Tree Roots in Sewer Lines

I don't have any answer to your overall question, but if a backup affected a second unit, then at least part of the damage is not to a section that serves only one unit. That's assuming the second unit's problems weren't totally independent of the first.

CAROLINA POPLAR (Cottonwood) (Populus deltoides Marsh.)

THE cottonwood, or Carolina poplar, is scattered widely but nowhere occurs in great abundance; it does not grow naturally in the mountains. The tree is easily propagated by cuttings and grows rapidly, hence it has been widely planted to get shade quickly. For this purpose, however, the tree is unsatisfactory, because it begins to shed the leaves by midsummer, the "cotton" from the female, or seed-bearing, tree is often a nuisance, the soft wood is easily broken by winds, and the rank growth of the roots often results in stopping drain pipes and cracking and lifting sidewalks.

Sounds like this was not a maintenance issue caused by normal wear or owner negligence. Obvious it was caused by property that the association has responsibility to maintain. Should have been addressed the first time. My view is that the association is responsible. The source reason for the clog has been identified. No doubt the lawyer will prevail for the owner. In the mean time request by certified mail to have the tree removed and state that the Association is responsible for any future damage not only because it is their responsibility but they neglect to remedy the problem.

You might want to know how these lines intersect and at what point. However, if the root was the cause it was not independent of the use of your line.

For a moment, I thought you lived in my community, as we’ve had the same problem!

(You say this is is happening to a condo owner in your building, but for some reason, this reads a lot like you're the owner. That's OK, but I also notice you always talk about suing people - sometimes that is necessary, but why can't you slow down a bit, take a deep breath and consider other approaches like alternative dispute resolution? If this goes to court, this will cost the association even more money, including you, because you're part of the association. Again, I''m not saying it might not become necessary, but please consider trying other options first. It may take more work, but the results could be more long lasting.)

Personally, I would encourage the Board to at least split the costs of repair. It’s unfortunate they didn’t bring in an arborist in 2010 to evaluate ALL the trees on the property after removing the Chinese elms. If they had, the problem might have been discovered sooner and the cottonwoods could have been removed before this homeowner had issues.

On the other hand, your documents say condo owners are responsible for maintaining the pipes - considering that the association removed several trees in 2010 to protect the pipes, one would think this homeowner would have taken the initiative and asked his/her plumber to check the system to see if it was at risk, especially if he/she planted pine trees. Yes, I know they didn’t cause this problem, but perhaps if he/she thought to ask the question at that time, the pipes could have been inspected sooner, saving everyone time, trouble and money.

Here’s my community’s story – go ahead and run for the board on this issue, if you want, but make sure you do your homework and educate yourself on this and other exterior issues. You don’t have to be an expert, but should have a general idea of what’s needed. Hopefully this will help you as you craft your pitch to fellow homeowners – if you don’t win, at least it’ll give them something to think about.

I’m told the original developer of my community sold townhomes partly on the promise that lots and lots of trees would be planted and they’d grow big enough to save on utility bills (which they do). However, all sorts of trees got planted all over the place – I’m certain the developer either didn’t know or care (maybe both) that some trees were planted too close to the building and might cause problems with pushing up concrete as well as sewer line disruption. At that time (early 1970s) clay pipe was used for the lines and as they age, they begin to deteriorate and are at high risk for tree root invasion, which is what’s happened.

Fast forward to the mid-2000s, after I moved in and some years after joining the Board, we began seeing several $4K and $5K expenses like yours, including two stints at one house, where the homeowner did contact her attorney (we settled it by splitting the cost of the second breakdown and got rid of the tree). that prompted me to suggest that we bring in an arborist to look at all our trees because I was also worried about some that had large branches hanging over the roof and I was worried about icicles falling and damaging them. After I left the board, it did hire one and several trees did get chopped down last summer – one board member later commented, we’ll probably have to chop down a few more because those trees are coming to the end of their lives anyway.

While on the board, I also spoke to a few friends with similar problems (not all of them lived in a HOA), not knowing a lot about this issue either. Everyone suggested we do some preventative maintenance by pouring root kill down the sewer cleanout – one friend was treasurer of his HOA and they did this every year. That led to another problem – about half of the cleanouts in our community (including mine) are covered with grass, flower beds and maybe an air conditioner.

