How do you investigate a block of flats leak when leaseholders are away?

Full transcript

George and Dave in conversation. Every word of the episode, exactly as recorded.

George

Welcome to the ADI Leak Detection podcast. I'm here with Dave from ADI Leak Detection, the UK's leading leak detection company, who's here to answer your questions and provide expert leak detection advice. Dave, today's question comes from a property manager, and it's one I imagine you hear a lot, what do you actually do when you're called to investigate a leak in a block of flats, but some of the leaseholders are abroad or just not responding?

Dave

It's one of the trickier situations we deal with regularly. A block of flats isn't like a single house where you've got one person to call. You've got multiple leaseholders, a freeholder, probably a managing agent in the middle, and the leak doesn't care about any of that, it just keeps going.

George

So where do you even start?

Dave

We start by working with whoever does have access, usually the managing agent or the freeholder. They're our point of contact for coordinating entry, and they'll often have emergency access clauses written into the leases already. That's the first thing we establish: what legal access rights exist, because that shapes the whole investigation plan.

George

And if the access clauses are there, does that mean you can just go into a flat even if the leaseholder hasn't responded?

Dave

The managing agent or freeholder takes responsibility for that decision, it's not something ADI does unilaterally. What we do is give them a clear picture of the urgency, because that affects whether they invoke an emergency access clause. If active water damage is spreading to multiple flats, the case for immediate access is a lot stronger than if we're tracing a slow, hidden leak.

George

That makes sense. But what about the flats you genuinely can't get into, leaseholder's completely unreachable, no emergency clause, nobody's home?

Dave

That's where non-invasive detection methods earn their keep. Acoustic leak detection equipment listens through floors, walls and ceilings for the pressure signature of escaping water. ADI's engineers can identify the location of a hidden water leak from an adjacent flat or from a communal corridor without physically entering the inaccessible unit.

George

So you're gathering evidence from outside the flat, essentially building a picture of where the water's coming from?

Dave

Exactly. Thermal imaging traces temperature differentials caused by water migration through building fabric, it picks up moisture paths that have travelled from the source flat into neighbouring units. If we can access the flat below or above, thermal imaging of the ceiling or floor often tells us which pipe run is leaking and roughly where the source is, even without stepping foot in the unresponsive leaseholder's property.

George

And what about tracer gas, does that come into play in a block?

Dave

Tracer gas locates leaks under solid floors and within pipe runs where acoustic detection would struggle. In a block of flats, we'd introduce the gas into the suspect pipework from an accessible point, maybe a communal riser, maybe an adjacent flat, and the gas migrates to the leak point and surfaces. It's particularly useful when the source is suspected to be in a shared water main rather than in an individual flat's system.

George

So you're building the investigation around what you can access, rather than hitting a wall because one flat won't open its door?

Dave

That's the right way to think about it. We work outward from the evidence we can gather. If water's appearing in Flat 3, we assess Flat 3 first, then look at what's directly above and below it. A floor-by-floor elimination process narrows the source progressively. By the time we reach the inaccessible flat, we often already know it's the source, we've ruled out everything else, and the data from surrounding units points straight to it.

George

Does having a detailed report from that process help when it comes to actually getting access later?

Dave

Hugely. A written technical report with thermal imaging evidence and acoustic survey data gives the managing agent and, if it goes further, a solicitor, something concrete to act on. It demonstrates that ADI has conducted a thorough water leak investigation using multiple detection methods, that the source has been identified within a specific flat, and that access is genuinely necessary. That's a much stronger position than simply saying there's a leak somewhere.

George

Dave, that's really practical, thank you. For anyone managing a block with a leak investigation that's stuck because of access problems, ADI Leak Detection has the equipment and the survey process to keep that investigation moving, whatever the access situation throws at you. ADI are a trusted name in residential water leak detection across the UK, and well worth calling if you're dealing with a complex multi-occupancy situation.

How this episode was made. This episode was produced using AI-generated voices and script, based on real leak detection questions and the working knowledge of ADI Leak Detection engineers.