Condo leak from above, no proof, im stuck with the bill
 

Anyone in a condo deal with leaks from above before?

Owners above me seem to overflow their toilet or shower, cause minimal drywall and ceiling damage to my unit. There is existing caved in ceiling damage from months back as well.
Ofcourse they dont allow anyone into their unit to get proof.

Called my insurance company, either i pay the 1000$ deductable, or get someone to do it privately. There is no way to back bill the owners since there is "no proof" of negligence. Insurance company says this is a common occurance where the people under the leak are stuck with the bill.
Strata says since the above owners fault, strata is not involved. Its between me and the above owners.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? How do i get proof so im not stuck with the bill the next time this happens?

I'll just go fuck myself, k.

STFU TOS'd

Thanks for the replies, but both of those situations are completely different where
A. Unit owner above acknowledges and agrees to sort out the issue, and
B where mass amount of damage + strata property is damaged so they need to be involved

My case is trying to backcharge the owners, when they are shady and trying to avoid being a part of it

To answer some questions, emergency after hours was called (property manager), they said they would send someone out. They asked me to go upstairs and check the leak in the unit.

I went upstairs, told them theres water coming into my unit, and strata told me to check the leak.
Immediately the guy was like "your not coming into my unit" with an agressive defensive attitude, so he went to "look" then comes back, and says "its fixed" and that was that

20 minutes later, council came by, took photos of my unit, i asked them when the plumber is coming out.
Since it was saturday at like 7pm, and the leak was "fixed" and not pouring, they held off. Which is reasonable.

After emailing council, they said they spoke to the owner, but dont have any proof to help my cause.

This building is a dump for multiple issues, this just added on.

Really trying to avoid a civil tribunal / lawyer, it would be a massive waste of time over 1000$, headache, etc. With high odds of me paying for everything. According to my insurance company that said every time this kind of thing happens, its a wash.

How the heck can they say there's no proof? Where else could it come from? Buildings can't really go anywhere so it's not like a hit and run or something.

yoikes new house too :(

Can't an inspector just cut out a piece of your ceiling and see the soaked floor from above? I can't see it being hard to deny a leak like that! Water came in. There's no leaking pipes. There's only 1 place it could be coming from.
Is it possible to let him kindly know that if it's not resolved a lawyer will be involved and you'll also be trying to get your money recouped for wasting both your time and money. Would that work?

step 1) involve the strata and say you have a leak and no idea where it's coming from. make it their problem to get access. Start off the convo by saying it's the strata pipes inside your ceiling thats leaking. Say if the strata doesn't fix it you will sue them for damages.

2) they will get access by locksmith or otherwise.

3) strata will identify its coming from toilet (or wherever)

4) get it in writing from Strata

5) inform your home insurance you have proof of cause and you want it fixed

6) your home insurance will engage their lawyers and property manager to demand payment or fix from owner upstairs.

7) you are out $1000 but you get a permanent fix

8) be prepared for some time (it'll take a while).

9) appologize to strata for blaiming them in step #1

Sounds like a bitch to be living in an apartment. Makes me want to pull out of my presale I am taking possession next year. If it gonna be a leak like the OP, it'll be a leak in my own damn place not some asshole from above.

I dont get how they cant be blamed either, but if an insurance company that deals with thousands of claims says so, then....

@tiger handheld

Thats a great concept, but:

A: they dont work, they are on CERB or whatever its called (or so they told me) and they are home 24/7.

B: even strata cant get into their unit as the owners are not allowing anyone in due to "covid" / for the leak issue, and this is off topic but their floors were snapping in and out of place, i wanted to get a flooring guy in there to inspect whats going on, and same thing, no to covid.
(i ended up cutting out my ceiling / turns out the 2x8 beam supports nails-wood were snapping in and out of place every time they walk on them) mostly fixed now

C: im praying they leave the water on and leave to whistler or something, that would be my only chance to get someone to go in there. Il keep your ideas in mind

Unfortunately you cant really enter someones unit, unless its an emergency, and they are not home.

Euro7, my building is a 45 year old dump, wood structure, i just got unlucky with the whole scenario.

Keep your presale, this is just one of those shitty condo situations out of the other 100 people that are fine.
I have another place in port moody that ive owned for 3 years, 20 years old, 0 problems, minus a few power thirsty strata people

I have some ideas, il report back in a few weeks / months with what came of it

Thanks for everyones advice,

This happened to me 2 years ago, shower room membrane leaked to my neighbor down stairs. building is old, whole membrane had to be replaced.
Called house insurance "Gore Mutual". They said this is not covered...so FML

Called Strata, and they wouldnt deal with it. Neighbor wouldnt do shit as well.

So, i paid $7000, renovate the whole shower room.....

Yes your upstair neighbor is 100% to blame
But just because someone is 100% to blame doesn't mean they will pay you.
Say someone accidentally threw a baseboard and crack your window. He is supposed to pay for your damage, but doesn't mean he will pay.

Your only recourse is to sue him in court for the damage if he doesn't pay.


To the Strata, this is an issue between you two, so they'd think it is non of their business.
Your insurance company can actually sue the upstairs unit owner to recoup the damage cost, but they won't because unless you are talking about 6 figures damage is it not worth their hassle. (And you'd still have to pay the deductible even if they won)

Under the Standard Bylaws (which can be amended) owners do not have a right to:

- refuse entry to their strata lot by any authorized person: in an emergency, even though no notice has been given
- refuse entry to inspect and repair parts of common property or the strata lot that the strata corporation is responsible to maintain or insure, if 48 hours written notice has been given

this unfortunately is a grey area. you might be able to call this an "emergency" but even then, it's not easy for a strata council to gain access and there is a lot of legal liability risk here.

the one thing that's certain is the repairs to your ceiling will come out of your pocket, either via insurance deductible/premium increase, or just paying for the repairs yourself.

we had a washing machine 2 floors above us overflow and suffered water damage to our ceiling (thankfully the water that leaked into our unit leaked directly into our bathtub, avoiding damage to our floors).

the only option to us was use our insurance to repair it, or repair it ourselves. then we could attempt to recoup costs by suing the owner at the CRT, but only if we could prove they were negligent and that it wasn't just bad luck.

we just repaired it ourselves and moved on with life.

your neighbour sounds like a total jerk.

Didn't read replies., had to me once before. Your strata should be covering the repairs. As my strata at the time covered it.

You don't need to pay deductible because it wasn't your issue.

If you can't be bothered to read the thread before replying, then don't bother replying.

Especially given your information being incorrect; there is no way that a water leak that originated in a unit (ie not from common piping which is different and is the strata's problem) is going to be covered by strata insurance - none.

-Mark

A: has nothing to do with it
B: stop doing work and send a formal email to strata that either strata fix it or you sue them they have 10 days to reply and cost of lawyer will be charged. if they dont reply. Pay $150 for lawyer letter (sunk cost). See how fast it'll get resolved. COVID is not an issue for entry - as long as owners are not self isolating for 2 weeks - building manager or repairman can go in as long as they are masked and socially distant. You can enter someones unit as long as you give them 72hrs written notice if it causes damage or is a threat to life/safety.