A previous board president and I walked the entire community and wrote down the number of the houses where we didn’t see a cleanout and we later ran an article in the newsletter encouraging everyone to look around their property for the cleanout (some are flush to the ground) and make sure they’re accessible, because the Board was considering hiring a company to come out once a year to rot out the lines (I’d rather pay $5K a year for that than $5K or more for one repair that could have been avoided). Unfortunately, people read the article (or not) and I’ll admit it, there wasn’t any follow through by the board.

So, don’t be too hard on your board – yes, ,they could have done more thinking on the subject, but I suspect they aren’t the only ones inexperienced with infrastructure (too bad the property manager didn’t say something – or perhaps he/she did and was ignored – you may want to ask about that). In any case, this is yet another example of what happens when people believe the nonsense about “just pay the HOA a monthly or annual fee” and go on about your business.” Homeownership isn’t a spectator sport – maintenance has to be done regardless of whether it’s you or you pay someone or pool your resources with other homeowners in a condo and hire someone to do it for you. Even if you aren’t hiring the people directly, it doesn’t hurt to consider the big picture and ask questions, especially when you have one or two or several repairs running $4k a pop. Many homeowners don’t know that tree roots are twice as long as the tree is tall and they’re always growing to find water sources, which is why you have to watch where the tree is planted and consider how big it will be when it’s fully grown.

This will cost your association some money to fix this long term and I wouldn’t just focus on this one tree. And before you start demanding that said tree be gone by January, you might want to take a good look at the association’s finances and consider the costs of removing these trees – I believe it cost us at least $500 per tree last year, because you can’t just cut them down – as you know, you have to haul away the branches (if you aren’t crushing them into mulch) and then get rid of the stump.

You may also run into people like one neighbor of mine, who interrupted a board meeting last year, upset because the Board was planning to remove “his” tree for the same reason. He backed down after being reminded of the repair expense and that the Board has to consider the ENTIRE community (and remember, this guy didn’t plant the tree nor has he done any direct maintenance of the same). Not only that, this tree was beginning to cause foundation problems in the man’s townhouse (he said he’d pay for repairs – obviously he doesn’t know how expensive THAT can run).

While you're talking to the board - actually bring your neighbors with you so they can express their concerns, all of you might consider getting your lines checked right now. some may have problems, others won't, but all of you will have a start in addressing your concerns instead of sitting there and waiting for the next sewer line disruption. Finally, talk to your individual homeowner's insurance about water/sewer line coverage - standard policies usually don't have this and even though it'll add to the cost of your policy, having it could save you several thousand dollars if the worst should happen (something we recommend our homeowners consider when we discussed the sewer line cleanouts)

You want a reality check - here's one person's opinion.

Regarding the demand letter, that's up to the people who are currently having the problem. If I was dealing with a board like this, I would have already told my attorney to pull the trigger and send a nastygram to the board and association, demanding this be fixed, my expenses be paid by X date. If it wasn't done, off to court we go and we'll see how the judge sorts it out. I never said suing is NEVER appropriate - in some cases (like this one), you have no choice.

As far as the rest of it - the clock has been ticking and it's getting louder, so the next move is up to the homeowners. I wouldn't wait for January because you don't know if or when the next sewer line disruption will occur. Your board doesn't seem to have the guts to do what's necessary - they will need to spend the money, but either don't want to and won't say why. Not being honest with the homeowners is unacceptable; I guess they're praying nothing else will happen or the money isn't there.

Since they don't seem to be addressing the problem, it's time for the rest of you to stand up and decide if you want these folks to continue in their posts until next year. If not, start the recall and make sure there are people willing to take over (starting with you). But remember, even after these folks are gone, the homeowners will have to spend money to fix this - if anyone's thinking this won't be an issue until raw sewage backs up into their living room, forget it.

Your homeowners are already talking, so you don't need to wait until January - all of you need to get to the meetings for the rest of the year and demand answers. Do you want the association to keep paying $5k two or three times a year for disruptions, or do you get a new board that will fix this problem and then hire an arborist and maybe a good plumber or two, to help develop a long term maintenance plan, complete with educating homeowners on what THEY can do to watch for problems (e.g. a gurgling sound from the drains).

Update:

The tree remains. The unit owners whose sewer lines backed up are in limbo. The HOA attorney has been seeking reimbursement from the HOA insurer, but so far, after about two months, no go. To me this just about amounts to an admission that the HOA is responsible for the repair costs.

I tend to think the HOA attorney uses significant delay as a tactic of brutality. It has added great negativity to the community. The HOA attorney thinks he's saving the HOA money. I think he's a fool, since he does not take into account what he bills the HOA and the cost of the negativity.

