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The Mold got so bad because the apartment was unoccupied. The resident had been staying with her boyfriend, and hadn't been home in two weeks. If you let the wet sit on sheetrock for two weeks, Mold will grow.
Also, is the Mold even a problem? What I'm saying is, the water damage necessitated the replacement of the sheetrock, with or without the mold. The mold is just a knee jerk fear based reaction. Most molds aren't the type to kill you.
The mold is proof the damage had gone on for a while, and had not just happened.
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Lawyers typically cost more than sheetrock guys. OP could probably have settled this for a paltry amount early and been a hero to the neighbor. Fighting to be right can be expensive and time-wasting and, in this case, create a toxic relationship that will likely yield more rotten fruit.
And not only paying his own lawyer, but it is quite common to sue for the damaged property owner, to sue for his legal fees and collect.
Your're misguided. Assume that its your tree that falls down, and hits your neighbors house, caving in the roof. Damage is in the tens of thousands of dollars. Are you still going to offer to pay because its "Right?" Your insurance company won't reimburse you, telling you that its his problem.
Read my post. I said "petty" amounts. In my world, tens of thousands doesn't qualify as petty.
we went through this already , insurer will not pay unless negligence was involved and court ruled exactly that way too. no negligence involved , no liability either.
check your state laws or case histories if you can or just ask your insurer what is the view.
State law doesn't mean squat. The contract between you and the insurance company rules. If you have a claim like this and the insurance company says it's not covered, you need to fire your insurance agent.
Insurance companies make their money by collecting premiums and not paying claims. Only once have I ever had to sue my own insurance company over a claim, but I always had to sue someone else to get their insurance to pay up. It's part of the game. Just tack attorney fees onto the bill and take them to court.
Because it's simply not my fault. I didn't make the toilet leaking. My toilet didnt want to leak either. When something happened, there must be a reason. I later found out that pipe below my floor shifted to the left for about 2 inches and it ended up an uneven flange. Anyway, I think the law is fair.
You didn't make the toilet leak, but did you immediately notify the downstairs tenant? The owner of the unit?
The tenant was not in the apartment for 2 weeks (which happens - vacations, conferences, work trips, etc). That meant for 2 weeks, the mold was allowed to grow because there were no attempts to air out the space or do anything to remediate the situation. That's on you, not her. No one leaves their apartment for a period of time expecting the upstairs unit to leak and, furthermore, the upstairs neighbor not notify them of the issue.
I have been in the downstair's tenant's position. Moving out when not expecting to (which would need to be done IMMEDIATELY in the case of mold - even if you're not allergic like I am, it can make it very difficult to breathe) was probably not in her budget. That would have been a huge hardship for me based on someone else's irresponsibility and lack of communication.
I don't think that the mold made the place uninhabitable. A mushroom growing on the moldy wall is certainly gross and demands attention, but doesn't make the place uninhabitable.
Sure it does. Have you ever been in an enclosed space with mold? If that was the only bathroom, then it would be unusable. Without access to a bathroom, the apartment is considered uninhabitable.
Different types of mold can vary in how dangerous they are (though all are dangerous if you are allergic), but black mold is particularly dangerous to your health.
I don't think that the mold made the place uninhabitable. A mushroom growing on the moldy wall is certainly gross and demands attention, but doesn't make the place uninhabitable.
Depends. I have a severe allergy to mold. It cause severe respirtory problems. If it gets in the walls, its a nightmare to get rid of.
State law doesn't mean squat. The contract between you and the insurance company rules. If you have a claim like this and the insurance company says it's not covered, you need to fire your insurance agent.
Insurance companies make their money by collecting premiums and not paying claims. Only once have I ever had to sue my own insurance company over a claim, but I always had to sue someone else to get their insurance to pay up. It's part of the game. Just tack attorney fees onto the bill and take them to court.
insurers can only do what state laws allow or courts set as precendance regardless. as an example here in ny an insurer cannot raise you for a comprehensive claim but they can drop you. a new insurer can hold every comprehensive claim listed in your clue report against you and charge you accordingly. other states can raise you , so yes state insurance laws do matter
You didn't make the toilet leak, but did you immediately notify the downstairs tenant? The owner of the unit?
OP already said the mold was under the floor, so they would have no way of knowing about it.
The leak was only visible downstairs.
This is believable. Very little toilet plumbing is exposed. Most is under the floor or behind the walls. Most people discover toilet/bathtub leaks by water when they see water accumulation on the downstairs ceiling. The OP might see a little water accumulate under the toilet, but they probably wouldn't.
It would be obvious to the people downstairs, but they didn't tell OP until it was too late.
If the leak was under the floor, the OP could argue that it occurred in common space, between the units. I would. The contract they quoted said they're responsible for problems within their unit, which should protect them from problems in common space they have no knowledge of.
If a pipe running between the walls of two units exploded, would it be the responsibility of the person living to the left of the pipe or the person living to the right of the pipe?
This is a problem with condos. If the entire building is owned by an individual owner, there would not be any arguments over problems occurring within the walls and between the floors and ceilings. But when each unit is owned individually, arguments like this develop between the individual owners.
The situation is even worse when some of the individual owners rent out their properties to other people, because that adds more people to the mix, and most renters are not overly concerned with the long-term health of a property. They're more likely to do things that hurt the building, like dump drain cleaner down the drains and ignore wet stains on their ceilings if they don't drip.
Does the contract for this condo say anything about owners renting their private units out to other people? Does it say they are responsible for the actions, or negligence, of their tenants? Are they even allowed to use their unit as a source of income?
State law doesn't mean squat. The contract between you and the insurance company rules. If you have a claim like this and the insurance company says it's not covered, you need to fire your insurance agent.
Insurance companies make their money by collecting premiums and not paying claims. Only once have I ever had to sue my own insurance company over a claim, but I always had to sue someone else to get their insurance to pay up. It's part of the game. Just tack attorney fees onto the bill and take them to court.
The OP was not protected by insurance at the time, so insurance is not applicable.
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