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  1. #1

    Default Foundation Leak Resulting in Interior Damage to Unit

    My question involves a condominium located in the State of: I am the original owner of an eight year old condo in the state of OHIO. Just over a month ago, during a heavy storm, filthy rain water began leaking in and running across my finished basement between the ceramic tile floor and the baseboard. Fortunately, my son was home at the time and was smart enough to snap a couple of pics as the water just began to come in, then he had to get busy with towels and a shop vac to clean up the mess! He lives in the finished part of the basement which is furnished with a king-size bed, huge sectional and flatscreen tv, computers, electric guitars, amps, etc., so he was frantically trying to pick up off the floor/move things that he could in order to remove them from the water that was quickly moving across the floor.

    I called our management company the following day and informed them of the leak which I surmised came from a known crack/leak in the foundation which the previous management tried to fix my throwing in some additional dirt and gravel about 5 years ago. I also emailed to them the picture my son took. They immediately agreed to send out a basement waterproofing company, as well as one of their own maintenance people to assess the situation. Due to heavy rains in our area, I was told it would take about a week before they could come out to do an estimate. In the meantime, we had another storm and more water came in. Once again, we had to start sopping up water, but luckily, we were home and the visible damage has been limited to baseboards pulling away from the walls. Thank goodness, the floor (as well as the steps leading down to the finished basement and the 3/4 bath) are all covered in ceramic tile, otherwise, carpet would have been ruined.

    Once the waterproofer sourced the foundation crack/leak he provided to the management company an estimate that included running a drain from the area of the leak UNDERNEATH MY CERAMIC TILE FLOOR AND THE CONCRETE on which the tile was installed, all the way across the finished side of the basement to the UNfinished side of the basement where the sump pump is located. Once I reminded the management company rep that this would require taking up ceramic tile that was only 2 years old, and that I would expect the tile to be replaced with either the exact same tile (I provided the source, style, specs of the tile and grout) OR if it was no longer available, then ALL the tile would need to be replaced; I would not accept any sort of mismatched tile in an attempt to "patch" whatever amount they needed to rip up..... Well, that's when my hell on earth began.

    For over a month now, I cannot get our association and property management company to commit to a plan of action or timetable to fix the leak. I know they're freaking at the potential costs. I've suggested that they get another couple of estimates and maybe there is an alternative approach that both solves the problem and doesn't require my floor to be taken up.

    Instead, they've decided to run the condo bylaws and regs past their attorney for a "legal interpretation" of who is liable for what. WTF?? I'm certain they will readily admit to the liability for fixing the foundation leak itself (ain't no getting around that one boys!), however, I think they're going to try to say that any damages made within my unit that are associated with fixing the leak (e.g., tearing up/replacing my floors, repairing the 3 huge drywall holes THEY knocked into 3 different walls while sourcing the leak, etc.) are my liability...at which point I'm going to blow a gasket! Regardless, I can't even get them to push the attorney for his opinion (which frankly doesn't mean crap to me at this point!) and absolutely nothing has been done. I can't even get them to realize that things can only get worse if we have another storm and additional leaking.

    I can't get any of the board members or the management company to respond to my pleas for action to resolve this issue. What was formerly a beautiful finished basement is now an eyesore - drywall holes, towels on the floor ready to sop up any new water, fans blowing, baseboards popped. All the while no one seems to care that this is NOT my fault, my insurance company will NOT cover one penny of the destruction/potential destruction incurred while fixing the leak, as time continues to go by I could be faced with mold/mildew/health issues, etc., etc.

    I have owned condos for 20 years and never encountered anything remotely as bizarre as this situation. I just want my home put back the way it was!

    Can anyone suggest an approach other than contacting the county health department or hiring an attorney to sue the association?

    Has anyone ever heard of the unit owner being liable for damages incurred within the unit in conjunction with a repair the association accepts as their liability???

    I certainly appreciate any/all input on this.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Foundation Leak Resulting in Interior Damage to Unit

    Does any else have a leak in the condo, or is it only you??

    I'm asking because if the HOA fixes YOUR leak on the HOA's dime, then they would have to fix everyone elses', in which case, you'll be stuck when someone else gets a leak. On the other hand, under most CC&R's, the condo owner is only responsible for up to the walls of his unit, and then the HOA is responsible for whatever is beyond it.

    I hear you about redoing all the ceramic tiles. I tiled my basement floors and then had to do a waterproofing job a few years after. I had a few tiles left from the original installation, and they no longer make them. Meanwhile, a whole row of tiles were removed on the edges.

    So I bought several boxes of tiles to do first row, as a border, and believe me, it looked real nice. We first considered buying something similar to match, but it turned out doing the border was better.

    BTW, when I bought tiles for the border, I bought extra, just in case. And sure enough, two years after the water proofing job, I had a slight leak coming in from two places, two puddles after two weeks of heavy rains, rather than 2 inches of water in the basement like before. I had a ten year guaranty, so they had to come back and redo the two sections.

    Now, if you choose to do an entire re-tile, I can't see doing another complete re-tile again when in two years, when replacement tiles cannot be found again. As a matter of fact, the owner of the building next store just re-did his waterproofing job, so re-doing waterproofing jobs is not unique.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Foundation Leak Resulting in Interior Damage to Unit

    Thank you for your response.

    To the best of my knowledge, I am the only one of the 56 units to have a foundation leak to this point. Since the board seems to be completely perplexed as to who is responsible for what, I think I'm the guinea pig on this one. (I'm beginning to think this is the first time the board members have even looked at the bylaws and decs.)

    The plan is to run a line directly across my floor - whether that is straight or diagonally I don't know, but it is not going to involve the perimeter - oh no, it will be smack across the floor (naturally) from underneath an enclosed staircase over to the opposite side of the unfinished side of the basement. It couldn't really be any further distance between two points!

    I have a condo in Florida, too, and we did a perimeter border to blend existing 10-year old tile in our hallway and kitchen with brand new tile in the rest of the house. It did work out well, but, unfortunately that plan won't work in this situation.

    I can't tell from your response whether or not your water damage was due to a foundation leak in a condo or single-family home. If it was a foundation leak in a condo, who paid for the interior repairs and were they necessary due solely to water damage from the leak or from damage sustained in conjunction with fixing the leak - that's where the difference arises? It's one thing to have wet floors from a leak; it's quite another thing to have floors purposely damaged/destroyed as part of the overall fix.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Foundation Leak Resulting in Interior Damage to Unit

    The foundation leak is in a house I own and currently live in. However, I lived in condos before, owned condo rentals for about 20 years, and my mother in law currently lives in a COOP with bylaws similar to the condos I owned.

    We were in a multi-story condo, and the roof sprung a leak. damaging about 2 units below. We had a membership meeting where this issue was raised, with the board attorney present. It was pointed out that the condo owners only owned up to the inside of the ceiling, and up to the inside of the walls. So the leak is HOA responsibility, and so would any consequent damages. The HOA made the fix. which came from higher assessments. Your HOA may carry some insurance, though I recall in our case, there was an exclusion.

    My MIL had a leak from upstairs that originated from inside the ceiling. Here the COOP was responsible and paid to have the leak fixed, involving re-tiling about half of her bathroom walls which was damaged by the leak. We didn't push to have a complete retile job, but it was basic yellow, and the newer portion is not that distinguishable from the older part.

    You have to review the CC&R's, but if it's anything like the above situations, then the HOA probably would have to fix it. But I have some doubts on a complete retiling.

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