After much publicity by non-board members (no demands; just discussion and postings to a web site), the Board wisely moved up a scheduled camera-ing of sewer lines by a few months. Numerous breaks in the sewer lines were found, with the cause unclear. Tree roots had penetrated the sewer pipes at several points. The bill for repairs will run around $27k. I think this will come out of reserves, but I believe the expectation is for some plan to be implemented to replenish the reserves.

If your building was built between 1945 and 1973, the sewer line may be a product often referred to as "Orangeburg," named for the town in New York where the largest manufacturer was located.

Orangeburg sewer pipe is kind of like a large toilet paper tube impregnated with tar. It was lightweight, easy to handle, and cheap. By now, most of it has been replaced due to its high failure rate. The most common reason for failure seems to be tree roots either grow through the pipe or grow around it and make it collapse.

PVC pipe began replacing Orangeburg in the early 1970's.

A more detailed dissertation on Orangeburg pipe can be found at:
http://www.sewerhistory.org/articles/compon/orangeburg/orangeburg.htm

As to a camera inspection: I believe that Harbor Freight sells a camera for sewer pipe inspections. It was many months ago when I saw one advertised and the price was about what I would expect to pay a plumber to do an inspection. You might want to look into this.

Talk with the individual condo owners, see if someone in your area offers x-ray imaging services
to scan the floor following the sewer pipes into the unit and to the street.
ground penetrating x-ray can give you images of rebar from post mention slabs, pipes and even
roots from trees without having to tear up the floor.
This way the owners can get a look to see if they are "next"
Perhaps this can be grouped into one large service call saving some money.

This is a $250 auger job where the plumber clears the line. I cannot believe a property owner and an HOA board would let a root-clogged sewer line to reach a point where a second property suffers damage but not miss the opportunity to hire a lawyer at about the same rate per hour.

This is an emotionally driven, neighborhood issue at the point.

Thank you for the suggestions, LetA and MarkM31.

KellyM3, what you said is about the size of it. But the current board has been getting quite an education.

SheliaH, your sharing of your HOA's experience with all this continues to be valuable and something I fall back on in my thoughts about addressing the situation at my HOA. I too have thought about getting the word out to members that the HOA will pay for pipe repair, but damage to a member's unit has to be covered by the member's insurance. Also you got it, regarding visibility of cleanouts. Several were not obvious as the plumber went around camera-ing in September. The plumber went in through roof vents in some cases, as I understand it. At this point, perhaps because the HOA maintenance person is on top of it, I am seeing cleanout tops appear where before, they were buried.

Thanks for the update

CONGRATULATIONS!!! If the prior attorney had not resigned I would have recommended firing them. Sounds like you have a new attorney who is smart and considerate of various costs. It's too bad the prior attorney cost the HOA as much as the repairs ... would have been better to just fix the problem but he was busy lining his pockets.

Wish you the best of luck in the future

You're welcome, Mark and Bob. Thank you, Janet. Prior to being elected, one of my co-candidates and I agreed we had to cut the attorney loose. The (now former) attorney added so much unnecessary negativity to the HOA, with vicious letters to members going beyond, say, a plain vanilla cease and desist letter or demand letter, and typically as a first communication from HOA to member. I feel he promoted argument between the board and members. With an unstudied board, this of course increases legal costs. Janet, understood about how large branches doing damage to above-ground property along with the damage the tree roots have been doing, must be kept in mind. With myself and my co-candidate on the board, all three directors agreed on beginning a program of cottonwood tree replacement. The HOA intends to take out two more cottonwoods soon. With board approval and some input from some members, I picked out the first replacement tree today.

Have you gone to the HOA board with this issue If so, what did they say? You may also want to contact your insurance company - it can duke it out with the association's insurance. Of course, if you don't have sewer/water damage coverage, you may have to tackle the HOA on your own (contrary to what many think, it's usually not a standard part of homeowner's insurance)

Thank you for your response. I spoke with my insurance agent and although I do have additional coverage it does not cover damage from tree roots. A couple of years ago I had a slab leak & the HOA insurance covered that, there was a 10k deductible but my own personal insurance covered 9k of that. I haven't addressed it yet with the HOA because I just found out the HOA maintains these large trees. At first I thought it might be the city because it's on a very busy Main Street, but the city has informed me they do not maintain these trees the HOA does. I'm just really freaked out because I live in California & with the drought we had to let our lawns go & today I received a violation from the HOA saying I need to install drought resistant landscape. So, I can't do that until I figure out what to do about all new pipes. Ugh!!! I don't want them to throw me into foreclosure but all this is going to cost a lot of $. I'm a single mom who isn't working right now so this is definitely going to keep me up at night.

