<p>We have two units in a condo. One is my mom’s residence, the other is my brother’s. Yesterday, my brother’s condo had several water leaks because the condo above his had a flood as their kitchen hot water hose busted. If there are damages, who should pay for the cost of repair?</p>
<p>In the same token, My mom’s unit had ceiling water stain damages due to leaks in the roof above her which is HOA’s responsibility. Based on HOA, the CC&R only covers the dry wall damages, not the paint or trimming. The HOA had tested my mom’s unit and found no damages to the dry wall due to the leak, only the stains remain, not their responsibility.</p>
<p>Thirdly, we had a big living tree fall down in our yard due to high wind, the tree not only brought down our fences but also damaged the fences two houses away. Luckily, no other damages were done because we had a big yard. Our insurance adjuster came and she won’t consider to pay for the damages two houses away as we are not negligence because the tree was alive and acting of god caused the damage and the other home owner’s insurance should cover the cost of repair. The other home owner said they will sue if we won’t cover the cost.</p>
<p>The guy upstairs who had the leak should pay for the repairs due to the damage caused by their unit.</p>
<p>I also think the HOA needs to pay due to their roof issue including painting unless it’s specifically called out differently in the HOA contract your mom signed when she bought the unit. It doesn’t make any sense to not pay for painting, stain repair, etc.</p>
<p>I think the owner of the tree should pay for damages it causes since if they had maintained the tree properly there’s a chance it might not have fallen down at all - but this also is likely covered in some written contract with the insurance company. Regardless, I think the homeowner two houses away has a right to be reimbursed if not from your insurance company then from whoever owns the tree.</p>
<p>It’s time to read some contracts - and time for everyone to do the ‘right thing’.</p>
<p>Having had had my tree fall on a neighbor’s house, I realized I was lucky (used rather widely) that it fell on property, as the homeowners insurance covers the cost. Their insurance, as they own the damaged property. Whether the fence is covered by the homeowners in the absence of house damage is a question for insurance adjusters. However, I’d say that chipping in for damage/removal/deductible AFTER the insurance adjusters have spoken would be fair and kind, rather than your neighbors just demanding money. Yours has already spoken. How about theirs?</p>
<p>The other neighbors might not have insurance.</p>
<p>Or they might be concerned that their premiums would go up if they filed a claim. If party A does the damage, party B and/or their insurance company shouldn’t be liable unless the insurance is structured that way.</p>
<p>Although it doesn’t seem fair, I’m pretty sure whenever a tree falls due to an act of nature (and as long as the tree was not dead), the person who suffered the damage is responsible for repairs (insurance if they have it). If the tree was dead and the owner was aware or had been given notice of such, they would then be responsible.</p>
<p>If my neighbor’s tree fell on my house, I’d think I feel they should be liable (although from what I’ve read, in my state, that’s not the case). I have a $5,000 homeowner’s deductible. Due to that, potential non-renewal, and/or increase in premiums, I would not want to file a claim on my own homeowner’s.</p>
<p>I guess that the prudent thing to do is to send a letter to all of your neighbors that have trees that could fall on your property to advise them that their trees are potential dangers to your property.</p>
<p>Unless the owners were negilent in maintaining it (allowed it to die or killed the roots or something), the owners of the tree are not responsible for the tree falling over due to an act of god, like high winds.</p>
<p>With respect to the tree, these are standard insurance clauses and long-standing liability concepts --you can’t fight 'em. Our insurance company didn’t blink when a huge tree fell from our neighbor’s property onto ours, just picked up the bill. It was part of our coverage, period. You should politely point out to your neighbors that their recourse is to their own insurer and ignore their threats.</p>
<p>Regarding trees–my 10 acre woods had overhanging branches into the adjacent farm field. He asked if he could “trim them back”. They were hitting his tractor and combine. Being a rationale sort who wouldn’t want my combine getting whacked, I said yes.</p>
<p>He hired a backhoe guy who went at it, tore out branches 10’ back into the woods, and then pushed all the debris into the woods. Not. Happy. Campers</p>
<p>I don’t think that he needed to ask on cutting the branches on his side but consider the expense of doing so for him given that they are your trees.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that the tree issue results in people paying for their own damaged property regardless of where the tree sits. </p>
<p>We had a neighbor’s dead tree take down part of our fence and I knew it was still our responsibility as we had never informed the neighbor that we thought the dead tree was a threat (in fact, we didn’t even notice it). H wanted to call the insurance company to check and they ended up counting that as a claim even though we repaired it ourselves and they had no $$$ to shell out! </p>
<p>This is a homeowner or renter insurance issue. The upstairs neighbors should have called in their insurance company, which should have given a referral for a water remediation team to clean up and dry up. The insurance company should send out an adjuster to look the damage over, provide an estimate of cost for repair, and arrange for covering the repair bills. We’ve just been through this in our own home (flooded 2nd floor bathroom, water pouring through living room ceiling), and I am so glad it was our own living room not a downstairs neighbor in a condo building!</p>
<p>Make a claim against your own homeowners insurance. Your insurance company will in turn make a claim against the upstairs insurance company or owner. Either way you will be covered.</p>
<p>I agree, file a claim with the insurance company and let them figure out who is at fault. That is what you pay your premiums for and they have higher paid attorneys :D</p>