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Had a leak from the ceiling of my 1st floor condo, I contracted a plumber out of my pocket to find the leak. It was found to be from the A/C of a unit above me. This unit is rented out through a management company. After I had the plumber come out the management company finally sent out their own guy and the leak stopped. Now I already paid a 24 hour plumber to come out, find the leak, cut holes in the ceiling, do an est for the drywall repair (the company also does drywall/remodeling). The total cost was ~$370 to open the ceiling and locate the leak and ~$1350 for the drywall and painting. Of this I have already paid for the plumbing service and 1/3 payment for the repairs (I realize now this was probably not a good idea), a total of close to $800. There is probably a section of ceiling 4x8 that has water damage and some slight damage down one of the walls as well. There is also a light in the ceiling there and I don't know if it or the electrical is damaged there. I have no direct contact with the owner but the management company says he will only pay me $265 for everything.
my questions are:
has the contractor overcharged for the plumbing/ and or repairs?
what are the typical condo association bylaws in this case? does the owner of the unit that caused the leak have any basis for refusing to pay the whole cost of the repairs if it is found that the contractor overcharged?
what is my next step of action? pay another guy to come out and make an estimate for repairs? get the condo association involved?
That depends on how the condo's contract sayy these type things should be handled. Most times they actually have insurance and file the claim plus have contractors who handle it for them. It possible that you actaully broke the contract;so its up in the air callig your own if this is the case.Its liike anyhting else in that it could be a civil court matter and of course the contract will have alot to decide that.
most condo associations i deal with have the same rules...if its in the walls, it's their responsibilty, outside the walls, i.e. under the sink, etc., its the homeowners responsibility. if this is the case with you , sorry to say, you may not have much recourse.
I don't understand, I don't want money from the condo assoc. I want it from the owner of the unit that leaked into me. I talked to the property manager and the president of the condo assoc. and don't remember the exact words but they said pretty much the owner of the unit thats leaking into me should be responsible for the damage into my unit.
Hi qwertman,
You are correct in that you will be dealing with the owner of the unit( its NOT an apartment) unless you know for sure otherwise. The management company may be a go-between, but, they cannot stop you from pursuing the owner can they? Maybe they are saying you should take THEM to small claims if need be? Typically you would have to contact the owner first so he has the ability to correct it at his expense first.
If it is an emergency you can protect your property ASAP and the owner would have to deal with it later. As long as you are using reputable, licensed personnel then you will more than likely prevail in small claims.
If it was not an emergency and you did not contact the owner first, you still can argue that you did not want your house torn apart after you discovered that the source of the leak was not attributed to your unit.
My sentiments go with the unit affected and as long as the charges are reasonable, you are entitled to recovery. The amount offered seems inappropriate for all the work you describe.
Hi qwertman,
You are correct in that you will be dealing with the owner of the unit( its NOT an apartment) unless you know for sure otherwise. The management company may be a go-between, but, they cannot stop you from pursuing the owner can they? Maybe they are saying you should take THEM to small claims if need be? Typically you would have to contact the owner first so he has the ability to correct it at his expense first.
If it is an emergency you can protect your property ASAP and the owner would have to deal with it later. As long as you are using reputable, licensed personnel then you will more than likely prevail in small claims.
If it was not an emergency and you did not contact the owner first, you still can argue that you did not want your house torn apart after you discovered that the source of the leak was not attributed to your unit.
My sentiments go with the unit affected and as long as the charges are reasonable, you are entitled to recovery. The amount offered seems inappropriate for all the work you describe.
The situation was that I was in contact with the tenants of the unit for 2 days or so and they were friendly but in no rush to give me the owners contact info or identify the leak. So after a few days when the damage started getting worse i hired the plumber. The company seems reputable but I think maybe the bill is high which might hurt my case, maybe the contractor knew I was not responsible for the damage so bumped up the charges. I'm going to try to get another contractor out and est the damage, if it is much lower I guess I'll try to talk the original guy down or get out of paying him, although I already signed the invoice.
I figured it might end up in court although I'd like to avoid that if possible. If it gets to that point I don't even know if I am supposed to pursue the management company or the owner. At this point I don't even have contact with the owner, only the management company, the tenants said basically they don't even know who the owner is.
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