He drowned his neighbors from below: what to do? Compensation for damage

Has drowned neighbors from below - what to do? This issue arises when a flooded apartment is found and causes panic in people. After all, damage can be inflicted not only on your property, but on someone else's. If you flooded the neighbors from below, what to do, how to assess the damage and peacefully resolve the conflict with the injured party, find out from this article.

First steps

In the case when you flooded the neighbors, you need to try to get out of the unpleasant situation with the least expenditure of your time, nerves and means. To do this, it is necessary to first find the cause of the emergency and close the tap, which is on the riser. Next, you must de-energize the entire apartment and call a plumber from the housing office. To reduce the possible damage to neighbors, you should try to collect as much water from the floor.

It is also necessary to talk with the neighbors, explaining to them what happened. There are situations when the affected party from the person who flooded the neighbor from below, requires money. What to do in this case? It is necessary to find out who is to blame for what happened and on whom the damage will be compensated. After all, despite the fact that the water flowed from your apartment, the wine does not always lie on you.

Not understanding the conditions of apartment insurance, people ask the question: "I drowned my neighbors from below - what to do?". There is insurance - it means you need to call your insurance company and, in detail describing the situation, act according to the instructions of the company's employees.

How to determine the culprit of flooding

How to understand who is to blame for flooding the apartment? In cases where water has not been turned off or the faucet that needs repair has not been changed for a long time, you will be to blame for what happened. In this case, it is necessary to compensate the neighbors for all the damage they incurred.

If the flooding of neighbors has occurred due to the breakdown of the riser, the fault for the incident will lie on the organization servicing the house. Since the riser is legally considered to be a common property, the organization hired by the management company should have taken up its timely replacement. In such a situation, all victims must write a collective application addressed to the company's service house.

If a dwelling is used under a contract of employment, it is also necessary to understand the cause of flooding. In accordance with the legislation, the owner must pay for capital repairs, and the duty of the employer becomes the implementation of current repairs. The owner will be responsible for the malfunctions in the batteries and pipes that led to flooding. The tenant will respond in cases where the apartment was flooded because of an unclosed crane.

Compensation - who is obliged to pay?

Even when the culprit of the flood is defined, the question arises to the man who flooded the neighbors from below: "What should I do?". The accommodation is carried out depending on who caused the damage to someone else's property.

If you are the culprit of flooding, you should try to negotiate with the neighbors "on the spot". You can try to immediately discuss the damage and the amount of its refund. Most often, neighbors do not want to contact state structures and prefer to solve the problem peacefully.

In the event that the flooding occurred due to the inattention of the organization servicing the house, you and your neighbors are injured, so you have the right to apply to the Housing and Communal Services with the demand to compensate for the damage.

If the owner of a house is guilty in an emergency, he is obliged not only to compensate for all the damage done to his neighbors, but also to cover the cost of your personal property that was damaged as a result of flooding.

Damage assessment

Floating an apartment rarely does without damage to another's property, and immediately questions arise: "How to understand the size of someone else's damage if a person floods neighbors from the bottom? What to do? How is the assessment conducted? ".

There are several ways to assess and recover damages from flooding the apartment:

• After discussing with the neighbors the approximate cost of damages and obtaining mutual consent, you can pay the amount to the injured. It is necessary to draw up an act in which the agreed amount of damage will be recorded, suiting both sides.
• It is also possible, together with the neighbor, to determine the amount of materials that are needed to restore the property. After you buy all this in stores at your own expense and pay the cost of repair work in the apartment.

Independent Expertise

In cases where it is not possible to reach agreement with the injured party, the neighbors' losses are estimated in other ways:

1. The call of an independent expert. His services can be paid jointly or by one of the parties (this is decided by the parties to the conflict). On the basis of the expert's conclusion, a payment is made. In the event that one of the parties does not agree with the decision of the specialist, she may require additional examination or trial of the case in court.
2. The court can resolve the conflict of interests on the basis of the submitted documents: photographs of the affected apartment, testimony of witnesses, the compiled report. The court may also order an expert examination.

Negotiations with neighbors

Having discussed the situation with neighbors, it is possible to solve the problem with the least losses. After all, with polite communication it will turn out not to bring the matter to court, but to do with a small compensation. Especially if the neighbors themselves admit that they already had old repairs, and when personal property was flooded, they did not suffer.

If the neighbor is still determined to go to court, you can try to dissuade him, giving the following arguments:

• All costs and expenses are paid by the claimant. Although the amount is usually small, but it is necessary to pay it before the trial begins. Since it is impossible to predict the court's decision in advance, the neighbor may well incur unnecessary expenses.
• The services of the assessment expert, in the event of a court order, are also paid by the injured party. The call of the specialist will have to be done without fail, since the court will be able to make a decision on damages only with the help of the collected information.
• The court will be able to take into account only the official earnings of the defendant. So if you are not working under an agreement, you can be obliged to pay no more than 1/5 of the subsistence minimum. Neighbors usually hope to get the whole amount at once, and the message that payments will occur within a few years can cool their fervor.

Nuances of compensation

• The amount of damage will not be calculated from the purchase price of the property, but from the estimated value. So, technology can be valued at two and three times cheaper, compared to the purchase price. Also, the court often stops paying not for the purchase of new equipment, but only for repairing the old one.
• If the injured party requires compensation for moral damage, then in court it will have to be confirmed by a doctor's conclusion or by checks for the purchase of medicines.

If you do not agree

Often there are cases when the injured party does not even want to hear that someone else is to blame, but insists that, once the water has poured from above, then you are to blame. Or, instead of a peaceful discussion of compensation, threatens the court. In this case, proceed as follows:

1. It is necessary to try to negotiate with the injured party. If you do not want to waste your time and nerves on court hearings, you should ask your neighbor how much he wants for the damage done.
2. It is necessary to record the results of flooding in someone else's apartment. With the permission of the owner, you need to photograph the rooms. Separately photograph the affected electronics, pay attention to the condition of the walls and places from where the water hit the apartment.
3. The act of flooding must be formalized according to all the rules. The form can both be found on the Internet, and ask the representatives of municipal services. When completing the act, the perpetrator, the victim and the witnesses must be present. The act is signed by the chief engineer or his deputy and a plumber. Later this act will help to recover material compensation from the management company.
4. Leave a copy of the act. It must also have all the signatures, otherwise it will lose its legal force.
5. If the act was drawn up in your absence, then you need to get it in your hands in the Housing office.

There are situations when people find it difficult to choose the right solution or continue to worry that they have flooded the neighbors from below. What to do? A lawyer can provide professional help and solve your problem. Usually many companies provide first consultations for free, and thus you will receive professional help without material losses.