Frequently asked questions.

Turn the water off at the stopcock if it is safe to do so, and keep clear of anything electrical the water has reached. Contain what you can with towels and buckets, and move valuables clear. If the water is coming from the flat above, try to reach your neighbour straight away — knock, and if there is no answer put a note under their door asking them to check, because the stopcock that stops it is often theirs. Call your water supplier’s 24-hour line for a mains problem; for a communal leak, call us so a contractor can be sent. The overnight job is to make it safe and limit the damage — the repair itself is arranged in working hours. One thing to do before you start clearing up: photograph everything, dated and at the best resolution your phone will manage — where the water is coming from if you can safely see it, the full extent of the damage to ceilings, walls, floors and fittings, and the water itself while it is still running. Evidence from the first hours is what any insurance claim rests on and it cannot be recreated afterwards.

In cold weather this feels urgent, and we treat it as a priority — but a communal boiler or plant fault usually needs a replacement part, and parts cannot be sourced until suppliers open the next morning, so an overnight fix is rarely possible. Report it as soon as it happens so an engineer and any parts are arranged first thing, and please tell us if vulnerable residents are affected. In the meantime use warm layers and, if you have them, safe portable heaters — never use a hob, oven or barbecue to heat a room, which risks fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Not while the storm is blowing: working at height in high winds is dangerous, so the roof itself cannot be repaired until it is safe to go up. The priority overnight is to minimise the damage inside — move furniture, electricals and valuables clear, lift or roll back carpets, and catch the water in buckets or bins. Keep clear of light fittings the water has reached, and if it is safe turn off the power to that area at the consumer unit. Report it to us so a roofer is booked to attend and make the roof safe as soon as conditions allow.

Use the alarm button or emergency phone inside the lift car — it connects to the lift company’s monitored 24-hour line. If there is no response, call 999. Reassure the person while they wait: the car is designed to be safe and will not fall. Call 999 straight away if the trapped person is unwell or vulnerable. For a lift that is simply out of service with nobody inside, report it to us in the normal way.

If a crime is in progress or anyone is in danger, call 999; otherwise report it to the police on 101 and keep the crime reference. Then report it to us through the app so a communal door, gate or window can be secured — that is normally attended to the next morning. If an insecure communal entrance leaves residents at serious risk overnight, call us as well and we will arrange for it to be made safe.

Unless it is a genuine emergency that cannot wait, no. Out-of-hours call-outs are commonly charged at double or triple the normal rate, and the tradesperson often cannot finish the job until suppliers open the next day. Where the problem is not urgent, make the area safe, limit the damage and report it so a proper repair can be arranged in working hours at a sensible price. Work inside your own flat is your own arrangement, and communal work booked by a resident without our authority cannot normally be charged to the service charge.

You can contact 999 by text through the emergencySMS service, but you must register in advance: text the word “register” to 999 and follow the instructions, or see emergencysms.net. It is worth doing now rather than in an emergency.

We take out annual buildings insurance to cover “events” such as fire, storm damage and floods. Insurers generally do not cover repairing a leak itself unless it was caused by an event such as a storm — they treat the leak as a maintenance issue. However, the redecoration needed because of a leak is an event and is covered, and the policy will also cover the cost of finding the leak. All claims are subject to an excess, typically around £250–£350 depending on the nature of the claim.

Probably, yes. The buildings policy does not cover what is inside your flat, so as an owner-occupier you may want home contents insurance, and as a landlord you may want landlord’s insurance. You may also wish to buy boiler cover: boilers are often specifically excluded from other policies. Check the position with your own insurer.

If a leak is found in the flat below and it was caused by something of yours, such as your shower, it is your responsibility to pay for their redecoration. If the claim goes through the buildings insurance policy, you will be liable for the excess. Tell us early either way — we can help establish where the water came from and, where a claim is appropriate, put it to the insurer.

Make it safe first, and if the water is coming from the flat above go up and knock — or leave a note with your number if nobody is in — because the stopcock that stops it is usually theirs. Then gather the evidence before you clear up: dated, high-resolution photographs or video of the source if it is safely visible, the full extent of the damage to walls, ceilings, floors and fittings, and the water while it is still running. Jot down a short timeline as you go — when you found it, when the water was isolated, when anyone attended. Then report it to us, through the Gena Go app or the report-a-problem form, with those photographs attached. We notify the broker or insurer and they allocate a claim reference. Where the damage is to communal parts we run the claim for the building; where it is inside your own flat you take a more active part, and we will tell you what is needed at each stage.

In outline: you report it and we log it and give you initial guidance; emergency work is arranged where it is needed while you take steps to stop the damage spreading; a contractor establishes the cause and extent, and you document the damage; we notify the insurer, normally within a day or two of your report, and a claim reference is issued. You will then be asked for at least two written, itemised quotes from qualified tradespeople for repairs inside your own flat — we obtain the quotes for communal parts ourselves. The insurer may send a loss adjuster to verify the cause and the amount. Once the claim is approved the repairs are carried out, and the insurer settles less the policy excess, which is recovered as your lease provides. We publish a Leak Management and Insurance Claims Policy in two parts — leak management, then claims handling — setting all of this out; ask us and we will send you a copy. Running a claim for damage inside your own flat on your behalf is an optional, chargeable service: if you would like us to, email info@genapm.com and we will confirm the scope and the basis of our fee in writing before any work starts.

The date and time you found the damage, which flat and which rooms are affected, and what happened as far as you know it — a burst pipe, a failed seal, storm damage. Dated photographs or video of the cause where it is safely reachable, of the full extent of the damage, and of the sequence of events, plus a brief timeline. A contact number and email, the times contractors or a loss adjuster can get in, and key holder details if the flat is empty or let. At least two written itemised quotes for repairs inside your flat. Your own contents insurer’s details, since possessions, furniture, carpets and white goods are claimed on your policy rather than the building’s. And any supporting paperwork the incident generated — a crime reference for theft or vandalism, a utility company report for a mains failure.

Not always, and it is worth pausing to work it out. Every claim carries an excess — commonly a few hundred pounds, though it can be higher — and your lease usually makes that recoverable from the leaseholder affected or shared across the block. The policy pays for the resulting damage, such as a ruined ceiling, but not for repairing the thing that failed, which is a maintenance matter; nor for gradual deterioration or lack of maintenance. Replacement is like-for-like, so if you upgrade the finish you pay the difference. And repeated claims can push the block’s premium up at renewal, which everybody then pays for. For smaller jobs, below roughly £500 to £1,000, the excess and the premium effect can outweigh what you would recover. Tell us either way and we will tell you the current excess for your building before you decide. One caution: do not settle or accept liability with a neighbour, contractor or anybody else before speaking to us and the insurer, because doing so can invalidate the claim.

Leaseholders’ money is held in separate client accounts, which earn interest. It is your building’s money, kept apart from the firm’s own, and accounted for to you each year.

You are a flat owner, and if you have a tenant renting your flat you are also a landlord. But the flat you own is leased for a long period — usually 125 years — from a freeholder, who is also called the landlord. In the freeholder’s eyes you are the leaseholder. The freeholder may appoint a managing agent to look after the maintenance of the common areas as prescribed in your long lease. So the same person can be an owner, a landlord and a leaseholder all at once, depending on who is doing the describing.