[lolalolalola]

Last year the condo building that our condo unit is in had the water shut off for repairs to the building. Our tenant had tried to turn on the bathroom faucet only to find that there was no water. He says that he tried turning it back and forth and eventually was not sure whether it was off or on. He then went out for a few hours and came back and the water was going full blast and overflowing. This water of course went through the floor to the downstairs unit. That owner came home a week or two later and informed all of us of the standing water in his unit. Our tenant was in the process of moving out and admitted the above situation and gave the owner of the condo below the $1K deductible that he needed to start the repairs with his insurance. We do not have insurance as we thought that the HOA insurance covered us, now we know better. With all of the damage to the bathroom of our unit and trouble re-renting it we had to let it go to foreclosure and it just sold this month at auction. Now we've received a letter from Subrogation service that the insurance company of the condo owner below is investigating this $15K claim and wants us to give them our insurance company info, we did not have insurance, because their insurance company has the right to make a claim against the parties responsible. My question is who is responsible? The tenant who admitted negligence or us? How ofter do they pursue these matters? We do not have the money to pay this. Any advice on how to respond to this letter from National Subrogation Services, LLC would be appreciated.

[Vegas Joe]

Originally Posted by lolalolalola

Last year the condo building that our condo unit is in had the water shut off for repairs to the building. Our tenant had tried to turn on the bathroom faucet only to find that there was no water. He says that he tried turning it back and forth and eventually was not sure whether it was off or on. He then went out for a few hours and came back and the water was going full blast and overflowing. This water of course went through the floor to the downstairs unit. That owner came home a week or two later and informed all of us of the standing water in his unit. Our tenant was in the process of moving out and admitted the above situation and gave the owner of the condo below the $1K deductible that he needed to start the repairs with his insurance. We do not have insurance as we thought that the HOA insurance covered us, now we know better. With all of the damage to the bathroom of our unit and trouble re-renting it we had to let it go to foreclosure and it just sold this month at auction. Now we've received a letter from Subrogation service that the insurance company of the condo owner below is investigating this $15K claim and wants us to give them our insurance company info, we did not have insurance, because their insurance company has the right to make a claim against the parties responsible. My question is who is responsible? The tenant who admitted negligence or us? How ofter do they pursue these matters? We do not have the money to pay this. Any advice on how to respond to this letter from National Subrogation Services, LLC would be appreciated.

Why would you have thought that the association insurance policy would cover damage to the interior of your unit? My association makes very clear that the association policy covers ONLY the common areas. I don't know how your mortgage company did not mandate you have a homeowner policy. When I had a mortgage, they mandated I pay it to them with my property taxes and mortgage.
The tenant who caused the damage may be responsible but getting any money from them probably will never happen. And a court may well find that turning on a sink faucet and forgetting to turn it off in the absence of flow was not unreasonable.

[Willy702]

The other tenant is and this is the reason a lot of condos now require condo insurance for the homeowner in addition to the HOA's insurance. If you had insurance your insurance might have paid you and then subrogated to go after the other tenant. The HOA's insurance can't cover anything except the ceiling/floor and they would just go after the other tenant after taking care of the repairs. Condo insurance is rather cheap and saves a lot of headaches.

[jhiker1o]

Oh well.....!!!!!

[squishy506]

I don't know about situations with properties owned by different parties, but in multi-family housing rentals, the guy who turned the faucet on would be charged for the damages.

[olecapt]

Always the owner between owner and tenant. Though the owner may have an action against the tenant.

In this case by the way you can get into what was done by whoever turned the water off to assure that nothing bad happened when they turned it back on.

It is a forseeable problem that someone will leave a tap open.

[007 license to sell]

What happended to lolalolalola, is why before a anyone decides they want to be a land lord need to do their fiduciary dutie to learn what is the law regarding being a landlord. Read the hoa CCN'rs, this can be an expensive lesson for any landlord. Just collecting rent from a tenant isn't the end all be all as a landlord you have to take it seriously. I hope other would be investers read what happened to you and think twice about being a landlord.

[xofruitcake]

What happended to lolalolalola, is why before a anyone decides they want to be a land lord need to do their fiduciary dutie to learn what is the law regarding being a landlord. Read the hoa CCN'rs, this can be an expensive lesson for any landlord


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