Condo Leaking Into Unit Below Who's Responsible

[Chris G.]

Manage unit at condominium on the 3rd floor, the owner/ resident below on the second floor says every time the tenant takes a shower in the guest bathroom it leaks on their ceiling and causes water damage. Spoke with a plumber and the only way to fix this issue is by cutting a whole in the ceiling of the 2nd floor unit and fixing the plumbing.

Recently the association for this complex changed and I cannot get hold of the owner or association regarding this issue to see the new declaration. Does this seem like something we would be responsible for and should go ahead and send a plumber to the 2nd story unit to cut a hole in their ceiling to repair the plumbing? Then I guess we would have to send out someone to patch the ceiling after too, or does this sound like something the association would be responsible for.

I see most associations saying owners needs to maintain plumbing but I don't see how we can "maintain" it if the only access is by cutting a hole in the unit below ceiling. 

[Richard F.]

Quote from @Chris G.:

Recently the association for this complex changed and I cannot get hold of the owner or association regarding this issue to see the new declaration. Does this seem like something we would be responsible for and should go ahead and send a plumber to the 2nd story unit to cut a hole in their ceiling to repair the plumbing? Then I guess we would have to send out someone to patch the ceiling after too, or does this sound like something the association would be responsible for.

I see most associations saying owners needs to maintain plumbing but I don't see how we can "maintain" it if the only access is by cutting a hole in the unit below ceiling. 

Aloha,

You do not state where the condo is located, but I cannot imagine the "Association for the complex changed...new declaration". The Association consists solely of the owners of all of the units in the project. The Declaration (and by-laws, and possibly house rules) only "change" through a process that requires typically 2/3 of all owners to approve such a change.

It is more likely the "Management Company" or "Account Manager", which is an third party service provider has changed. That has zero effect on any of the Governing Docs that were in effect prior. This company processes the monthly maintenance fee payments, handles daily operations at the direction of your Association's Board of Directors or similar group, and based on written policies and strategies of your Board. They do not act independently, and are not the decision makers.

You also do not state whether you are actually the Owner or not. I will assume you are, in which case you should, every year, receive important information from the Management Company which would include an Association "Insurance Summary". This would have info on who to contact to inform about a possible claim. They typically already have a copy of the project Governing Docs, and will likely coordinate with your HO6 policy as well as the policy of the unit below that had damage. Your policy hopefully will cover the Associations deductible, otherwise you will be out of pocket. Failing to properly remediate after an ongoing water leak can come back to bite you later when mold develops, so be sure you have people that are properly licensed and insured to deal with all of the repairs.

In reality there is no way to know exactly what the source of the leak is, until the ceiling is opened. Your Declaration will certainly be key to determining how to proceed, but, especially with condo/HOA's, never "assume" anything. Every Association is different.