Owning your own home

Re my leak/damp..

I've now had 3 people round (1 roofer, 1 builder, 1 general builder who does property development mainly) regarding my damp issue above my bathroom. These 3 were also personal recommendations which is good. Really appreciative of all of the advice on here too.

We've had some decent rain this weekend and I can't see any damp this weekend. It still only seems to be when there is significant weather and a strong wind blowing into that elevation. One neighbour is being super sound on the surface - he's came round to have a look, lent me stepladders etc. In any case, don't care about pleasing them and it'll get re rendered if it needs to come hell or high water.

Few notes below

1. 99.9% sure it is coming from outside. Been nothing in the last 4 weeks. If it was plumbing above, given a professional couple live there and use showers/boiler/washing machines daily, I'd have expected something. To be certain, I'm going to see if they can remove washing machines etc which is above and ideally lift a few floorboards to 1) fully write this off 2) see if any further damage.
   
2. The advice has been it could be anything and I may need to try different fixes (render cracks, render gone generally, gutter from next door, gutter work on our building), and to try and observe when water comes in etc.
   
3. General builder yesterday - made some good points. I have a lintel above the window and that is catching / stopping the water going further down the window. I've seen condensation between the stained glass window and the outer single glazed window - suggesting water is seeping through the stonework. Where the most prominent water was on the plasterboard ceiling before I cut it out lines up with a bit of rock sticking out the wall (tried to picture it). My wall is kind of less thick than flats above due to the lintel (again tried to picture it) which is one reason I am the flat seeing the damage.
   
4. Living in a 200 year old building that isn't proactively maintained (5 flats) and people only live in for 4-5 years, typically FTBs (not taking a long run view on maintenance as won't see 20 years of benefit from doing things properly) is a recipe for disaster.
   
5. Render has a shelf-life. This render is 25+ years old, and may not even be the right render. So is probably due some TLC.
   
   

Bit stuck on what to do next, and also how to fund it. I don't want to live here for many more years. I can't sell it at the moment with damp issues and a fucked bathroom. I don't want to self-fund huge repairs, and don't really have much more than up to 10k spare in my rainy day fund. No money in the mgmt co account, quibbles about spending £200 each fixing the doorbell intercom system recently. If I say can we spend 30-40k (guess number) on re-rendering the side of the house, given it is only me and every other flat is sound, I will be told where to stick it. However, 2 people are looking to sell up and this/mgmt co emails will come up in conveyancing, which plays into my favour a bit.

Might try and get the insurance company to pay for some significant render repairs or partial re-rendering around my window and above it, maybe add a flashing (this was one suggestion - will send water elsewhere), get all the render painted with a silicone render, and see how that holds up before the making-good work is done in the bathroom.

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