CASE CLOSED AS PER THE 'DOCUMENTS'

Agree, of course, but I don't think it matters in the case of trees being the problem, which are under the responsibility of the HOA.

My neighbor accepted that she's responsible, and that is her decision, but I do not agree. She cannot maange tree roots that belong to the association.

I didn't realize it was old. I say 10/21 update and didn't notice the year. But it's ok to respond to old threads. The issues are the same for OP as they are our association.

Wow back at ya.

That is nice of you, thank you. The owner feels that it's nature, the tree did it. Our HOA insurance said no way would they cover it. I said I think it's still on HOA, but she doesn't, and that is what matters if it isn't affecting anyone else. So she is paying for the repairs herself. But if you think of a way for me to move forward on my excessive damages problem, I'll take any help you might be willing to offer!

Congrats on your win and the actions you've taken to remedy your tree problem. Especially the proactive removal of other trees. This was an instructive thread.

Correct. In fact, if she tries to inject a toxin into the tree roots encroaching on her property, and the toxin kills the tree, the HOA/condo could sue her with a good chance of success.

See the 2006 Texas case Withdraw v. Armstrong, 2006 WL 3317714. Here's a summary from https://assets.recenter.tamu.edu/Documents/Articles/1074.pdf: "[Withdraw v. Armstrong] involved tree roots intruding on Neighbor A’s property. The tree was located entirely on Neighbor B's property. Instead of cutting the roots at the property line, Neighbor A drilled holes and injected poison killing the tree. Neighbor B successfully sued Neighbor A for $5,000 in damages. The primary issue was whether the injection of poison constituted a trespass. The appellate court held it did."

But it sounds like your neighbor does not want to pursue making the HOA/condo remove the tree and pay for the damages the tree caused. Oh well.

It's an old Oak tee, I tend to doubt they'd remove it. I forgot to ask what, if anything, they will do to mitigate further root damage. Surely something can be done other than removing a grand old oak tree, here way before we were?

Seems to me that though my neighbor says 'It's not the fault of the association, a tree' that the next owner would not feel the same since they know about it now. I don't think an arborist came. I agree with you one should. We're once again dealing with a very penny pinching board. IMO this is going to lead to problems like past penny pinchers have, refusing ounces of prevention and then paying pounds in cures.

Her insurance denied the claim, the HOA insurance said they wouldn't cover it, and our contractor said in times past this sort of thing is on the owner, per the HOA. I disagree, but that is what they have been telling people, apparently, when others have made similar requests. Not sure why she wanted to use their insurance, since we have a 10K deductible, but. Perhaps she momentarily forgot about that.

This was a $3500 problem.

You have an active imagination.

I did not say an insurance claim should be made. I said I don't know why she would ask after an insurance claim, since the deductible is 10K. She probably wasn't remembering that atm, because that would make any sense.

The HOA is responsible for the common grounds. Trees are part of the common grounds. They are responsible for the care and maintenance of them, they are responsible when they case damage. It isn't 'their fault' when foundations shift either, but the maintenance of them is their responsibility regardless. As is any damage to individual units from foundational problems/repair.

I'm discussing that here, not stirring any pots in my community. If the neighbor wants to pay for it, that is her choice. I stated that. Once again you are just making things up.

I'm glad I found this message thread through Google. It's been very informative! I'll share my experience so far. It's still ongoing.

I'm a homeowner of a rental townhouse in a Phoenix, Arizona HOA community who's unfortunately been dealing with this exact issue for the past several weeks. Much of the bottom floor of my two-story rental townhouse (referred to as courthomes) was flooded with raw sewage back on Dec 9th when the common sewer line was damaged by tree roots. Almost $3,000 in cleanup costs and $11,000 in repairs to replace/repaint all the contaminated drywall, replace carpeting and flooring that had to be removed by the remediation company. My two co-tenants were displaced for over 3 weeks during the holidays until the cleanup and repairs were completed. They also missed work the day the sewage backup occurred. And they'll have a large electric bill for December from having the air scrubbers/dehumidifiers running 24 hours for three days. I agreed to waive their entire January rent, so I've also lost nearly $2,000 in rental income in addition to the $14K in cleanup and repair costs.

