What to do if your upstairs neighbors are constantly flooding: where to go and how to deal with it

Home / Flood / Legal advice - what to do if the upstairs neighbors are constantly flooding?

A short and succinct answer to this question is to carefully document all cases and go to court. How to do this - recommendations from practicing lawyers below.

How to deal with this?

Flooding of an apartment is always unpleasant, especially after expensive repairs that will have to be done again. Injured persons have the right to compensation for the full cost of the harm caused to them (Article 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). To do this, you need to make sure whether the neighbors above are to blame for the incident.

The management company (housing office) or the owner of the apartment may be found guilty. Determination of the person responsible for the bay is carried out on the basis of :

Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Part 1, Article 290).
Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Part 1, Article 36).
Rules for the maintenance of common property in an apartment building (Section I).

They found that:

Utility services are responsible for the serviceability of property, components and assemblies that are not included in the owner’s apartment.
Residential property owners are personally responsible for the functionality and serviceability of everything in the apartment.

The exception is heating radiators. The management company is responsible for their serviceability until the owner personally changes them without the official involvement of utility workers.

In some cases, apartment owners carry out repairs and replacement of equipment (radiators, pipes, etc.) by housing office employees, but do this officially, without formalizing the replacement and significant changes in the layout. If flooding occurs, it will be difficult to prove that the replacement was carried out by utility workers; the owner of the apartment is considered the culprit.

Where should I go if my upstairs neighbors are constantly flooding? Compensation for damage caused as a result of the flood can be obtained :

From the utility service.
From neighbors responsible for faulty equipment.
From the insurance company, if a corresponding agreement has been drawn up for the housing.

If you have to go to court for compensation for damage due to neighbors constantly flooding, you need to take into account that you can get reimbursement from your neighbors for the following costs:

To restore damaged property;
To conduct an examination of a flooded apartment;
To provide legal services to the injured party, including notarial services;
For state duty.

The courts practically do not recover moral damages in such cases. It’s another matter if the culprit is the management company. Here, a penalty, a fine, and compensation for moral distress and mental suffering are additionally awarded. The size of the latter is small - 5-10 t.r.

We fight “heffalumps and woodpeckers” with their own means

Let's move on to the second question on the agenda - how to take revenge on the neighbors above for noise, din, stomping and other unacceptable behavior in the evening. Let me make it clear right away that I am against methods that involve damaging neighbors’ property. I am in favor of fighting insolent people using their own methods, especially since practice has shown that this approach is the most effective.

Here are a few ways to punish upstairs neighbors for constant noise, such as stomping, wild dancing, late-night repairs, rowdy behavior and rock concerts:

Record sounds from their apartment on a voice recorder and play them back in loop mode and at full volume when you are not at home and these “nonhumans” are resting.
Organize a concert by masterfully knocking on radiators with metal objects. Just warn other residents in advance that you are going to do this. Who knows, maybe they will join you.
Glue a radio point to the ceiling and turn it on at full power, and you yourself “escape” somewhere for a few days. It automatically turns off at midnight and turns on at 6 am, so the insolent people will not be able to make any claims against you, and you will fray their nerves considerably.
Buy your children a microphone and let them yell whatever they want into it - sing nursery rhymes, imitate animal sounds, etc., while you yourself have patience and earplugs.
Place a pan against the ceiling, for example, on a cabinet (its edges should fit tightly to the surface of the ceiling), put headphones on top and turn on heavy rock or Verka Serduchka (who knows what will catch your neighbors). In this case, the pan will work as an amplifier, but your apartment will be quiet.
Download programs on the Internet to reproduce various noises. One of them is called “Mizgoprav” and take revenge to your heart’s content.

Friends, there are many ways, but before you take action, try to come to an amicable agreement with your neighbors. Perhaps they do not fully understand how much they are bothering you with their behavior and “negotiations” will help resolve the conflict peacefully. I’ll finish here, and you write about your experience and methods in the comments. Goodbye.

Procedure for the injured party

In the first minutes and hours of the flood, it does not matter who is guilty. The victims face several main tasks:

Disconnect the apartment from power, secure the rest of the property from further damage, contact the neighbors and stop the leak.
Call a representative of the housing office or management company, inspect the damage caused, and draw up a detailed report.
Agree on further actions with the culprit, find out from him whether he will voluntarily compensate for the losses caused to the neighbor.
If the culprit agrees, receive the money or draw up a written agreement.
If a neighbor refuses to voluntarily compensate for the damage, an examination is ordered.
After receiving the specialist’s report, a statement of claim is filed in court.

