Association troubles

[MNMiss]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

So, we have been round and round with our association. For years we have had a problem in our garage with water leaking in the winter. They made some changes to the gutters a bit ago and as a result all of the water runs off of three other garages and down on to ours (they are staggered down), also all of the water on one of the townhomes runs off of ours. It freezes in the winter and we have had ice six or seven inches above teh roof. As a result when it melts, our garage is flooded. Then it freezes and our garage is an ice skating rink.

The last time this happened we had them come in and they had someone come in and take a look at it. The result was that the leakage is because of all of the ice and water going on to our garage...and that our garage is bowed. It said it was caused by the drainage or lack of, and now our garage has bowed from the weight.

They have told us we need to pay for the garage roof to have some reinforcements put in and they are going to do a liner on the top of the roof. They are not adding any additional downspouts.

They've fought us every step of the way, sent us attorney letters, etc. Even their own guy they got an estimate from said if the roof is jacked up it doesn't solve the problem. They got an estimate that was 4k to have some reinforment/studs put in. We got an estimate and it was 975. They don't like what we've done and so now they say they are having someone come in to look at it- at our expense.

I am so tired of them! I have a feeling that we are going to be in for a long haul.
Anyway, we are planning to take them to small claims afterwards. We have an engineering report that says it's the design of the drainage system that causes the problem, a letter from our contractor stating the same, their contractor stating that leveling our garage will not fix the issue of the water drainage.

Are we wasting our time? Our request to have our garage fixed has led to nasty letters from them, a letter from a lawyer and a terrible appearance in front of the board. I have no doubt we can show that the damage to our garage was a result of the restructuring of the gutters and how they have managed the drainage. We might have just ate the 1k to fix the garage, but with them now telling us they are going to make us pay for another assessment that will be around 400, we're not feeling so fabulous. the board member out taking pictures of our garage, they called a board meeting about it and then sent us a letter after...

Any thoughts?

[private_person3]

What do you Governing Doc say about the roof? Is it a Common Element, Limited Common Element, or Unit Property? If it is Common, then it is their bill not yours.

Make sure you document every piece of communication. It might be wise to consult an attorney too.

Good Luck!