I've owned the courthome since 1991. I lived in the unit until 2012 and have been renting it out since then. Back when the community was built in the mid 80's, the original developer thought it was a great idea to plant eucalyptus trees throughout the community to give it a Mediterranean feel and provide shade. Many of the eucalyptus trees were planted in common areas in close proximity to homes, sidewalks, sewer and water lines. Many eucalyptus trees were also planted in backyards. My courthome had a eucalyptus tree in the back patio area about 10 ft from the building. I had it removed in the 2000's after a large branch came down during a monsoon storm and damaged my yard's block wall. All the eucalyptus trees planted back in the 80's are now approaching 40 years in age. They're very TALL and if you're familiar with eucalyptus trees, the roots are very invasive, growing out as far as 2/3 the height of the mature tree. Those roots seek out water and they love tapping into sewage lines. You can see the damage caused by the roots throughout the community. Cracked sidewalks and block walls. And then there's the unseen damage being done to the sewer lines below ground.

I have a property management company that handles maintenance issues directly with my tenants and will contact me to authorize sending one of their vendors when there's an issue with the a/c, plumbing, etc, or I can have one of my own preferred vendors sent. My tenants called them on the 12/9 when they noticed sewage gurgling in the downstairs bathroom toilet. They checked with their next-door neighbor and they too had sewage gurgling in their downstairs toilet. The way the courthomes in the community are structured, you have one building structure at an address with three 2-story courthomes (Units 1, 2, 3) having shared walls and a carport. The sewer lines for three courthome units feed into a common sewage line serving the entire building. The root intrusions are happening to the common sewage lines. As the sewage backup reported by my tenants was affecting multiple units, my property management company contacted me to get the contact information for my HOA's management company so they could send their plumber to address the sewage backup. The community manager was called. She pushed back against sending their plumber, saying they would need authorization from one of the three unit owners before sending their plumber, in case the sewage backup was due to an internal plumbing issue with one of the units and that owner needed to be charged for the plumber. It wasn't until the following day that I was contacted to give authorization for the HOA plumber to be sent, over 24 hours after the sewage backup had started. By that point the damage to my unit had been done. The sewage pooled up nearly a foot in the living room area. The plumber the HOA dispatched the evening of 12/10 found tree root intrusion had caused damage to the common sewage pipe. He was able to clear the roots out of the pipe. The roots came from one of the two nearby eucalyptus trees. There's one eucalyptus tree in the backyard of one of the other two units, and other eucalyptus tree in the common area not too far from where the sewage line is located. I haven't received definitive word on which tree caused the root damage to the sewage line. The plumber told my tenants he thought the roots came from the tree in the backyard of Unit 1.

I contacted my insurance company within a couple days after the sewage backup occurred and filed a claim. My claim was denied as my rental condo owners policy does not cover damages caused by sewage line backups. The insurance adjuster recommended I check the CC&R's to see if the HOA is responsible for the sewage line. If the HOA was responsible for maintaining the sewage line, then they should be responsible for reimbursing my damages. I read the CC&R's and found this paragraph...

"The Association shall be responsible for and bear the expense of the repair and maintenance of the Common Area and facilities including
sewer and water lines, booster stations and pumps serving more than one Residence even
if not located in the Common Area; signs, street signs, sign walls and the like as installed
by Developer even if not located in the Common Area; all portions of the Property
outside the Exterior Residence Lines; and may repair and maintain such Residences, or
portions thereof, as are not properly constructed, landscaped or maintained by the
Owners. The costs and expenses of the repair and maintenance undertaken by the
Association shall be a common expense to be distributed and allocated among the
Owners pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 7."

