water damage from condo unit above

[chinook79]

I have a condo unit. 4 days ago, on the bathroom, we noticed leaking on ceiling. I contacted the owner upstair and he stated that he'll call plumber asap and let us know of the finding. However, it's been 4 days already since he promised to call me back and when I tried to call him he didn't pick up his phone and now his phone is completely turned off.
I contacted strata to get a hold of him and I've just found out that he is in process of selling his unit. He basically lied in my face in hopes that he'll be able to sell his unit and run away from his responsibility. I've send him registered mail demanding to take immediate action as well as strata to either put a lien on his unit or help me get a hold of him. I can't even fix the leak right now as I can't access unit above mine and there's no point of fixing anything until we find the source of leaking. I am trying to find out who the new owner will be so that I can warn him of the current situation before he completes the deal as the new owner will have to take responsibility from current owner once the deal is completed. However, I am not having much luck finding any information about who the new owner will be.
Is there anything else I can do?

[BrRsn]

kill him
wear his skin like a costume
authorize a plumber to come do the job

[B!tch]

Is he selling the unit himself or is he using a realtor? Contact his realtor. (ie: "have you disclosed to potential buyers that there is currently a water leak issue with the unit you are buying?")

[Matsuda]

if there is a lien on his unit, he won't be able to sell the unit

[IMASA]

Isn't this covered by the strata insurance? Do you have a property manager that you can contact?

[BoostedBB6]

Get the property manager to shut the water off to the unit.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by B!tch

Is he selling the unit himself or is he using a realtor? Contact his realtor. (ie: "have you disclosed to potential buyers that there is currently a water leak issue with the unit you are buying?")

realtor's face ->

[tiger_handheld]

1) look up MLS listing
2) contact realtor and set up time for showing
3) go into unit and find the leak, have strata president arrive at the same time into the unit.
4) sort it out from there?

[chinook79]

here is the update.
I've contacted realtor and advise realtor's husband(realtor is out of town) to contact buyer and inform him of the situation. I agree that as a buyer's realtor, she has every legal obligation to protect interest of the buyer. If the current owner disappears after the completion date, I have no choice but to go after the new owner for the damage caused by unit above. I really rather do not want to go to that route, as it should be current owner that is fully responsible for the situation.
The realtor got back to me stating that she has no obligation to do anything about this matter. I never asked her to do anything but to inform the buyer of current situation. She asked me not to harass her or keep calling her. I called fucking buyer's realtor twice, in which cases was unable to reach trying to get the realtor to inform buyer to protect the buyer from taking over all the responsibilities. It seems that she is more interested in making the commision from the sale than to protect her client. So I sent email to her explaining of whole situation and informing her that she has legal obligation to protect buyer's interest. Should things go south and I end up suing the new owner, the new owner can now sue the greedy realtor for not protecting their rights.
The leak seems to have stopped for now(I think current owner shut off the water upstair), but I can't even fix my ceiling without finding out where the exact source of leak is from. Does anyone know what I can do to gain access to unit upstair if owner is keep hiding and refuses to own up and fix the leakage?

[chinook79]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

1) look up MLS listing
2) contact realtor and set up time for showing
3) go into unit and find the leak, have strata president arrive at the same time into the unit.
4) sort it out from there?

Unit is being sold and the completion date is October 1st

Anyone know any way to get contact information for the new buyer when the buyer's realtor refuses to inform her client of current situation?

[SumAznGuy]

Since the current owner is avoiding your phone calls, have you tried contacting a lawyer and asking for their advice?
What about your insurance company? Did they mention anything about fixing the damage and then going after the upstairs owner's insurance company for the cost of the repairs?

[320icar]

what kind of useless strata do you have in your building? the council should be on top of that motherfucker

[T4RAWR]

your strata is completely useless.

take pictures of ALL the damage.

there is a potential for long term damage (i.e. mold growth from moisture) even if you repair the ceilings so you need to get on this shit sooner rather than later.

collect as much information about the seller as well as their real estate agent as you can.

start the ball rolling with a notice of claim against the seller.

plaster the hallway to your building as well as any sort of social media that the realtor uses with the situation and completely shit on the realtor

[Bonka]

Contact your building manager right now and have them deal with the leak (that's what they are there for) so strata can quickly bill the party responsible. If your building manager is useless, call your management company. In the case of a firm sale, a buyer can definitely back out (or hold funds) if the current seller is responsible for the expense and haven't cleared any amounts due on the unit before title transfer. The buyer will find out when they meet with their lawyer before closing to sign transfer documents but you've got to get the ball rolling fast for that to happen as it's already the 20th right now and the buyer would have likely signed off already. Either way, if the leak originated from the unit upstairs and the new buyer has already taken possession they will be liable for the cost and I'd wager to say they'd be pretty annoyed.

