HELP! Condo roof leak

[Mixalot27]

My Mother owns a Condo in Midnapore which she bought for an investment property. I'm currently renting the place from her until I decide to buy my own place.

I work night shift and I came home Weds morning and tried to go to bed around 8AM. I noticed my bed was soaking wet. I look up at the ceiling and notice my ceiling is leaking. Where it is leaking there is ducting of some kind. It appears the water is leaking through the roof into this ducting where it then pools in 3 or 4 spots and drips through my ceiling.

Upon finding the leak I immediately called our Condo Board President. He came over and took a look and agreed that it was pretty bad and that he would get it taken care of right away. It has now been all day Weds and all day Thursday and no-one has come to do any work or even look at the problem. The roofers say that they are waiting for the rain to slow down or stop before coming. My question is does this sound reasonable? I feel this is kind of an emergency situation and needs to be handled ASAP. The longer it goes on, the worse the damage will get and the more expensive the repair.

Also the Condo Board President is saying it will be the responsibility of my Mom's or my insurance to cover the damages to my unit. My Mom as well as myself do both have insurance on the condo, however I imagine their might be a deductible. Also I am kind of confused as to why it would be our insurance that covers the damages and not the Condo Association's insurance.

The leak was caused by the Condo Boards negligence in repairing/replacing the roof. A little background about what happened. This building is only 6 years old. However when the contractors put in the roof, they did NOT put any tarping/moisture barrier between the plywood and the shingling. The roof has been leaking on and off now for at least 3 years. I know of 4 other units which have had water leak into them. The Condo Association just keeps doing cheap repair patch jobs but never seems to get the problem taken care of on a permanent basis. My opinion is the roof needs to be completely redone and the Condo Board either doesn't have or is not willing to spend the money to replace it.

The Condo Board does not have a management company and tries to manage the building themselves. However they never seem to want to do anything around here. Any minor things that do get done are done very half assed. We also have Birds which nest inside our Dryer vents due to NO screening having been put on the vents. These birds bring all kinds of lint, leaves, grass, etc into these vents. This is a major fire hazard and I've been asking them to fix this for over 2 yrs but they keep putting me off.

I'm kind of pissed off about the whole situation. We pay $350/month condo fees yet can get nothing done around here ever. Anyway thats my rant for today.

A couple questions:

Is 3 business days (provided they come today) a reasonable time period to be able to get someone to come out to fix this type of minor emergency situation?

Should my or my Mom's insurance be the ones covering the repairs to the inside of my unit or should it be the Condo Associations insurance who covers?

My mattress is completely soaked through and I now have nowhere to sleep. My place is only 1 bedroom the leak is still going in the bedroom. I've had to sleep on my coach the last 2 nights. Is it reasonable to check into a hotel until the repair is fixed and present the bill to either insurance or the Condo Board?

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by Mixalot27


Also the Condo Board President is saying it will be the responsibility of my Mom's or my insurance to cover the damages to my unit. My Mom as well as myself do both have insurance on the condo, however I imagine their might be a deductible. Also I am kind of confused as to why it would be our insurance that covers the damages and not the Condo Association's insurance.

The leak was caused by the Condo Boards negligence in repairing/replacing the roof. A little background about what happened. This building is only 6 years old. However when the contractors put in the roof, they did NOT put any tarping/moisture barrier between the plywood and the shingling. The roof has been leaking on and off now for at least 3 years. I know of 4 other units which have had water leak into them. The Condo Association just keeps doing cheap repair patch jobs but never seems to get the problem taken care of on a permanent basis. My opinion is the roof needs to be completely redone and the Condo Board either doesn't have or is not willing to spend the money to replace it.


Should my or my Mom's insurance be the ones covering the repairs to the inside of my unit or should it be the Condo Associations insurance who covers?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think if you're paying condo fees (which include building maintenance), it should be covered by the building management and not you, since it's not your fault nor anyone elses. And also, it should taken care of right away, you're paying rent/mortgage to live there afterall.