It's pretty clear to me from the CC&R's the HOA is responsible for the sewage lines and damages resulting from the lack of proper maintenance. I emailed the board president regarding my situation. His response to me was that I should submit to the HOA management company all invoices/receipts for the cleanup and repairs. The board would then vote at a future board meeting whether I'm reimbursed. That response did not sit well with me. If the HOA is responsible for maintaining the sewage line that caused damage to my property, why should it be up to a board vote to decide whether or not I'm reimbursed? That made no sense to me. At that point I felt it was best I get legal advice. I found a local attorney specializing in real estate/HOA law. I paid for the one hour consultation and sent him all the documentation I had; photos/video of the sewage backup my tenants had sent me, photos of the damage, the damage report and invoice from the remediation company that did the cleanup, and a copy of the CC&R's. His opinion after reviewing everything was the HOA is responsible for the damages caused by the sewage backup. If I hired his services, he would send a letter of demand to the HOA and also demand all maintenance records for the sewage line. He did recommend I submit a claim directly with the HOA's insurance company as I might be reimbursed if they find the HOA responsible for the damages and approve the claim. I did hire the lawyer and submitted a claim with the HOA's insurance. An insurance adjuster is currently investigating my claim. I sent the adjuster all the the documentation, photos/video, invoices and CC&R's. He visited the courthome and met my tenants a week ago. I'm hoping to get an answer by this week if my claim will be approved. If the claim is denied, my lawyer is prepared to craft and send a letter of the demand to the HOA.

The repair work to the courthome was completed on 12/30, so my tenants were able to move back in and enjoy the New Year holiday at least.

I did some investigating to find out if other courthome owners in the community had experienced sewage backups. I belong to a Facebook group for owners/residents of the community and posted about what happened to my courthome. Within a day I was being messaged privately by other homeowners who also experienced damage from sewage backups caused by root intrusion. One homeowner I've been in contact with had $40,000 in damages last January from sewage backup caused by roots. She's since sold the property and moved out. She also hired a lawyer and has filed a lawsuit against the HOA to be reimbursed for her damages as they denied any responsibility and refused to pay. Another courthome owner on the same street as my courthome had sewage backup damage 1 1/2 years ago. Again, the HOA claimed no responsibility and would not reimburse for damages. That owner didn't fight it and ended up doing most of the repairs themselves to save on costs. On 12/16, exactly a week after my courthome experienced the sewage backup, it happened to another three courthome units a few blocks away. I met one of the owners the last week in December. She told me the sewage backups have been an ongoing issue for years. She estimated neighbors near her in total have spent close to $200K repairing damage from roots blocking/damaging the sewage lines. She and her neighbors are fed up. She was able to keep the sewage backup confined on 12/16 and didn't suffer much damage. But she said her next-door neighbor received the worst of it.

Two days ago, the HOA held an in-person planning meeting to discuss current and needed projects around the community. It was an open meeting with a Zoom feed available that homeowners could join to watch. I spent most of my Saturday morning watching the Zoom feed. Wouldn't you know it, they spent 15-20 minutes discussing the sewer lines and tree root intrusions! The community manager told the board she was receiving new reports of sewage backups almost weekly. The damage to my unit was mentioned. She explained to the board members that the sewage lines, and trees, were over 30 years old and needing regular maintenance to prevent further root intrusions and sewage backups. The problem was only going to get worse. She also explained to the board how cameras could be placed down into the sewer lines to scope out and detect roots before they cause damage. The board decided this should be made a priority and created a new project scheduled to begin in February to look into having all the sewer lines inspected and scoped. Better late than never I guess! This pretty much confirms to me that there haven't been any ongoing inspections and scoping being done on the sewer lines. This should have been happening all along, especially with all the trees close to the sewer lines.

So that's my story.. I'm hoping the HOA's insurance will approve my claim so I can avoid further legal fees and get most of my retainer back as well. But I'm prepared to take this to court if I need to. My lawyer feels the HOA and their lawyers would most likely settle this out of court as they know they would lose.

We had the same issue in our community, as you noted from my response in 2016 earlier in this post – and I suspect much of the thinking in your community matches what went on in mine.

Since that was written, we ended up hiring an arborist who went around the community and identified the trees that were most troublesome so we had them cut down – they were nearly at the end of their life anyway. We also published articles in our newsletter urging everyone to find their sewer line clean out and consider dumping in root kill at least once a year. At one point the board considered doing it and adjusting the assessment accordingly, but that fell through, but I can’t remember why.

However your situation ends, I suggest you purchase sewer and water damage coverage on your insurance policy. I know this isn’t automatically included in most homeowner insurance policies and it appears you’ve found out the hard way this may not be automatic in landlord insurance either.

(and I do hope you have landlord insurance – my agent once told me many policies won’t cover damage if they learn the owner was renting out the home, so it’s best to get that coverage. )

You should also tell your tenants to get renter’s insurance if they don't already have it and make that part of the lease. This way, they won’t be stuck if they can’t use the unit for stuff like this. All of this may cost, but it’s better to let your insurance and the HOA’s master policy duke it out over coverage.