Contact the brokerage that the buyer's Realtor works at (also the seller's Realtor's brokerage) and speak to the Managing Broker and inform them of the situation. If the Managing Broker is at all half decent and has a conscience (ie: they don't want to get sued) they'll straighten things out pretty hastily.

I'd also be prepared to file a complaint against both Realtors to the Real Estate Council.

PM me if you need contact info of the Managing Brokers.

[frandaddy]

^ good plan laid out by Bonka. Your strata has a duty to mitigate damages whether or not the source is from common property or another strata lot. Contact your strata pm and let them know if don't deal with the matter (such as send in a plumber to investigate at the minimum) this water could potentially lead to a possible claim against your strata because of the negligence on the part of the management company. They have a right to enter in cases such as this with proper notice to the unit above.

The ball is in their court to action.

[chinook79]

Update: I was able to get a hold of unit above me finally. He's actually quiet pissed off that I contacted his realtor, his lawyer, and buyer's side to inform current situation. He is claiming that he has been speaking to strata council since day one and the strata council and property manager is sending plumber to his unit on Monday or Tuesday to locate the leak. He also stated that he's looking into suing me for "breach of trust" for contacting lawyer involving this matter. In regards to him not being able to be contacted, he is claiming that he was out of town one day. I can't trust a single word he is saying because of following: I've been contacting him since day 1, twice daily once in the morning, once in the evening. I left message in his voice mail, too. It has been 4 days that he completely ignored my calls, and at first when I called him, the call was going through but no answer, 2nd day, his phone was completely off, 3rd day, same thing, 4th day, phone was going through but no answer. 4th day night, finally he picked up the phone, all pissed off. Even if he was out of town, all he needed was to text me updating the situation, which he never did. Another reason I can't trust his word is that he is claiming he's spoken to strata council and agreed to get a plumber to look into the situation from day 1, and that it's strata council that refused him to use his own plumber. I have been in contact with strata council and property management since day 1 and they are the one that asked me to speak to owner above my unit as location of the leak suggests owner to owner problem. If what the owner above my unit is claiming is true, that he's been waiting for strata to take action, it means that strata never informed me of current situation from day 1 despite constant complaints and that property manager has been saying that this issue is owner to owner situation to me, and to owner of the unit above me, exact same property manager is saying exact opposite: that owners can't touch anything and this should be property manager's responsibility. I have sent email to property manager asking to verify if work order is in place.

[B!tch]

Sue you for 'breach of trush' isn't possible.

Breach of trust is essentially a broken trust, a way in which someone fails to fulfill promises connected to something or someone entrusted to him/her. Breach of trust violates the terms of the agreement between the parties involved. Second, the person who breaks the trust has been entrusted with something: administering funds, investing someone else’s money, supervising employees, taking care of a child, giving medical care, teaching, taking care of an animal, etc.

Guys is just pissed because he got caught not taking responsibility for his mess. Before I read your update I was going to ask if you are sure the water was coming from his unit.

If it was coming from pipes in the wall, the strata would be responsible and as an fyi it is also possible to be coming from a unit higher up as water can be running down a wall for a few floors before it makes it to your unit. I have seen it a few times. Guy is just a pu$$y though because he thought he could sell and pass it on to someone else.

Not all building have a building manager but unless your building self manages there should be a 24 hour emergency number owners can call in situations like this.

I would talk to your strata council and find out why you are paying monthly strata fees and are dealing with this yourself for 4 days. A rep from the property management company should have been at your place on Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guy upstairs could have screwed himself if he was indeed out of town as some strata have bylaws if you are away to turn your water off or provide emergency access. Read your bylaws!

Couple of side notes:

Your strata council are VOLUNTEERS who have been voted on by all the owners to make decisions in the best interest of the building. They aren't there to call day or night. They have legal obligations but I won't bore you all with that as there is google. Your property management company is there for you in emergencies 24/7.

