It happened last night my neighbor’s washing machine hose rupture in the middle of my perfect night sleep and flooded my unit and the unit below ours.
If this sounds familiar too you, you are not alone. It happens everyday of the year, allover the country.
The pressing question is who is at fault? Well common sense tells us that it is the owner of the ruptured hose. Perhaps the Unit owner or the renter, are the ones.
In a perfect world they would call an emergency water damage restoration service to quickly respond and dryout the areas that got wet.
However, if this does not happen right away you may have some recourse. Your association or condo board has some responsibility to deal with the common areas in the building. Walls, ceilings and floors. Remember these are the elements of the building that are not in your unit.
The interior stuff like carpet, T.V and furniture are your’s as the owner of them. You may be able to get reimbursement from the upstairs neighbor after you have done the repairs to them.
The key here is to be familiar with the laws governing the location or jurisdiction you’re in.
Some states have No-fault laws which make it the responsibility of each individual owner. Some states have provisions that place the responsibility of the repairs to the culprit or the owner of the item that caused the damage.
In almost all case you have a duty to repair whether it is out of common sense or obligation, don’t delay commence repairs as soon as possible.
And, after it is all done and put back together, take a deep breath, collect your thoughts and go see the guy up stairs.