[Mixalot27]

Originally posted by JordanEG6



Correct me if I'm wrong but I think if you're paying condo fees (which include building maintenance), it should be covered by the building management and not you, since it's not your fault nor anyone elses. And also, it should taken care of right away, you're paying rent/mortgage to live there afterall.

Yes I agree with you in that seems to be what would make sense. However with 3 different insurance policies on the property an all the fine print that goes along with that it gets confusing. My hope is that I don't end up out of pocket on this, in the form of a $500 or $1000 insurance deductible or some BS.

As far as getting it fixed right away, I definitely feel something should have been done. The problem is that our Condo Board members handle this themselves instead of using a property management company. therefor it seems they don't have a relationship with the required contractors to get things fixed. Basically they just have to call a roofing company and wait for them to come. We don't a handyman or any contractors on staff or anything like that. Thats why I think it takes some time. However even if they can't get to doing the actual repair right away I feel like they should have at least come out and put a tarp over the leak or nailed up a piece of plywood or something. At least a temporary solution until they can get to completing the repair. If I had a ladder I would seriously think about getting up there myself and constructing some type of temporary patch.

I'm just waiting for my insurance company to open so I can call and hopefully find out some more info on what the deal is. For now I can't really do much about the problem other than wait for them to fix it and hope it gets done soon.

[Eleanor]

You shouldn't be on the hook for anything out of pocket, as for the wait time

[403Gemini]

Its the condo's insurance policy which looks after the damages to the building itself. As for getting the roof repaired, you wont get anybody out there if there is rain or snow. It's a safety hazzard to have any contractor on the roof in those conditions so you're going to most likely rough it out until the rain slows down (looking outside i dont see any rain, its just gloomy so they MIGHT make it out today).

Originally posted by Mixalot27



As far as getting it fixed right away, I definitely feel something should have been done.

Of course you do, you're the only person in the world with a problem and it wouldnt be you risking your spine to slip on a roof and fall off, now is it?

[Ruggzy_McTuggz]

as for your bed or any other contents that may be damaged.... those will have to either be paid for by yourself or your insurance policy unfortunately.

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by Ruggzy_McTuggz
as for your bed or any other contents that may be damaged.... those will have to either be paid for by yourself or your insurance policy unfortunately.

Yup, contents will be covered by the tenants condo policy. (thanks, forgot to add that).

[Mixalot27]

Originally posted by 403Gemini
Its the condo's insurance policy which looks after the damages to the building itself. As for getting the roof repaired, you wont get anybody out there if there is rain or snow. It's a safety hazzard to have any contractor on the roof in those conditions so you're going to most likely rough it out until the rain slows down (looking outside i dont see any rain, its just gloomy so they MIGHT make it out today).



Of course you do, you're the only person in the world with a problem and it wouldnt be you risking your spine to slip on a roof and fall off, now is it?

Fair enough, I do understand your point. I'm not looking for anyone to be injured or anything like that. It didn't seem like it was raining very hard a lot of last 2 days. But its not my neck so I guess its not my decision to make. I really don't know exactly what conditions they will or will not work under. That was reasoning for asking if the delay is reasonable or not. Of course I would like to get it done as soon as possible before the situation gets worse.

[Mixalot27]

Originally posted by Ruggzy_McTuggz
as for your bed or any other contents that may be damaged.... those will have to either be paid for by yourself or your insurance policy unfortunately.

Which too bad for me has a $1000 deductible I just found out. so it will basically be a wash.

What about the damage to the interior of my ceiling and drywall. The buildings insurance covers that or mine?

[dgmartinez]

Just always remember that the Condo Assoc is responsible for the outside of the building. Since it is the roof that leaks, they are responsible, no deductible, except for possibly the contents of the place.

More than likely your insurance company will want to go after the insurance company of the condo assoc for the deductible.

[ExtraSlow]

I'm no roofing expert, but I don't think it's possible to do repairs while it's raining, not to mention the safety issue.

And, not that it helps, this is why it's important to go over the condo documents before you buy any condo. You could end up being a partial owner of a place that is being mismanaged, and you have little recourse.

[Ruggzy_McTuggz]

Originally posted by Mixalot27



Which too bad for me has a $1000 deductible I just found out. so it will basically be a wash.

