Problems with neighbour's flat

[GlasgowGirl]

My upstairs neighbour's washing machine has a leak in it. I discovered this last week when a bulge appeared in my kitchen ceiling. When we pierced it (carefully), water gushed out. Obviously we have told the neighbour, taped up the leaking pipe and told them to get it fixed. But they are - well, to be honest they are nice but dim and also skint, and I can't see them getting it fixed anytime soon.

I will be contacting our factor, who organises our building insurance, to see where we stand. But I wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience - can you force neighbours to get things fixed if they are risking damaging your property?

[GlasgowGirl]

Just wanted to give this a wee bump to see if anyone had useful experiences to share? Things were fine for a fortnight, but then this morning we woke up to find water dripping through the ceiling again - they had forgotten to empty the pan under the pipe and so the leak had worked through again. They haven't phoned a plumber and seem reluctant to do so, despite me giving them a list of local plumbers. They say they will ask the woman's dad to help...What's even more annoying is that we had just painted over the marks left from the previous leak!

[Tony]

I would expect the management company (factor) to write a letter demanding that the situation is resolved and there is no risk of another leak - seems reasonable to me.

Tony