Who should I call if my upstairs neighbors are flooded?

Author of the article:

Muzyko Tatyana Andreevna - lawyer.

Residents of multi-storey buildings sometimes have a question about who should compensate for damage caused by flooding.
The legislator clearly states that the perpetrator must answer. It could be the owner of an apartment located on the floor above, or the management company in case of a break in the water supply or heating system in areas of common property.

Who draws up the act of filling the apartment?

The act of flooding of an apartment is signed by the injured and guilty party, a representative of the management company, HOA or housing maintenance organization and certified by the seal of the management company, HOA or housing maintenance organization.

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If your apartment is flooded, we act quickly and according to the law.

So, the neighbors upstairs are drowning, water is pouring from the ceiling, you are running to them in panic, but they are not at home, what to do, where to go and how to stop this madness? First, breathe out and calm down. Immediately after detecting flooding, contrary to misconceptions, there is no need to rush to the top floor, but you should turn off the power to the apartment to prevent electric shock, which is dangerous to the life of a person and his pets. Secondly, you need to try to reach your neighbors to stop the water. Keep in mind that even the “global flood” does not give you the right to break down your neighbor’s door in order to enter someone else’s home, which according to the law (Article 139 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is inviolable, even if you have good intentions. If the “accident” happened at night, you need to do the same thing - turn off the electricity, go to the neighbors above, calmly tell them that they are drowning you and together try to stop the flood.

If your neighbors opened the door and are ready to help, then you need to turn off the water supply as soon as possible, and only then look for the source of the flood - it could be an open tap, a clogged sink, a broken washing machine, a burst pipe or something else. If turning off the water in the neighbor’s apartment did not help and the waterfall continues to fall from the ceiling, then the cause may be a break in the water supply pipes located inside the walls between floors. In this case, only blocking the common access riser will help, but you will not be able to do this yourself. The same thing as in the previous example will have to be done if the neighbors from above are drowning, but you can’t reach them - there is no one in the apartment or they simply do not want to communicate with you, hiding behind a closed door. In such situations, people wonder where to call and who to call to solve the problem. Let's figure it out.

Here is an algorithm for the correct behavior at the time of an accident (we assume that you lost power to your home and were unable to get into your neighbor’s apartment):

Call the Management Company or emergency service (if the incident happens at night or on a weekend and the management company does not answer the phone). Tell us about the incident and ask them to send a plumber to turn off the water.
Inform those living below you because the water may reach them too.
Take photographs or film the flood itself and all property that suffers or may suffer from it.
After stopping the water, the mechanic needs to call a representative of the housing department and draw up a special report, which will display the fact of the incident, its date and time, the address of the affected apartment, the cause of the flood and the alleged culprit, as well as a list of the damaged property with the name and brand of household appliances (without cost). We’ll talk more about drawing up the act and who should sign it below.
Try to save your property by collecting water.

If they do not live in the apartment or rent it out to tenants

Let's take a little break from active actions and talk in more detail about what to do if the neighbors from above are drowning, but they are not in the apartment - they are at work, do not live there, or rent out housing to tenants.

In the case of tenants, there are three options for the development of events:

The tenants are to blame for the accident - they didn’t turn off the tap or something else - then they will compensate for the damage, and it is to them that you should address your claims.
If pipes burst in a neighbor’s apartment, then the blame for what happened lies with the owner.
If it is not possible to immediately identify the culprit, then the claim should still be made to the owner of the property, and he can then collect it from the tenants.

If your neighbors are simply not at home or they do not live in the apartment, then it is in your interests to help the management company employees find them faster - maybe you have phone numbers, you know the place of work or the address of their current residence. And in the interests of all residents of the entrance, since the riser will be closed and the water supply will be resumed only after the owner is found, and in his presence the cause of the flood is eliminated.

If the owners of the drowning apartment could not be found within 3 days, then:

You will have to write a free-form statement to the police, asking for assistance in eliminating the cause of the flooding of the apartment.
The Housing Maintenance Service will assemble a commission (of five people), invite a local police officer, and he will gather witnesses. This “friendly company” will open the door of the problem apartment, find out and eliminate the cause of the water leak, after which the door will be closed and sealed, and responsibility for the safety of the property will be assigned to the district police officer.
As an additional surprise, its owners will be left with one copy of the completed act inside.