What about the damage to the interior of my ceiling and drywall. The buildings insurance covers that or mine?

ceiling and drywall would be covered by the condo corp.

[Mixalot27]

Originally posted by Ruggzy_McTuggz


ceiling and drywall would be covered by the condo corp.

Well then I might not even need to go through the hassle of making a claim through my insurance at all then. I'll just eat the lost on the mattress. Luckily I work for a hotel and they can get me a new one at cost. So probably I will end up being out around $600. I'm not real happy about it but I guess its not the end of the world. At least I can afford it. Sleeping on the couch for now sucks too but what can you do. I swear if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have none at all.

[benthecat]

I live in a condo too and had a roof leak in my furnace room. Sometimes depending on the condo manager (ie: if they're new), they may not really understand the bylaws. I had to pull out the bylaws and quote the section to them before they sent someone over.

I had to wait about a 1.5 weeks to have someone on the roof to fix the problem (mind you, back then it was not forcasted to rain as much as it is this week) - so I could wait.

If you have to, pull the bylaws and quote the section to them. Generally, if it's outside of your four walls, it's the condo's issue to resolve.

You can try to get some money from them to replace a new mattress (I mean, you've got nothing to lose)....but i'm almost positive they are going to say that's what your insurance is for.

[analbumcover]

Isn't this what a reserve fund is for?

I noticed you are paying a lot in condo fees which probably includes a reserve fund on the building If there is any defaults in the common areas or structural malfunctions etc shouldnt that be coming from the reserve fund? Especially since you mentioned it isn't only you who is experiencing this

[Mixalot27]

Originally posted by analbumcover
Isn't this what a reserve fund is for?

I noticed you are paying a lot in condo fees which probably includes a reserve fund on the building If there is any defaults in the common areas or structural malfunctions etc shouldnt that be coming from the reserve fund? Especially since you mentioned it isn't only you who is experiencing this

I believe that the reserve fund is not enough to cover a new roof right now. The reason the condo fees are so high is that they are trying to build it up enough to replace the roof in a couple/few years (not sure how many). So for now they are just trying to get away with repairing and patching it until they can afford to replace it.

The other option would be to levy a special assessment against the owners. The owners would then pay a lump sum proportional one time payment for the roof. I'm guessing it might be $1000/owner or something but I really don't know. I can understand why they do not want to do this. However it might be necessary and what ends up happening anyways if their repairs don't last long enough.

The real problem came with the roof being improperly installed in the first place. The condo is only 6 years old so it wasn't expected to need a new roof already. So proper funding/budgeting wasn't in place for that. And now we are in this situation.

[dannie]

Not to knock the people that have given answers, but it always amazes me how some people don't understand this stuff.

So heres the run down for you. The ENTIRE thing will depend on your by-laws. We own quite a few properties, and im on quite a few boards, so I have learned the hard way for most of it.

In your by-laws it will have a section on insurance. Read it carefully. 95% of condo by-laws state that the condo corp has to pay your deductible. The absolute best bet is to call your insurance company and tell them what happened. If it is a good claims department, the first thing they will ask for is your bylaws. From there, the adjuster will get in contact in contact with the condo corps insurance co. (You should have an insurance certificate from your board stating who the company is. You receive a new one every year)

They will then hammer out the details from there. The major part of all of this is that YOU or the owner were NOT negligent. If the board or the insurance company can prove that you were negligent and say...... drilled a hole into the roof, then you have a problem. My guess is it is just shitty workmanship on the building and that is the condo corps responsiblity to maintain, repair and replace.

PM me if you have other questions

[01RedDX]

.

[Mixalot27]

^^Thanks for the info dannie. I talked to my broker and he said basically the same thing. The deductible might be covered depending on my condo bylaws and insurance. I don't have a copy of the bylaws but I will be getting one. This is good news, maybe I will not end up out of pocket on this.

Edit: Fucking A, the roofers just pulled up. I'm gonna go talk to them and hopefully they can get me fixed up here.

[dannie]

Anytime, Good Luck