Short answer: in almost every case, the side the leak came from pays — or their insurer does. The argument is rarely about who pays. It's about proving where the water started.
It usually begins the same way. A dark patch on the ceiling that wasn't there yesterday. Then a drip. Then the light fitting starts filling up.
First: where did it start?
A Dutch apartment building is legally divided into private parts and communal parts. That line decides who is on the hook.
- Communal — the roof, the main risers, the vertical soil stack, the shared sewer connection. This is the VvE's responsibility, meaning all the owners together.
- Private — a washing machine hose, a tap, a shower tray, pipework serving only that one flat. This is that owner's responsibility.
The flat directly above you is a suspect, not a verdict. Water runs along joists and reappears metres from where it entered. We've traced leaks that showed up in a second-floor bedroom and started at a roof detail two floors higher.
Then: which insurance
Three policies are usually in play, held by three different parties.
- Building insurance (opstalverzekering) — held by the VvE, covers the fabric of the building: walls, ceilings, sanitary ware, fixed heating.
- Contents insurance (inboedelverzekering) — yours alone, covers your possessions.
- Personal liability insurance (AVP) — the upstairs owner's, if the cause sat in his flat.
Two things here cost people real money. Insurance covers the consequence, not the cause — the water damage to your ceiling is generally covered, replacing the pipe that failed generally isn't. And gradual damage is usually excluded : mould from a slow seep running behind a wall for eight months tends to fall outside cover entirely. That's the case for chasing a small stain early rather than watching it for a season, which is also the point of our piece on spotting a hidden leak.
The First Hour
- Stop the water if you can reach it. If the source is above you and nobody's home, this becomes an emergency for the VvE or the landlord fast.
- Photograph everything before you clean up. Wet ceiling, wet floor, wet possessions. Once you've mopped, the insurer only has your word for it.
- Report it in writing to the neighbour and to the VvE or landlord. A message, not just a knock on the door. The date you reported it matters if the damage keeps spreading.
- Don't settle anything on the spot. Nobody knows the cause yet, including the person above you.
The cause report is the whole thing
Every insurer, VvE board and landlord in this chain asks the same question in writing: what caused it?
That answer comes from whoever opens the ceiling, runs the camera or traces the moisture. "Leak in bathroom" settles nothing. A report naming which pipe, at which point, and whether it sat on a communal riser or a private branch settles the argument in an afternoon.
We write ours in English, with photographs, and we're explicit about communal versus private — because that one sentence is what the money hangs on. We also write it when the answer isn't in your favour. If your dishwasher hose let go and soaked the flat below, that goes in too. That's what makes a report worth anything to an insurer.
If you rent
The building and its installations are the landlord's problem, your possessions are yours. Report the leak in writing straight away, and don't commission major investigation work yourself expecting to be reimbursed later without agreeing it first.
What we do
- Leak tracing and camera inspection — finding the actual source, not the wettest spot
- Drain and sewer work — from €129 incl. VAT
- Boiler and heating — from €145 incl. VAT
- Emergency pump-out — flooded cellars and crawl spaces, 24/7
One-month warranty, prices always including VAT, typically on site within two hours across Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague, Utrecht, Hoofddorp, Diemen and Schiphol.
If the water is coming up rather than down, read blocked drain or blocked sewer instead. And if you're in an older building, what old canal houses do to your plumbing is worth five minutes.
Ceiling dripping right now? Call 06-24356980, 24/7 — or message us on WhatsApp.
