Leakage Assistance and Tenant Responsibility

Questioner

Our shower cabin is partly open and there is no elevation, which means that the water often runs into the bathroom a little. We always remove this with a squeegee after showering. Now there is renovation work going on below us and yesterday a construction worker came up to say that something was leaking. My housemate had just showered, but also neatly removed the water afterwards. The man looked at it briefly, said that he did not know where it was coming from either, and when he walked out the door said that it could only be the sink. The building below us also belongs to our landlord and not much later my other housemate (the main tenant) received a letter with the instruction to contact our insurance because there are a lot of costs associated with the leak that according to him we caused. They have to dry everything with special machines, re-paint, and cannot continue with the renovation for a few days because they do not know how long it will take before it is dry. According to him, all these costs are for us. Is this correct? Isn't it his fault that, due to the design of the shower, water flows into the bathroom while showering?

Lawyer

The construction worker must demonstrate that the leak really did come from your bathroom. After all, the insurer will also want to know this before any compensation is paid. If it has been established that the leak came from you, you must contact your insurer (or the main tenant), who must compensate the damage caused by the construction worker (including consequential damage). It is also possible that the landlord's insurer can be held liable, depending on the agreements made. For more information or further assistance, you can contact me directly.