text: whos liabale for a leaking overflow pipe between flats?? my flat is above another. the toilet cistern has been too full and an amount of water has been discharging down an overflow pipe. the overflow pipe runs directly down into the ceiling cavity of the flat below. the pipe however is damaged (within the ceiling cavity and not inside my flat) and thus water has leaked into the unoccupied flat below without anyone noticing for a period of time. fairly extensive damage has been caused!! there is a management company maintaining the building whom i pay a quarterly maintenance charge to. this charge includes a premium for buildings insurance which i would have expected to cover the problem (however there is a clause which states unoccupied properties/units are exceptions). the management company has also initially claimed i am liable for having a faulty toilet cistern (something which was not apparent).uk law please and websites this is my opinion as the facts stand  firstly: whether there is a breach of contract and in which case is the clause stated a limitation clause.  it appears that company wanted to protect itself  for damage caused to unoccupied properties. however i doubt whether this covers defective chattels (which they are contractually obligating to maintain) causing damage to property. i'm assuming you didn't make the cistern yourself and assumed it was installed.  i think the real question is whether you owe a duty of care for a defective chattel causing damage to another property. well my first thought is the snail bottle case (donghue v stevenson)that is good english law if the cistern was manufactured faulty.  if installation is faulty i think the plumber would owe a duty of care for reasonably foreseeable damage if the pipes are warn out i would suggest that the damage is covered by the insurance/ or if you have a landlord reasonable wear and tear would be expressed in your tenancy agreement  again if the damage was caused by leaky pipes within occupied premises then damage to other parts of the building are foreseeable, this is my feeling towards your issue.