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Condominium Water Damage

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chipmunkofdoom2

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

I live in a condo that I own. The unit above me is rented out by its owner. Recently, my condo sustained some water damage from the unit above. There was a leak in the air conditioner condensation collection system from the unit upstairs. The leak was in no way my fault, I could not fix it, and I reported the leak the day I saw it. The leak was fairly substantial and took a few weeks for the unit owner to finally find and fix. I contacted my insurance company during that time because I was not sure what the cause of the leak was. The insurance company estimated the repairs to cost $1,500 and cut me a check for that less my deductible ($500).

I let the property management company for the unit upstairs know that I want to be reimbursed for the $500 deductible. The condominium association rules explicitly state that any water damage to the unit below yours is your responsibility to fix. The unit owner above replied by asking me to sign a contract limiting the owners liability to the $500 of the deductible and no more. They do not want to cut a check until I sign a document limiting their liability to $500. My concern is that there may be other issues that we are not aware of (mold, other damage not visible while the drywall is still up). I'm more than a little annoyed. The owner should be responsible for the entire balance (at least I believe so), not just the $500 deductible, and they are still looking to limit their liability.

I guess I have three questions. The first is who is liable in this situation? I'm assuming the unit owner upstairs is since his air conditioner was the one that leaked, since I let the management company know about the leak right away, and since I was not in any way able to fix or stop the leak. The second question is should I limit the unit owner's liability? I do not think that the unit owner above me should ever have his liability limited for this incident since he is totally at fault (at least in my belief). My third question is how should I go about getting settlement from the owner in the future? This leak had happened before, though it was not as big, and it's very clear that the owner did not do anything to fix it the last time around. Should I need to deal with them again, I want to be prepared to take the owner to small claims court or wherever necessary to get the money I deserve to fix my home.

Thank you for your time, if you need any additional information please ask and I'll be glad to provide it.
 



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