Sewer damage

My neighbor says I’m responsible for damage to his unit from common area tree roots. Is this possible?

Ask him to explain why he thinks trees on the common area are your responsibility, and not the HOA/COA's responsibility, to maintain. Depending on the state, and regardless of where the tree roots are getting into the unit, tree roots may be seen as a "trespass" and so are the responsibility of the tree's owner.

I would say "sorry im not an insurance expert. You should talk to your insurance company"

If your at fault, your insurance company will contract you for your insurance company info. Chances are.... its not your problem.

If I were a HOA/COA member, I would not contact my insurer for this issue at this time. Nor would I suggest to the other owner anything on this matter.

Insurance claims adjusters are typically high school graduates at best and incredibly ignorant. Count on it: They will give incorrect information; be unable to read covenants; not know case law; and more. Insurance claim adjusters are the enemy when it comes to situations like this.

The only contact I advise the OP to make is as I gave in my first post above.Regardless of any action a person takes or does not take, an issue could end up in court. But for court, one does not want a friggin' claims adjuster running the show.

I gave the advice I did because insurance claims adjusters are notorious for not evaluating the situation and instead, offering whoever is complaining money, quite possibly to the detriment of one's insurance premiums. For something like this, my advice to the OP is not to contact his/her insurer at this time. If the facts change, my advice may very well change.

OK, big pants, who's going to handle? the PM? Not gonna happen my friend.

You posted earlier that it's fine if the OP does not want to contact his/her insurer. Are you saying otherwise now?

I remember you are one of the most experienced ones here with tree roots and sewer lines. I too want answers to the questions raised here.Let me be crystal clear that a corporation at the first sign of a mere possibility of an insurance claim is obligated as a fiduciary matter to contact the insurer. I saw a condo association fail to do this. Ultimately when the association was forced to pay for the repair, the insurer said it would not help, due to not being given notice a few years before when the tree roots first started taking over the sewer lines.

Right now, the OP has no facts on which he or she can rely. I continue to advise contacting his or her insurer at this time.

The question under discussion was whether the OP should contact his insurer at this time. My advice is: No. As things develop, my advice may change.

Being a Former Ca. Board President for a medium sized SFH HOA (438 homes) we had a similar problem that was just starting to surface after about year 20 in our HOA existence. My community had 1700 trees planted along our streets in the area between the sidewalk and the curb. Our main entrance had about a 5 feet area and our side streets had about 3 1/2 feet between sidewalk. We had a few homeowners that reported sewerage backups. Some had over 10k in damage to their homes. After a lot of investigation we discovered that 2 things happen underground. Our City had a system that had a ball and joint type connection meaning it was not completely sealed and as land settled some of these joints were loosened and sewer water would seep into the ground. If you have thirsty trees that are in search of water guess where the roots go to get it. Yes they go straight for the sewer lines and all of the nuturiants.

So the HO is responsible for the Sewer line after it hits their property line. The HOA owns the trees which cause the blockage but the sewer attracts the roots. I learned from an Arborists that if you look at the Canopy of a large tree you can expect the root base to be almost the same underground.

After much debate from all insurance carriers and lawyers it was decided that each homeowner would have to file a small claim with the County. This left it up a Judge or in some cases a Mediator to make the call. As of the time I sold my home our HOA was 0 for 1 defending our case.

All it takes is a Judge who has ever got a letter from an HOA for a violation they did not think they deserved and they side with the HO verses the Bad HOA.

Not sure, have you checked?

And IF the city planted those trees?

Mark18 and Augustin,
It is very hard to get a clear case. Some Cities plane the Trees on and the ownership goes to the homeowners. They are responsible for the care and damage. In our case we had private streets and the HOA planted the Trees and maintained the water to the Trees on the main Street but not on the Side streets. After about the first 10 years the water was turned off to the Tree bubblers. The HOA had all of the owned Trees on a Pruning schedule every other year. It was deemed that the HOA was responsible for those Trees and the damage that was done by them.

So a lawsuit was actually filed? About how much were the actual damages that the HOA was pursuing?

Steve,
When you have a Tree lined street that has a canopy that covers the street you have a problem. Most want the Trees at any cost. Others who have been damaged want the Trees but want to be able to flush toilets without a backup. The HOA is in the middle and has to try and do the right thing for All parties. I recommended that the reserves be increased dramatically to cover these new problems that are certainly going to continue to increase. The Trees are a asset to that community but also cost them now over 50k a year to Prune plus damage repairs.

I decided to move from Ca. to Texas and that was only 1 of the many reasons I am proud to be in Texas now. By the way I look at Trees much differently theses days and was glad that my new home had 5 gallon Trees planted verses 20 year old Trees.

If the Democrats are right and the World is going to end in 10 years I should be good. LOL

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Sorry about not responding- I’m new to this forum and wasn’t sure I could since I kept seeing “DO NOT RESPOND”. Now that I’ve had a moment to breath I’ve discovered the link. This condo was owned by my ex who passed away close to 3 years ago. Our sons have inherited it (or will once probate closes). Since neither live locally I manage the condo for them. I spoke to the office mgr who is looking into the situation for me. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.