Pipe leak in condo, history of water shut offs of complex (plumber, property)

[dbizzy]

I've got a two part question.

We are the owners of an upstairs condo unit and recently, the downstairs unit (with whom we share a common shut-off valve) has developed leaking through the bathroom wall that has caused some flooding. The plumbers who went to their unit could not find a source of leakage and are still investigating. The leak is constant throughout the day, regardless of water usage in our upstairs unit, there are no signs of leakage or flooding upstairs, and through the shower wall upstairs I can hear what sounds like water running full blast through a pipe constantly, as if someone had their shower on. All of this (leak, noise) stops when the downstairs unit shuts off our common shut-off valve.

Question 1: If there turns out to be some sort of pipe leakage or damage inside one of the upstairs walls, would this be considered part of the "common elements" where the HOA would be responsible? Our downstairs neighbor called property management but they said that pipes are part of the unit so they're not responsible.

Question 2: Could there be pipe damage caused by sudden repressurization or by "water hammer" effects on the building's pipes after repeated water supply interruptions?

Over the past year there has been multiple water shut offs to the entire complex that last 1-3 days, which the property management blames on poor piping in the building. The complex is over 20 years old. The most recent shut off was about 1-2 months ago. A few months back, after the first two times, another downstairs unit experienced flooding that caused significant damage, though I am unsure what they said the cause was.

This is becoming frustrating since we are on day 4 of our water intentionally shut off via shut-off valve, except for a total of 2-3 hours in the day in AM & PM, so that the downstairs unit does not flood. Thanks in advance.

[cully]

Are your pipes polybutylene by any chance? Used until 1995.

I know some places with this plumbing that for some strange reason when there were the grace periods for replacement, the condo mgrs did not tell their residents. And now, when there is a flood, they are johny on the spot with corrective measures rather than face big suits. Residents think how wonderful the mgr is but they're just covering themselves for putting the notices about polybutylene in the circular files after those suits were filed many years ago. So they oversee fixing the problem, applying for the condo insurance, as quickly as possible.

[DelightfulNYC]

also do you pay for your own heat? We has that type of issue and condo owner left heat off when they went to Florida pipe in wall froze and caused a leak. Normally, condo would fix but in this case we did not as owner caused issue.

[399083453]

Originally Posted by dbizzy

Question 1: If there turns out to be some sort of pipe leakage or damage inside one of the upstairs walls, would this be considered part of the "common elements" where the HOA would be responsible? Our downstairs neighbor called property management but they said that pipes are part of the unit so they're not responsible..

Might be true, might not be. He could be lying or incompetent. Check your CCR/Bylaws. They will spell out who is responsible for what.

Originally Posted by dbizzy

Question 2: Could there be pipe damage caused by sudden repressurization or by "water hammer" effects on the building's pipes after repeated water supply interruptions?.

Could simply be the pipes are all the same age and faulty somehow.

Originally Posted by dbizzy

This is becoming frustrating since we are on day 4 of our water intentionally shut off via shut-off valve, except for a total of 2-3 hours in the day in AM & PM, so that the downstairs unit does not flood. Thanks in advance.

Personally, I'd be staying at a hotel.