Leaks between flats
Water coming through the ceiling from upstairs
Water leaking into the flat below is usually stopped fastest at the source: knock on the door upstairs, keep away from wet electrics, and if the leak is yours, shut your stop valve.
By the Pipes Up the Stair site team · how pages are checked · Updated
One split pipe can soak several homes underneath. Stop the water and stay clear of electrics first; who pays comes later.
This page covers both sides: the flat with the dripping ceiling, and the flat where the water starts.
What should you do first when water comes through the ceiling?
Keep away from wet light fittings and sockets, then go upstairs. The City of Edinburgh Council's advice for a leak from the flat above is to contact your neighbour first. Most leaks between flats stop as soon as the person upstairs shuts their stop valve or turns off a tap. Put down towels and a bucket only where you can do it without going near wet electrics.
What if nobody answers upstairs?
Ask other neighbours whether anyone holds a key or knows how to reach the owner, and if it's a let flat, whether they know the letting agent or factor. If the water keeps coming, the council can sometimes get into the flat above, by force if needed, to stop the leak. Don't try to get in yourself.
- 1Keep away from wet electrics
- 2Knock on the door upstairs
- 3Ask neighbours for a key or contact
- 4Tenants: tell the landlord or factor
- 5No answer: ask the council for help
How do you stop a leak from your own flat?
Shut your stop valve. It is usually under the kitchen sink, and Scottish Water says it normally closes by turning clockwise. Then go down and tell the people below, even if you think the water hasn't reached them. Our page on finding your stopcock helps if you've never looked for it, and burst pipe first steps covers the boiler, the hot water and draining down.
Scottish Water notes that in flats the supply may be shared, so shutting one valve can cut water to neighbours too. Tell them.
Whose pipe is it?
That decides who arranges the repair. A pipe that serves only your flat, such as the one under your bath, is yours. Where several flats draw on one pipe, it is, under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, section 3(4), shared by every flat on it, subject to the title deeds. Shared soil and waste stacks fall under the same rule.
If a shared pipe is leaking, any owner may instruct emergency work under Rule 7 of the Tenement Management Scheme, and all owners share the cost. In practice, that means getting a plumber in. The rules for shared pipes explain votes and cost shares.
What if you're a tenant?
Let your landlord, letting agent or council landlord know straight away, whichever side of the ceiling you're on. Scottish Water's pipework guide says that where a home is rented, problems with internal pipework go to the landlord or the council. You can still shut the stop valve and keep clear of wet electrics in the meantime.
What can the council charge?
It depends on what it finds. The council's emergency repairs pages say that from 1 April 2026, if a problem turns out not to be immediately dangerous and no work is done, the person who called pays a call-out charge of £178.66 including VAT in office hours, or £246.71 at other times. Where it does work, officer time is £64.31 an hour with a 5-hour minimum per standard job.
Who pays for the damage downstairs?
The council and Scottish Water pages set out who repairs a pipe, not who pays for a damaged ceiling, so check your home insurance and title deeds. Owners can also decide, under Rule 3.1, to arrange common insurance for the building.
Asked on the stair
Can the people below turn off my water?
Not inside your flat, and nobody should enter a neighbour's home. If the leak is from a shared pipe, closing the stopcock or a shared valve cuts everyone on it, so that is for the owners or their plumber to arrange.
The leak has stopped. Should you still tell the flat below?
Yes. They need to know where the water came from, and they may want to check their ceiling and light fittings before switching anything back on.
Should you shut the stopcock out in the street?
No. Scottish Water owns the stopcock and the pipe up to and including it. Use the stop valve inside your own flat.
What if the water is coming from a soil pipe?
A soil stack carrying waste from several flats is shared by all of them. The council lists broken soil or waste pipework among the problems it can act on when health or safety is at risk.
Where this comes from
- Unsafe buildings and emergency repairs — City of Edinburgh Council: leak from above, forced entry
- Emergency repairs, charges — City of Edinburgh Council: call-out and hourly fees from 1 April 2026
- Advice on frozen or burst pipes — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): stop valve, electrics, shared supplies
- Your guide to water pipework — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): rented homes
- Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, section 3 — legislation.gov.uk: shared pipes
- Tenement Management Scheme — legislation.gov.uk: emergency work, common insurance