If drunks pour in

What to do in a situation if you are “lucky” with neighbors upstairs - they are drunks, flood you periodically or constantly, do not open the door or are aggressive when you contact them? The steps are approximately the same, but together with the emergency service, you need to call the police in order to protect yourself and record the fact of what happened. Further, everything is according to plan - eliminating the cause of the flooding, an act, saving property, assessing what could not be saved, going to court.

How and within what time frame to draw up an act

Photos and videos from the scene of the incident are also evidence of the scale of the incident, if the neighbors flooded, but do not want to admit to what they did. The main document that will be considered in court is the bay deed - how to draw it up correctly and in what cases it will be considered invalid - we’ll talk about that.

The act of baying is drawn up not by you, but by representatives of organizations responsible for the operation of a particular house - management company, homeowners' association, housing cooperative, regional housing cooperative, housing cooperative, and so on. Please note that a regular plumber who comes to fix a leak does not have such authority. Engineers, technical maintenance technicians, maintenance foremen or maintenance technicians have them - this is important, because otherwise the Flood Act may be invalidated in court. In addition to the representative of the Criminal Code, a locksmith and a representative of the injured party, that is, you and the culprit (the fact of his absence is recorded in the act as a separate entry), must be present during the drawing up.

This document is drawn up in any form, but must contain a list of mandatory information:

Full name of the victim (homeowner or his legal representative).
Address of the flooded apartment.
Date and time the flood was discovered.
Application number in the Unified Dispatch Service. It is important to call the emergency service dispatchers, ask them for the application number and the time of its acceptance. By law, a locksmith must arrive within 2 hours of the call, but he only identifies the cause of the flood and tries to eliminate it.
A brief but succinct description of the flooded premises, indicating their area and listing everything that got wet. You can additionally indicate the height of the water layer on the floor in centimeters if the flood is so global. All household appliances damaged by water are also listed with names and brands, but not costs.
The cause of the flood - it must be clearly formulated, indicating all the likely culprits.
List of all commission members with their signatures.
Seal of the Criminal Code.

The law provides for specific deadlines for drawing up the act, but in order for this process to begin, you will first have to leave an application with the Housing Office. You will find a sample of writing an application to the Housing Office for drawing up a report on flooding of an apartment just below. Let's get back to the deadlines. According to Law No. 55-48/1 of 03/12/2001, 3 calendar days are given for drawing up an act, and according to the new rules (05/06/2011 N 354) - only 12 hours, which is not always feasible. An accident can happen in the evening, when the management companies are no longer working, or on weekends. In such situations, you need to be guided by a 3-day period, and some damage caused by the flood is detected only after a day or two (swelling of parquet and others).

Sometimes Management Companies, being the culprit of the flood, deliberately stall for time, feed the victim breakfast or do not give him a copy of the document, even upon written request. In this case, it would be reasonable to call an independent legal expert, notifying in writing the representative of the management company about the preparation of a new Bay Act and insisting on his presence.

How to write an application to the HOA

I keep my promise - I tell you how to correctly draw up a statement to the housing office in case of flooding with a request to record the fact of what happened. The document is drawn up randomly, but must contain:

Brief description of the accident.
Its date and time.
The number and time of the application to the ODS, the name of the dispatcher who accepted it.
List of filled rooms (without details).
Please identify the cause of the flood and the culprit.

Calculation of damage and peaceful settlement of the issue

In order to adequately calculate the amount of damage when an apartment is flooded, no matter whose fault it is - the neighbors or the operating company supervising the house, and to draw up a claim that is valid when going to court, you need to conduct an independent examination. This is worth doing even if the guilty party agrees to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and promises to compensate everything. Why? Because the verbal promise of some people means absolutely nothing, the next day they can forget about it and their conscience will not torment them, and you will be left with nothing. In addition, the costs of the expert are also indicated in the statement of claim with a request for recovery from the perpetrators.

How to compensate for damage if the perpetrators refuse to pay

If it was not possible to come to a peaceful agreement with the neighbors, that is, they flooded and refused to pay, then you will have to go to court. The statement of claim contains the following information:

The reason for petition.
Date and time of the incident.
Address of the victim and the perpetrator.
Amount of damage.
The fact of an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the issue peacefully.

The application must be supported by documents (certified copies) confirming the legality of the claim - certificates of ownership of the apartment, a deed of registration, results of an independent examination, photographs and others - a lawyer can best advise which ones exactly. The request to assign payment for his services and legal costs to the perpetrators must also be indicated in the application.

