Water leaking from the flat above: what to do and who pays

Key rules

• First step: Close your stopcock before anything else, then tell the neighbour.
• Reporting deadline: Policies often require a report within about seven days, so tell your insurer quickly.
• Your insurer: If both of you are insured, you normally deal only with your own insurer.
• Shared pipes: Damage from communal parts is paid by the community's insurance, not by your neighbour.

Start by stopping the water

Your first job is to limit the damage, not to find who is to blame. Close your stopcock (llave de paso). If you can do it safely, switch off the electricity in the affected areas. Then mop up, and keep every receipt for repairs and cleaning.

Tell the neighbour calmly

Knock on the door above or call them. Most leaks are accidents, and your neighbour needs to close their own water supply and look for the source. A friendly first conversation also makes the paperwork much easier.

If nobody answers, contact the building's administrator, the president of the community or the building's emergency service.

Record everything

Take dated photos and video of the damage and write down the times you noticed it. Do this before you clean up. Your insurer will ask for this evidence.

Tell your insurer and fill in the parte amistoso

Report the leak to your home insurer (seguro de hogar) as soon as possible. Many policies set a reporting deadline of around seven days, so check yours.

Then fill in the parte amistoso with your neighbour. It is a standard form. You complete it together. It records both sets of details, the insurers and policy numbers, the date, a description of the damage, and the cause and place of the leak. Each of you gives it to your own insurer.

If the neighbour refuses to sign, or you do not know where the leak comes from, tell your insurer. A plumber's or insurer's expert report can establish the cause.

Who pays

• Leak from your neighbour's own pipes or installation: your neighbour is liable, usually through the liability section of their home insurance.
• Leak from shared parts (main pipes, risers, roof, facade): the community of owners is responsible, and its community insurance pays for the repair and the damage to individual flats.
• Both of you are insured: under an agreement between most insurers, your insurer normally handles and pays your claim directly, within set limits, and then recovers the money from the other insurer. You deal only with your own insurer. Larger claims go through the general system.
• You rent: a tenant is normally liable for damage caused by their own negligence. The landlord deals with structural or installation defects. If the leak starts in your rented flat, tell your landlord and your insurer straight away.

The community's rules and the terms of each policy can change these details, so read your policy.

The timeline, documents list, checklist and questions below cover the steps in order and the most common doubts.

Timeline and deadlines

• Close your stopcock (llave de paso) and switch off electricity in the affected areas if you can: straight away

• Knock or call the neighbour upstairs so they can close their water supply and look for the source: right after stopping your own water

• If nobody answers, contact the administrator, the president or the building's emergency service: if the neighbour does not answer

• Take dated photos and video and note the times, then mop up and keep receipts: while the damage is fresh

• Tell your home insurer and fill in the parte amistoso with the neighbour: as soon as possible, usually within about seven days

• Give the signed parte amistoso to your own insurer: within your policy's deadline, commonly about seven days

Documents you need

• Parte amistoso de daños por agua: the standard water-damage form, filled in together with your neighbour. It records both parties' details, insurers and policy numbers, the date, a description of the damage, and the cause and location of the leak. Give a copy to your own insurer.

• Dated photos and video of the damage, with the times you noticed it, to support your claim.

• Receipts for repairs and cleaning-up costs, kept for your insurer.

• Your home insurance policy (seguro de hogar) with its policy number, needed for the form and for reporting the claim.

• A plumber's or insurer's expert report on the cause, when the source of the leak is unknown or disputed.

Checklist

• Knock or call the neighbour upstairs, calmly, so they can close their own water supply and look for the source.

• Report the leak to your home insurer (seguro de hogar) as soon as possible, within your policy's deadline of usually around seven days.

• Fill in the parte amistoso de daños por agua together with your neighbour and give it to your own insurer.

• Mop up to limit further damage and keep every repair receipt.

Frequently asked questions

Does my insurer deal with the neighbour's insurer for me?

Yes, if both you and your neighbour are insured with insurers that signed the water-damage agreement and the damage is under its cap, you deal only with your own insurer. Your insurer pays your claim and then recovers the money from the neighbour's insurer. Above the cap, the claim follows the normal liability route.

What if nobody knows where the leak comes from?

If the cause is unknown or disputed, the insurers send an expert to assess it. A plumber's or insurer's expert report is often what settles the cause. Leave the damage visible for the expert and keep your photos.

Who pays if the leak comes from a shared pipe rather than my neighbour's flat?

If the leak comes from communal parts such as risers, main pipes, the roof or the facade, the community of owners is responsible and its insurance pays for repairs and damage to individual flats. Tell the administrator so the community's insurer is involved. Pipes inside a flat, after the point where they branch from the shared supply, are the owner's responsibility.

Who pays if I rent and the leak comes from my own flat?

As a tenant you are normally liable for damage caused by your own negligence. The landlord must deal with defects in the structure or installations. Tell the landlord straight away so the right insurance is used.