joint freeholder?)

See above

If the failure to the bay arose from your new windows the freeholders can take action against you as leaseholder (who in turn sues the window company)

The window company have agreed to replace the bay window in my flat free of charge, and to repair the plasterwork where required. Is it reasonable to also expect them to reimburse the structural engineer fees that myslelf and the other property owner have incurred trying to remedy the situation (these are about £1300 to date) - if this was to go to court would they be considered liable for these?

They should complete all works to the satisfaction of the engineer, but the court may not award all costs incurred.

Many thanks for your help[/QUOTE]