Tenant dispute over bathroom leakage repair costs
Mohsin Sultan
(Querist) 14 December 2023
This query is : Resolved
Hey everyone,
I've got a situation and I could really use some advice. I live on the first floor, and the tenants below me complained about water leaking from my bathroom into theirs. We said we'd fix it, but they quoted a repair cost of 1 lakh, which seemed high. We were worried they might start the work and leave it halfway, so we didn't move forward.
Things got messy, and now they've taken legal action. They got a court engineer who says the repairs will cost 3 lakh 50 thousand, including fixing their room, my bathroom, outer walls, bedroom, doors—pretty much everything.
I'm not sure how to defend against this. What should I do?
1. Can I get someone else to check if the repairs they're asking for are legit?
2. Who's responsible for what when it comes to these repairs?
3. Is there a way to question the crazy high cost they're claiming?
4. Any tips on resolving this without going deeper into legal stuff?
I'm a bit lost here, so any help or advice would be awesome. Thanks a bunch!
Best,
Mohsin
kavksatyanarayana
(Expert) 14 December 2023
You pray the court through your lawyer to give you some time to repair the tenant's portion. It is your responsibility to get their portion repaired. You shall consult a contractor to get it repaired.
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
(Expert) 17 December 2023
1. Have they filed a a case before court and got an engineer to assess the repair charges etc., then you should challenge the same in the court instead of budging to their pressure, have you attended the court or not?
2. Since the leakage is reported to have been cause from your side, then it will be your responsibility to fix it. You should have done it when the matter was reported.
3. You have to challenge the same in court through your lawyer.
4. No tips other than what is stated above.