The inspection report of the apartment after the flood is an important document . Without it, it is difficult to order an examination and win a trial. Its design is one of the first answers to the question of what to do if a neighbor constantly floods.

The main points indicated in the document:

Date and place of incident;
The cause of the flooding, which device failed;
The culprit of the harm caused;
Those present during the inspection;
Signatures of all participants in drawing up the act.

To the question of what to do if the neighbors from above flood repeatedly and refuse to participate in the inspection and drawing up the report, the answer is simple - a corresponding entry is made in the document. The management company’s refusal to draw up an act must be stopped by sending a complaint to the prosecutor’s office.

If the apartment is insured against accidents, floods, etc., a claim is not made to the culprit, but a statement is written to the insurer.

In a situation where an agreement has been signed with the insurer and the neighbors are constantly asking what the victim should do is specified in the agreement. After urgent actions in the first hours, the policyholder is obliged to:

Request a certificate of inspection of the apartment after the flood.
Report the accident to the insurance company.
Provide a company employee with an apartment for inspection and examination.
Submit an application to receive the insurance amount, which is paid within a month.

It is necessary to report the flooding of the apartment to the insurance company no later than the deadline specified in the contract. Missing this deadline provides grounds for refusal to pay the insurance amount.

The examination carried out by the insurer will deliberately underestimate the amount of damage by 3-5 times. Those affected by the flood are rarely satisfied with the amount the company agrees to pay. Therefore, an independent assessment of the damage caused , for which the owners of the flooded apartment are obliged to pay. Its cost is approximately 7-8 tr.

When submitting an application for an assessment of the damage caused due to the fact that the neighbors above are constantly flooding, you must attach the following documents:

Certificate of ownership or social tenancy agreement for the research object;
A copy of your ID;
Certificate of inspection of the apartment after the flood;
Technical passport for real estate.

If there is a difference between the independent examination and the amount paid by the insurer, you should file a claim in court. During the meeting, both specialists will be invited to testify. Their arguments in defense of the prepared reports on the harm caused will be listened to, and the point of view of the one who was more convincing will be accepted. Another option is to order a forensic examination, the results of which will form part of the decision.

Do the same if:

the apartment is not insured.
the neighbor responsible for the flooding submits an objection to the claim to the court.
The objection is accompanied by an expert report conducted on behalf of the defendant.

In an insured apartment, not all damaged property falls under the contract concluded with the company and is subject to compensation. Damage that is not compensated by the insurer must be recovered from the culprit.

A detailed discussion of all the nuances associated with the act of flooding an apartment can be read here.

If they drown repeatedly

The constant flooding of the apartment by neighbors does not exempt you from the most common actions that are performed when the apartment is flooded.
But regular repairs, even at the expense of the guilty parties, are not something that most residents will agree to. Firstly, in such situations you will still have to fully follow the algorithm and recommendations indicated above. Each spill is carefully documented, and the culprit is sued if he refuses to voluntarily compensate for the damage.

As a rule, such residents belong to low-income segments of the population who abuse alcohol and lead an immoral lifestyle. It is difficult to obtain full compensation from them; insurers refuse to issue contracts with problem objects, so the situation becomes even more complicated. The question of what to do if you are constantly drowning becomes even more pressing.

Secondly, you need to get ready and prepare documents to initiate the procedure for eviction of such tenants . If the recommendation from the first point is followed, the fact of regular filling will be carefully documented and no additional effort will be required.

It must be taken into account that the court makes a decision to evict tenants from the house if their actions (or inaction):

lead to negative consequences for neighbors or the entire house as a whole.
are systematic.
carefully documented.

The court does not have the right to evict citizens if this apartment is their only home; after eviction, they will have nowhere to live.

This is a common situation with frequent, regular flooding of apartments, when the neighbors living above have the only housing. They don’t keep an eye on him and cause a lot of trouble for the other tenants, but they can’t be evicted. For this reason, apartments with problem neighbors are much cheaper.

Unscrupulous tenants who occupy an apartment under a contract are easily evicted through the court:

social hiring;
rent.

The property owner is notified in advance so that he can take action. If flooding continues, a lawsuit is filed. Evicting an apartment owner is an extreme measure that government authorities take in exceptional cases.