Anyone who owns an apartment should at least read your strata minutes. Unless mommy and daddy handed you a condo and its as disposable as toilet paper to you, take an interest in where you live. Also Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Homeowners Association of BC answers questions in the Vancouver Sun and Province. CHOA Public Resources

And finally, for those of you say put a lien on his place. For what?
Frequently Asked Questions - BC Registry Services Guy upstairs does not have a financial contract with chinook. If turns out to be guys fault, strata fixes, bills guys, guy doesn't pay, strata liens unit.

[chinook79]

Update: Strata is now involved, and plumber came to locate the leak, but was unable to stating that leak is now stopped and is very hard to see exact source of leak without tracing back the leakage. We are waiting for the ceiling to leak again, so that we can identify exact source of the leak.

Current owner has been calling my significant other while I was at work, several times that he is going to sue me for his apartment price and his soon to be new apartment as the new owner is backing out of the deal. The current owner claims that he will sue us unless we tell him who gave us about realtor's and lawyer's information, probably because he think he has ground to sue them. He is also denying any conversations that ever happened between us about him promising to call plumber and letting me know the result when we first spoke together. I told my significant other to tell him to see me in court if he calls again.

Karma is bitch. I do not feel sorry at all for the current owner. Funny thing is, when the current owner kept ignoring my call, and when I found out he was intentionally ignoring the situation because he wanted to sell his unit and get out, I left him a voice mail telling him that karma will get him back.
Talk about instant karma

[Zedbra]

Have you cut a hole in your roof to look for the leak? Wouldn't this suck if the leak was on your level, not his? Either way, I'd open it to have a look and to start drying it out. Have you contacted your insurance company?

[d1gbick]

so hes going to be still living there.. sounds like he may be a real pain in the ass to deal with in the future. who knows what he will pull next

[chinook79]

We haven't cut hole in our roof yet, but we most likely will be. We are just waiting for it to leak again to cut hole so we can find the source of the leak.

Yeah I know. Only thing that concerns me at this point is having to stuck with a shitty neighbour upstair.

[BrRsn]

^ I thought he turned off the water to his unit ... so it could be awhile till the leak resurfaces, no?



also, glad you didn't skin him and wear his skin, that shit is barbaric.

[nma]

Overall, I'm not sure you handled this quite the best way... All you had to do was contact the persons that have been already listed in this forum. I'm not sure leaving him messages with "karma" and contacting his lawyer / realtor / pet vet is necessary. You don't really have to call him twice a day either....

Personally, I'd try to reach him a reasonable amount of times, if I couldn't, I would then work with the strata or the building manager. They have a legal obligation to get things done, therefore, no matter what happens YOU are protected.

Also, the buyer of the other condo is protected because the previous owner is responsible for shit like that.

[chinook79]

Originally Posted by nma

Overall, I'm not sure you handled this quite the best way... All you had to do was contact the persons that have been already listed in this forum. I'm not sure leaving him messages with "karma" and contacting his lawyer / realtor / pet vet is necessary. You don't really have to call him twice a day either....

Personally, I'd try to reach him a reasonable amount of times, if I couldn't, I would then work with the strata or the building manager. They have a legal obligation to get things done, therefore, no matter what happens YOU are protected.

Also, the buyer of the other condo is protected because the previous owner is responsible for shit like that.

This is what happened from the beginning. As soon as leak on ceiling is detected, I contacted strata to inform and asked them to take action. Strata returned to me saying that leak is likely to be happening from above unit, this will be owner to owner problem and did not want to get involved. I then got a hold of owner upstair whom promptly said he'll immediately call plumber and inform me of the finding. This never happened. Instead he disappeared for 4 days ignoring every call I made trying to follow up with issue as water was dripping from the ceiling for the first two days.
I was told not to touch the leak until either I had chance to examine unit upstair which was impossible due to owner upstair disappearing. I then found out about owner selling his unit and realized that the owner is intentionally avoiding dealing with the issue until he completes the deal with new owner. Only reason I sent email warning parties involving new owners was that I did not believe that it was fair for the new owner to deal with headache because some scum doesn't want to take care of his problem.

[finbar]

OP, your upstairs neighbour sounds like an idiot who watches too much television.
Just the sort you have to be hard as nails with.

You might want to contact your insurance co, assuming you have a homeowners policy. Personal liability is a nice addition too.
The insurance co has an army of lawyers that become your army. Not bad for a few hundred bucks a year.

They may recover costs of repair from stupid.

Is the ceiling damaged?
Keep an eye out for mould when opening up the bathroom ceiling.

Hopefully stupid goes away soon and leaves you in peace.