Leaking Into the Flat Below in Bromley Town Centre

Shut off the water to your flat first, at the isolation valve or stopcock (usually in a cupboard by the front door, in the airing cupboard or under the kitchen sink), then switch off your water heater and go and knock on the door below. Once the water is stopped, tell your managing agent or freeholder, because shared pipes and stacks in a block are usually their responsibility. Then find the source before anyone starts cutting ceilings.

If your neighbour has just knocked on your door to say water is coming through their ceiling, read the first section now and the rest later.

The first five minutes

1. Turn off your flat’s water at the stopcock or isolation valve, turning it clockwise.
2. Switch off your water heater, boiler or immersion at the switch, so nothing runs dry.
3. Look under the kitchen sink, behind the washing machine and dishwasher, around the toilet and under the bath panel for obvious water, and put towels down.
4. Go downstairs and tell your neighbour the water is off, and ask them to switch the affected room off at their consumer unit if water is near a light or socket.
5. Ring your managing agent’s or freeholder’s emergency line, and note the time you called.
6. Take photos of your floor and their ceiling, then call a plumber to trace the source.

Why do leaks in Bromley flats reach downstairs so fast?

The flats in and around Bromley town centre come in two main kinds. There are the 1960s blocks around the centre, and there are the newer blocks such as St Mark’s Square by Bromley South. Both tend to have pressurised water systems and shared vertical pipes: a soil stack and risers that run through every flat in a column.

In an old house with a loft tank, a leak dribbles out at low pressure. On a pressurised system, a failed push-fit joint or a split flexible hose under a sink is pushing mains-pressure water into the floor void, and concrete floors channel it straight to the nearest gap. It can be through the ceiling below within minutes, and it often appears a few metres away from where it started, because water runs along the slab before it finds a way down.

Who is responsible for the leak?

That depends on where the leak is, and the lease decides the details. As a rule of thumb:

• A pipe, appliance or fitting that serves only your flat (your washing machine hose, your shower valve, the pipe to your kitchen tap) is usually your responsibility.
• Shared pipes (the soil stack, the cold riser, communal heating, anything that serves more than one flat) are usually the freeholder’s or management company’s, and they tend to be covered by the block’s buildings insurance.
• Damage to the ceiling and walls below usually falls on the buildings policy; your neighbour’s belongings go on their contents policy.

Do not argue liability on the landing at midnight. Stop the water, record everything and let the source be found first. Our guide to who pays for a flat leak goes through leases and insurance in more detail, and so does our insurance help page.

What if I cannot find my isolation valve?

In newer blocks it is often a lever valve in a cupboard by the front door, in the airing cupboard, or behind an access panel in the bathroom. In 1960s blocks it may be under the kitchen sink or in a service cupboard on the landing. If you genuinely cannot find one, the managing agent or concierge can isolate the riser for your column of flats, which will cut off water to your neighbours too, so they need telling.

Once this is over, find your valve and label it. That is the single most useful thing a flat owner in Bromley can do.

If you are the flat downstairs

• Switch off the affected room at the consumer unit if water is anywhere near a light fitting or a socket.
• Do not push a broom handle into a bulging ceiling. Put a bucket under it, move furniture and keep everyone out of the room.
• Take photos and video as it happens, with the time.
• If nobody answers upstairs, call the managing agent; they can usually isolate the riser or get access.

A ceiling that has taken water may need to dry for days before anyone can tell whether it needs replacing. Do not let anyone rush that decision.

How is the leak found in a block?

Not by cutting holes at random. A good plumber starts in the flat above the stain, checks the obvious appliance connections, then uses moisture readings across the floor to follow the water back towards its source. Thermal imaging shows hot-water leaks clearly. On a stack or riser, an inspection of the boxing tells you whether the problem is your branch or the shared pipe. The aim is to open the floor or boxing once, in the right place.

If it turns out to be the shared stack or riser, the managing agent will normally appoint the repair, but our report on where the water came from is what you and your neighbour will both need for insurance.

Need a plumber now?

If water is still coming through, or you have stopped it but cannot find where it came from, Call 07868 281022. Tell us your postcode, which flat it is, what is leaking or where the stain is, and whether the water is off. We deal with water through the ceiling in Bromley and water leaks across BR1 and BR2, and we agree the price with you before any work starts.