The court, as a rule, grants the plaintiff’s application if all documents are drawn up correctly. One such “victory” will immediately put in your place the insolent people who constantly pour water on you, but do not admit their guilt, do not open the door, or openly “send you away” in conversation. There are situations when neighbors regularly heat, but a little at a time, due to old pipes, but do nothing to fix the problem. They do not spoil property, but they leave unpleasant yellow stains on the ceiling and walls, turning a good repair into “nothing.” And in response to your requests they only smile sarcastically and feed you more promises to fix everything. By going to court, you can also fight with neighbors who constantly flood a little - just draw up a report each time and call an appraiser, and when several incidents accumulate, file a claim.

Don’t be afraid to stand up for your rights, especially if your upstairs neighbors are wealthy and insolent people who consider themselves “rulers of the world,” and everyone who lives more modestly as “nobodies.” This category of people needs to be put in their place so that it is discouraging, using only the letter of the law and avoiding assault.

What to do with the ceiling if the neighbors flooded

What to do if your neighbors flooded you and the ceiling in your apartment was damaged? If you notice a wet area on the ceiling, it means that moisture has entered your apartment along the joints and other empty spaces between the panels. Very often, electrical wiring is located in interpanel joints, so getting it wet can cause problems and stop the flow of electricity. Sometimes liquid begins to flow directly onto the lighting fixtures!

This can cause electrical fires and pose a serious danger to the occupants of the home.

If your upstairs neighbors are flooding you, then the most important thing to do for safety reasons is to turn off the electricity .
Next, you need to call the emergency control room or inform the security guard that your neighbors have flooded you, if the house is controlled by an independent company and is under the protection of a special service.
The next thing to do is to go to your neighbors to help eliminate the cause of the accident (if possible) and prevent further spread of moisture.
The source of the flooding has been neutralized, but there will be traces of leaking moisture on your ceiling that need to be repaired. Further actions depend on the type of ceiling covering .

If wood (MDF) or natural wood cladding is used, you should remove wet parts of the cladding as soon as possible after flooding and dry them.

If you observe deformation of individual sections of the ceiling - an increase in the size of parts of the MDF sheathing due to a large amount of moisture - there is no other way out but to install new ones instead, because even after drying they will remain deformed.

Useful recommendations in case you are flooded by your upstairs neighbors and you want to repair the ceiling:

In the case of a tension covering consisting of panels, remove some of them to completely dry the surface underneath.
If the ceiling was painted with water-based paint, damage can be repaired only after it has completely dried.
Do not start painting or whitewashing the ceiling if it is not completely dry! The water that remains inside can appear on the surface of the ceiling through traces of the rusty frame. To deal with this problem, you will need to remove the freshly applied coat of finish. It is better to wait until the ceiling is completely dry after the flood is over and then begin restoration work.

If, after being flooded by your neighbors, you plan to carry out repairs and protect your premises from water using insulation, you will need to carry out this work on a wet concrete surface. To do this, you need to remove all the finishing layers of the ceiling and thoroughly moisten it.

If the flood did not leave any traces of rust on your ceiling, you can eliminate the defects with light cosmetic repairs, touching up only the damaged areas. If you are unlucky and your ceiling remains decorated with rust after being flooded by your neighbors, it is worth spending the extra effort to remove all the paint from the ceiling, then prime the traces of rust with a special solution and only then paint the ceiling again with fresh paint. It is also possible that you will need to smooth out the surface by removing previous finishing layers.

What to do if your apartment is flooded by upstairs neighbors who admit their guilt

What to do if your apartment is flooded and your neighbors agree to admit their guilt? It is best if you can agree with them on material compensation for the damage caused. In the event of a peace treaty, you will not only keep your psyche healthy, but also save yourself from spending on court proceedings. Try not to aggravate the problem with the neighbors who flooded you, but to peacefully discuss all issues and disagreements, find a compromise on all the details.

If, after your neighbors were flooded, you managed to come to a mutual agreement with them on the payment of compensation, put it on paper, indicating the amount of the payment and the time frame within which it will need to be made. This paper is certified by a notary. Compensation may be in the form of monetary compensation or repair of damage to the affected premises.