Sequence of damages recovery

Before filing a claim, a citizen must take several actions - determine the amount of the claim:
if it is below 50,000, then the dispute will be considered by a magistrate.
After this, a statement of claim is drawn up and the state fee is paid. Its size depends on the amount of the claim, in accordance with Article 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
To win the case, the plaintiff must present enough documents - not only the flooding report, but also video materials and photographs of damaged things. You can even call witnesses who will tell you how things were in the victim’s apartment.

Important! Even if those responsible for the flooding do not open the doors, it is advisable for the victims not to break the law, so as not to give neighbors a reason to go to court.

And to avoid any special difficulties in case of flooding or fire, we recommend that you insure your apartment. Read our article about how to insure and what insurance will save you from.

You should not knock down doors or try to invade your home through a balcony or loggia. Call the representatives of the management company as soon as possible and draw up a report on the flooding - these actions will help to recover compensation in court, even if it is not possible to agree on a “peace settlement” with the neighbors.

Where should I go, besides Rospotrebnadzor?

If there is constant flooding, utility companies will have to file complaints frequently. It is drawn up on the principle of a statement that requires the elimination of some shortcomings and compensation for the damage caused. It is aimed at both the actions (or inaction) of company employees and residents.

In the first case, you will have to contact not only the management company, but also the regulatory authorities. Constant flooding by neighbors above is associated if the fault lies with the management company.

The law obliges public utilities to fulfill the legal requirements of residents of an apartment building served by the company in the manner and on the basis of the Consumer Rights Protection Law. Consequences of violating this legal act:

A penalty is calculated in favor of the applicant.
The amount of the penalty is 1% of the amount of damage for each day of unfulfilled requirements.
Counted after 10 days from the date of delivery of the complaint.

The fact of filing a complaint must be documented in the following ways:

Personal delivery to an official of the company with the requirement of signature on the second copy, which remains with the applicant;
By sending a valuable letter (with an inventory) with acknowledgment of delivery.

In both cases, the person filing the complaint will have documentary evidence of contacting the management company.

What happens at the end of the trial?

When the trial has already ended and you have been found obligated to pay, under no circumstances give the money to the victim without receiving a receipt indicating all passport data, residential address and the exact amount of money received, down to the kopecks.

Court decision on flooding neighbors below Source news.myseldon.com

Ideally, do everything through a bailiff. Enforcement proceedings will be initiated against the culprit, which will indicate the amount of damage. If he has an official income, then by law he will have to pay damages monthly in the amount of 50% of his salary.

It turns out that the transfer of money to the affected person will be carried out in installments and for this it is not necessary to contact him independently. Money will be transferred by bank transfer to a card or e-wallet. The recipient will be able to cash them out independently at any time if necessary.

Compensation for damage for the flood with money on the card Source whoyougle.ru

Arbitrage practice

A carefully documented fact of flooding of an apartment, the involvement of professional lawyers in protecting property rights - all this makes it possible to compensate for the damage caused.
The size of the payments is considerable; constantly drowning your neighbors is an expensive pleasure. It’s cheaper to spend money one time on replacing hoses, faucets, wires, and providing good waterproofing of floor coverings.

For example, in July 2021, the Cheryomushkinsky District Court of the capital considered the claim of an apartment affected by the flood. The defendants did not admit their guilt, referring to the fact that their apartment itself was flooded due to the fault of the management company, which did not respond to the call.

The court granted the claim, obliging the defendants to pay:

Refurbishment;
Expert services;
State duty;
Photocopying costs.

The peculiarity of this case is that the plaintiff indicated in the application all three owners of the apartment. The court held all three jointly and severally liable to compensate the victim for damages.

The conclusion from this situation is that residents who themselves suffered due to the inaction of the management company need to carefully and promptly document the fact of flooding. Otherwise, all the blame for the damage caused to the neighbors below falls on them.

More details about this process are written in the following article - judicial practice regarding the issue of flooding of an apartment by neighbors from above.

Video description

If you flooded your neighbors' apartment.

On a note! When writing a letter of complaint to a service organization, be sure to include photos of the affected areas and objects in your apartment and the apartment of your neighbor below. Also, the residents whom you flooded can write the same letter themselves.

Redneck about a flood in an apartment from neighbors Source sarinform.ru