Downstairs Neighbour of tenant served some paperwork from their solicitors declaring a leak from our property has caused damages
Property: 1st floor maisonette.
Neighbour : directly below
Context: Around June last year our tenant contacted us directly saying that the neighbour was accusing us of causing leaks that were penetrating and caused significant damages to the. After much distress I reached out to a plumber (via MyBuilder) to go to the property and inspect and determine any damage or cause for concern from a water leak perspective. Nothing came of this and they couldn't determine any obvious concern/negligence (no report or anything just a sense check). Months later neighbour kicked off again and so I did the same with another supplier - no concerns -just re-applied silica whilst they were there to the tile grout just incase . But all kosher - contacted the tenant and said my hands are tied- there's no clear leak from people we've hired and if the neighbour complains I can't do much.
Months go by - old tenant moves out - nothing. Just today I receive a letter from their solicitor alleging a lack of contact from myself (which again was deliberate - because - well I'm not liable for a speculative leak in your property).
They allege a bunch of costs and attach a report from I assume some 'flood specialist' from their insurance insinuating heavily that in their opinion the leak was vertically sourced from our property. They claim a bunch of damages and have given my notice to respond to acknowledge the damages?
A few points
1.I noticed that the claim that the flood is caused by our flat is under the section of "Opinion" as opposed to fact.
They did no invasive work and everything was moisture based measurements externally in the report under limitations that
Under the section of limitations there's acknowledgement that they had no access to our property to verify the source of the water escape. Amongst it being a singular inspection and that no plumbing assessment was carried out therefore undetected defects could not be ruled out .
EDIT:
So just looked through my correspondence from a year ago with the plumber. the first plumber we assigned DID in fact visit their property as well (they were let in) to help diagnose where a leak mighthave occurred - so there was correspondence albeit not directly through me - did a full diagnostic of the boiler and pipes in the bathroom (the pipes go directly outside so are almost entirely exposed - did some experiments over the span of several days to isolate each appliance - no leak
Question:
Do I respond to this ? is
Is there grounds for this since again I've asked two separate plumbers to investigate the property?
Do I need to now hire someone to formally confirm there is no leak and generate a report? - Any advice is welcome