Water damage, legal issues

[Chase Gruening]

Property purchased in June of 2019. A brand new flat rubber roof was installed with labor and materials warranty....

10 days ago a tenant contacted me in regards to a leak. It was quickly determined it was coming from the roof. I immediately contacted installer and he told me he would head out and re seal the the drains.  3 days ago we had a major rain and leak was now worse. There is now damage to dry wall. Roofer was contacted and said it must need to be patched and is showing no urgency to get it done. "needs to patch the roof and wait 2 days for it to warm up and dry up."

I now have water damage to the dry wall and still a leaking roof. From my understanding with the roof under warranty and the damage caused by roof the installer should be responsible for damage. 

Does anyone have any experience on how to proceed in order to make sure this handled professionally and appropriately?

Should I involve an attorney?

Who should I contact after the roof is fixed in order to determine if dry wall needs to be replace?

Thank you so much for any help!!

[Patricia Steiner]

I disagree with the statement that "there is nothing they can do until it dries out."  The roofer can get his butt out there to assess the damage, come up with a plan to fix it, and take remedial steps to ensure that a passing storm won't do further damage.

Take photos.  Document the damage.  Have your warranty in hand.  

If you're not speaking with the owner, do.  If you are, call again and ask that he meet you out there (the next day, time). Someone needs to be there from the roofing company - if not him - a crew member. If he balks, tell him that you don't want your tenant turning this into a nightly news report or a code enforcement event - so showing up is the best plan.

Stay on him. Call every day.  Call code enforcement (if it was permitted) if you have to...he doesn't get to move on to another paying job and leave you with the damage.  (Oh, that drywall mess?  He owes you for that too).

Sorry this happened to you...time to make it the roofer's problem.