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What are my rights when it comes to water damage?
by: elyssebyycgmail-com/
I live in a two storey wood framed townhome, windows and doors are the owners responsibility. In 2016 my complex upgraded our cedar siding to vinyl. As the cedar siding came down my unit started leaking above my front door. I called the property manager to report the leak and was told the staining was brown meaning the leak is inactive, even though it was wet to the touch. After pushing the property manager for months and months they finally sent me someone from the siding company to assess the water damage. The siding company spent weeks poking around and when they couldn’t find anything they said it’s because I continually leave my upstairs window open. It went on record that the leak was caused by us leaving our guest bedroom window open located on the second floor.
I took the time to join the board and became President. I pushed for a water test for my window, which came back inconclusive. The board still would not budge and fix anything in my unit. I pushed that we then seek a lawyer as we’ve been told there’s been several deficiencies with the siding.
Now we have a lawyer and an engineer involved. A draft report was submitted last week for my unit clearly stating that the window has nothing to do with the leak at my front door. The engineer found mold growth as well as a leaking exterior wall joint which has caused water damage in my guest bedroom and at my front door. This has taken 4.5 years and now one board member is stalling the process because it’s just a draft report.
What are my rights as the unit owner? How can I have these repairs expedited or at very least the mold cleaned? The reasonable amount of time to resolve this issue has passed in my opinion.
Thanks for your insight.I live in a two storey wood framed townhome, windows and doors are the owners responsibility. In 2016 my complex upgraded our cedar siding to vinyl. As the cedar siding came down my unit started leaking above my front door. I called the property manager to report the leak and was told the staining was brown meaning the leak is inactive, even though it was wet to the touch. After pushing the property manager for months and months they finally sent me someone from the siding company to assess the water damage. The siding company spent weeks poking around and when they couldn’t find anything they said it’s because I continually leave my upstairs window open. It went on record that the leak was caused by us leaving our guest bedroom window open located on the second floor.
I took the time to join the board and became President. I pushed for a water test for my window, which came back inconclusive. The board still would not budge and fix anything in my unit. I pushed that we then seek a lawyer as we’ve been told there’s been several deficiencies with the siding.
Now we have a lawyer and an engineer involved. A draft report was submitted last week for my unit clearly stating that the window has nothing to do with the leak at my front door. The engineer found mold growth as well as a leaking exterior wall joint which has caused water damage in my guest bedroom and at my front door. This has taken 4.5 years and now one board member is stalling the process because it’s just a draft report.
What are my rights as the unit owner? How can I have these repairs expedited or at very least the mold cleaned? The reasonable amount of time to resolve this issue has passed in my opinion.
Thanks for your insight. -
1 Reply
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from CalgaryMark
First of all, my sympathies with the amount of time it has taken to get to even this stage of fixing the problem; that clearly shouldn’t have happened.
You mention “one board member is stalling the process because it’s just a draft report”. One board member alone cannot stall the process; the member could speak against any action, but not unilaterally stall it. To move forward, a motion to accept the report voted on by the board membership, if passed by a majority, would allow the corporation to take action to correct the problem.
Reading your account leads me to think that it has taken a long time to reveal the structural source of the problem; I assume that the condominium corporation is responsible for structural repairs to a unit. If this is so, and the engineer’s report shows a structural problem, then the corporation should repair the damage. Since the board seems unwilling to take that action, I suggest you (as an individual owner, not as a board member) approach your own insurance company to see if your insurer will fix the problem; it probably will pass the problem to the condominium corporation’s insurer. I don’t know if the corporation’s insurer would take any initiative to fix the problem, but they might point out to the corporation that it would have to cover the cost itself since it has ignored a maintenance problem. Then you would have two independent parties (the insurer and the engineer) pressing the corporation to fix the problem.
With regard to your rights – I am not a legal expert; I suggest your knowledgeable condominium-experienced lawyer should answer that question.First of all, my sympathies with the amount of time it has taken to get to even this stage of fixing the problem; that clearly shouldn’t have happened.
You mention “one board member is stalling the process because it’s just a draft report”. One board member alone cannot stall the process; the member could speak against any action, but not unilaterally stall it. To move forward, a motion to accept the report voted on by the board membership, if passed by a majority, would allow the corporation to take action to correct the problem.
Reading your account leads me to think that it has taken a long time to reveal the structural source of the problem; I assume that the condominium corporation is responsible for structural repairs to a unit. If this is so, and the engineer’s report shows a structural problem, then the corporation should repair the damage. Since the board seems unwilling to take that action, I suggest you (as an individual owner, not as a board member) approach your own insurance company to see if your insurer will fix the problem; it probably will pass the problem to the condominium corporation’s insurer. I don’t know if the corporation’s insurer would take any initiative to fix the problem, but they might point out to the corporation that it would have to cover the cost itself since it has ignored a maintenance problem. Then you would have two independent parties (the insurer and the engineer) pressing the corporation to fix the problem.
With regard to your rights – I am not a legal expert; I suggest your knowledgeable condominium-experienced lawyer should answer that question.
