Unreported water leaks that result in major interior damage

Personally, if I ran the association, I would just fix what the association is responsible for and move on.

If not, the owner or their insurance company will likely sue. Litigation could take years and its likely lawyers cost much more than just fixing the problem.

Stupid things happen, but you must look at it like an accountant, not your emotions. Which one will cost less? Getting sued or fixing the problem?

Ron,

Sometimes the leak isn't detected until it becomes a major issue.

For example, the water line to my ice maker in the fridge was leaking. I never noticed it until I saw water on the floor in the basement (the floor below the fridge). Even then, I initially thought that the A/C unit had frozen over. It wasn't until I had 3 hours into cleaning up the mess that I realized that the water didn't come from the A/C unit but a pipe above the unit. I suspect that the leak had been small at first and it wasn't until the initial leak caused a larger failure that there was enough damage for me to notice any leak at all. However, I now am cutting into drywall, treating for mold, etc.

See previous response to other posted. I will add that I am not acting on emotion, but in the best interest of the members association. I am considering the possibility of the association being sued, but I am also of the mind that the court would rule in our favor under the extenuating circumstances. I am not going to just jump into a lawsuit, though. I am gathering information and advice before I proceed with the next course of action.

I can't exactly prove that the resident knew about the damage, but the pics they sent me of the damage clearly show that it wasn't something that occurred overnight. It is a sign of prolonged exposure to water over the course of several months. I also believe that this resident was subletting their unit to a friend of theirs at the time (this was prior to 2012), so it's entirely possible they just found out about it recently after the tenant moved out.

Our governing documents require that owners keep their units (it is a high-rise) and their fixtures in working order. This covers everything from the water shutoff valves to fixtures to appliances and so forth. If they knew and it cost the HOA money, it would be negligence and we would pursue legal options.

My experience has been that roof leaks are fairly predictable in that they occur where the roof changes pitch, abuts against a wall, or where something like a chimney or soil stack pierces the roof. Your roofing inspection contractor (you have one, don't you?) should know where to look and should have been keeping an eye on the problem areas. If you had no roof inspections you have no one to blame but your own association.

Since maintaining the roof is an association duty and the roof leaked as a result of poor maintenance, my recommendation would be to eat the damages. If you choose to get into playing the blame game with the unit owner you are going to lose because the association breached its duty. The only argument in your favor would be that the owner may have had an obligation to mitigate damages by promptly reporting it but you would have the burden of proving that he knew of the damage at an earlier time. Use this as a learning experience and start looking for problems before they become Problems.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the resident was subletting their unit to someone else. I don't know exactly how long it was going on and the owner probably doesn't, either. I found out about it when I asked the community to report any water leaks due to what is probably a faulty roof install in 2012, though the damage from the resident in question occurred before that.

I disagree with this. No inspector has the ability to search every square inch and look under every shingle and inspect every bit of flashing and underlayment. That said, what you're basically saying is that a unit owner can be aware of a leak and be apathetic about reporting it until the damages snowball into a ridiculous amount which the members association should be responsible for. In my opinion, there's no excuse not knowing about something that is readily visible as is the case here with the damage occurring in the ceiling in the garage. I can understand your argument if water is leaking behind a wall for months and then it starts showing signs of damage through the drywall. This is not the case, though. The interior drywall shows excessive damage which could only occur over a prolonged period of neglect. Also in my opinion, if you're going to sublet your unit, it should still be your responsibility report any issues to the association. If you can't do that, don't sublet a condo. By a house and sublet that instead.

First, Ron, your 1:09AM Post & my 1:12AM post crossed, so I hadn't seen that info....

Here maybe 5 years ago, a tenant's kitchen sink overflowed due to a drain clog and they put rags, etc. on the floor to sop it up. They finally notified management that there must have been a drain line clog, but that time damage was done to the hardwood floors, some wall board, etc. of the condo below. The tenants admitted they had sopped up the results of previous clogs for the pervious 2-3 times.

It was a common area clog, so the HOA was responsible, but, like in your HOA, Ron, we (the Board) via our Prop. Mgr. (PM) argued that if the tenant had reported it the first time, the clog would have been cleared and no damage would have occurred. We wanted to bill the unit owner for the damage and claimed his tenant was negligent. Our deductible is $10,000 so that didn't help.

The unit owner was furious and argued he shouldn't pay; the clog was the HOA's responsibility. We consulted our attorney who wrote the owner a letter offering to split the cost of the damage. I thing it was about $1,500 apiece. I can't recall the exact details, but I think that's how it ended up.

So, I think NpS & Steve make a good point: It's not worth the expense & hassle to go to court.

By the way, JohnC, if a toilet broke here while the owner was away and the flood caused damage, that owner would be responsible even though unaware of the flood. Who paid for the damage in the case you cited?

The HOA is not automatically responsible for all water damage from the roof. This is a common misconception. The usual standard is negligence on the part of the HOA in order for the HOA to pay for damage.

Now on top of that, the owner's resident was negligent in not reporting.

Simple solution:
Let the HOA pay for fixing the roof and any common elements.
Let the owner pay for his own interior walls.

RonW7 (Ohio) : Although your Board may consider the unit damage to prove "gross negligence" for what you claim is the landlord-owner's date of discovery & reporting, proving it may be far from cheap nor easy.

( eg : "My tenant had a ceiling high piece of furniture & carpet that obscured the indicators until after I regained possession. How would I know beforehand without a court order to move the furniture during mere access to inspect ? ")

And however negligent the landlord-owner's inspection & discovery, couldn't the argument be applied that the Board ITSELF should be periodically inspecting the interior by lawful means ? (Another commenter noted the exterior roof condition ).

( a 2012 reroof ? The argument might then proceed to : wouldn't it have been especially important for the Board ITSELF to inspect the exterior & interiors for not infrequent re-roofing damage ? And wouldn't it be important for the Board ITSELF to do so as any warranty milestones are reached as to warranty claims against the roofers ? )

Warranty & insurable loss claims may be all you realistically have to work with.