What to do if you are flooded by your upstairs neighbors and you have a suspended ceiling

If you are flooded by your neighbors and a suspended ceiling is installed in your apartment, the first thing you need to do is calm down: a suspended ceiling can hold a certain amount of water accumulated in it.
Turn off the power. Always, if you are flooded by your upstairs neighbors, this is what you need to do first.
After you notice that your neighbors are flooding, try to determine the source of the accident as soon as possible. Contact your neighbors, call management companies, leave a request with the dispatcher. Urgently call the emergency crew to block the water supply and eliminate the source of the problem.
If your neighbors are flooded, offer to help them collect water. This will save your stretch ceiling from even greater damage.
Contact the company that installed your suspended ceilings, describe your situation, and call an employee to your home.
If the water in the suspended ceiling is rising, but the company employee is still not there, try to remove some of the water yourself.
Look for special holes made, for example, for lighting fixtures or technical communications.
These holes can be used to drain water through them into specially prepared buckets or basins. For convenience, you can use a hose. Make sure you have a sufficient number of containers for the liquid to be drained.
Be very careful when draining the water so as not to damage the ceiling. Try by all means to maintain the integrity of the material. This will be a condition for the stretch ceiling to return to its previous form after the end of the flood.
Don't be alarmed if there are dents in the ceiling after draining all the water. The employee you call to your home will deal with this defect without difficulty.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the readers of this article are most likely both victims of flooding and the perpetrators who are interested in knowing what actions people in disaster can take

Measures to reduce damage

It would seem that you first need to quickly remove the water to prevent even greater consequences. But the first thing experts advise you to do if your upstairs neighbors are flooded is to photograph the consequences of the flood. This may be necessary when drawing up an appeal to the court authorities and for a reliable assessment of losses. If the water continues to rise, especially valuable items and documents need to be saved.

We fix the damage

General provisions

Regardless of who is to blame for the flooding of the apartment - the neighbors or the utility service - the damage caused must be compensated in full (Article 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Explanations that the washing machine itself broke down or the faucet burst because it was Chinese should not worry the injured party. Responsibility for the serviceability of components and assemblies in the apartment lies with the owner in accordance with Articles 210 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and 30 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

You can receive compensation for property damaged by the flood:

From guilty neighbors or the management company (housing office);
From the insurance company, if a corresponding agreement has been drawn up with it.

The answer to the question of what to do if you are flooded from above can be formulated as follows: you need to immediately prepare for the trial. Therefore, the attitude towards recording flooding and damage must be appropriate. The prescribed procedure for documenting the fact and consequences of the flood must be followed as accurately as possible. The result of the pre-trial, and if it doesn’t work out, judicial settlement of the dispute regarding compensation for damage caused depends on this.

How to calculate compensation and assess the damage caused

The codes do not specify the procedure for calculating damage. Courts accept for consideration:

Conclusions of a professional appraiser. His services are paid, they can also be included in the amount of the claim. They are considered additional costs. A specialist will be able to name the exact cost of restoration repairs and the market price of damaged items.
Independent calculations. They must be in writing as a separate document or part of the statement of claim. They must indicate the damaged item and the price at the time of the incident. You can focus on offers for purchasing similar items on the Internet.

The court will have to prove not only the amount of compensation, but also the fact that the victim has expensive equipment. This can be done with checks, explanations from neighbors, photographs. For example: it will not be possible to recover the cost of expensive wallpaper from the culprit if the walls in the apartment were painted.

It will not be possible to replace a regular ceiling with a stretch ceiling. The main task of the judge is to force the perpetrator to compensate for the harm, and not to improve the conditions of the victim.

Step-by-step instruction

If neighbors from the top floor are flooding the apartment, you need to:

de-energize the apartment by turning off the switch or unscrewing the plugs;
call the service company workers, go upstairs, find out whether the residents are at home or not;
notify them about the incident and if there is a break in the networks, ask them to turn off the water.

If you try to turn off the supply yourself, the responsibility falls on the victim if the operation of the valve is disrupted.

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Be sure to record the fact of the flood, see where the first wet spots appeared, and how quickly the water seeps in. It's better to follow the instructions:

Find out who is to blame. You need to talk to your neighbors. It is advisable to inspect their apartment, with the latter’s permission.
Be sure to document the damage. This can be done with the help of other neighbors, inviting them to your place, using a photo or video camera.
Draw up an act. Any visible damage should be described. The document will be needed when resolving a dispute with those responsible for the flood regarding compensation for damage.
Assess the damage. Any losses are confirmed. The victim and an expert can name the cost of repairs.
Resolve the issue with the culprit out of court. You can find out your neighbors' intentions during a conversation. Sometimes people agree to pay without leading to a serious conflict.
File a lawsuit. The last opportunity to force a person to compensate for damages will be a court decision.

What to do if your upstairs neighbors flood you and don’t open the door

What to do if you are flooded by your upstairs neighbors, but due to certain circumstances it is impossible to establish contact with them? Never resort to breaking down doors. Only the police have the right to take such actions, and even then not in 100% of cases. What to do if your neighbors flooded you, but they themselves are not at home? The very first thing you need to do is focus your energy on eliminating the cause of the accident. Sometimes this requires blocking the general access of water to the entrance. Ideally, these actions should be performed by employees of the emergency team, who must be sent to you by the management company. Contact its representatives by phone as soon as possible, noticing the initial manifestations of the flood, and report what happened.

If your neighbors flooded you, and the emergency crew does not arrive at the scene of the emergency for a long time, you will need to eliminate the cause of the accident on your own. This should only be done in exceptional situations. It is important to remember that you are fully responsible for your actions or decisions. If you cause damage to public utilities, you will be required to compensate for the damage caused. Excuses that in this way you saved your home from a flood will not help you evade responsibility. For this reason, it is best not to do anything yourself until the emergency service specialists arrive, who usually arrive within a very short time after registering the application.

Summarize

Do not rush to immediately eliminate the consequences. First, unplug all plugs and cover any remaining items.
Rush upstairs to your neighbor or call emergency services to stop the water flow.
Record your losses in photos or videos.
Call representatives of the management company, homeowners association or housing department and fill out the inventory.

Do not start making repairs until you receive compensation by agreement with the culprit or through the court.

Water supply and sewerage
How to put your apartment in order after a flood: a detailed guide

Arbitrage practice

If the claim is prepared thoroughly, each claim is supported by documents, the judge will decide the issue in favor of the plaintiff. Can interfere:

an incorrectly drawn up application;
attempts to obtain greater compensation than the harm caused;
making demands on the wrong person.

The latter happens if the management company is found to be at fault. Requests made to your neighbor will be denied.

In order not to delay the consideration, the utility company can be named as a third party or second defendant in the statement of claim. Such situations are possible when there is no access to a neighbor’s apartment, and there are doubts about the guilt of the latter. Practice develops in such a way that reasonable demands are fully satisfied.

Important: management companies do not seek to voluntarily compensate for damage; they try to shift the blame onto the residents of the house. The court can force them to answer for shortcomings.

Can the culprit avoid compensation?

The culprit may not compensate for damage if:

The statute of limitations has expired. In this case, the judge will have to stop the proceedings. The claim will not be satisfied, a re-hearing is impossible.
No income to pay off debt. A situation is possible when bailiffs cannot comply with a court order. The defendant has no job, no valuables, and nothing to pay for repairs. To avoid such developments, when filing a claim, you can ask for security. A limitation will be imposed on the defendant's property equal in value to the amount of damage. It won't be possible to sell it. The car and computer of the culprit are seized by the bailiffs and sold. The proceeds will be transferred to the plaintiff.
Incorrect formulation of requirements. Such situations are possible if a person insists on collecting money from a neighbor when the utility companies are to blame. In this case, it is not prohibited to revise the requirements and file a new claim.

How to document damage yourself

There are several ways to record the consequences of flooding:

call the management company’s employees to fill out a report on the detected damage;
draw up a document yourself, inviting your neighbors.

It would be useful to take photos or videos of the premises. The camera or camera must be set to the correct date and time.

When making an application to the management company by phone, you should ask for the name of the dispatcher or his number, report the problem and the time it occurred. Such requests are registered in a special journal. Utilities are obliged to respond to them.

Lack of appeal may raise doubts about the authenticity of what happened in the mind of the judge. If utility workers try to shift responsibility onto the owner of the damaged apartment in this way, you should not despair. Mobile and city communication operators store information about made calls for a long time. The judge may request it at the request of the plaintiff.

If management company employees draw up a report of identified damage, you should read it carefully and ask for a copy. The document will help confirm the flooding of the home and the damage caused. Often acts are drawn up on forms. Employees simply fill out the proposed fields. All questions that arise must be asked immediately.

You should insist on including clarifications and descriptions of details in the document. You should not agree with the proposals of utility companies not to include something in the act. For example: if we are talking about wet walls, then wallpaper, panels, and plaster should be mentioned. Each element is important and should not be implied.

The legislator does not prohibit owners of affected apartments from independently recording incidents.