Tenant Left Water Running & Overflow Caused Damage - Advice Plz

[Jeff Li]

First year landlord here.  I just found out that my tenant left the shower running all night while the bath was plugged.  Water overflowed to the floor, causing damage to my unit.  Not only that, this is a unit in a Condo building.  The water overflowed to the hallway, causing damage to the common area.  AND the water leaked all the way down, causing damage to multiple units in floors below.  At this point, Condo management is taking care of initial servicing and I'm going in Monday to assess the damage.  

Given my inexperience on a matter like this, I'm soliciting everyone's expertise here.  

1) How should I handle the liability with the building and other unit owners?  Through insurance company?  Through a lawyer?  Myself?

2) What kind of liability should I expect?  Is it enough to just repair the damage in the other units?  Or should I expect to be liable for more that that?  

3) Should I hire a lawyer to assess/protect my liability?  Tenant has admitted fault and building management will confirm that there is no piping issue that caused the overflow.  However, it's not in writing right now.  

4) How should I work with the tenant on this?  Even if he's at fault, I don't want to just leave him to deal with the other unit owners since I'm ultimately legally responsible for that unit; but should I make him financially responsible for everything, or can my Condo insurance be involved?  (He doesn't have renter's insurance)

5) One thing I'm concerned about is insurance.  I initially bought the unit for myself and had Condo insurance under my name.  After renting it out, I never converted it to a landlord policy.  Is that going to be an issue?

6) What kind of professionals should I be working with to help me assess and repair the water damage in my unit?

7) Any other suggestions on this matter would be much appreciated.

I have a feeling this is going to be a nightmare.  So thank you all in advance for your expertise!

[Jeremy Goodrich]

@Jeff Li, total bummer and, unfortunately, super common. Here are some answers:

You should start with the insurance companies. A claim should be filed with three companies:

- your tenant’s renters policy

- your landlord policy

- the condo association policy

There are multiple factors here that you’ve correctly noted:

- damage to your property

- damage to shared condo property

- damage to other people’s property

Your primary concern is liability and that absolutely makes sense but I don’t think it’s time to run out and hire lawyers. It’s time to see how well your insurance company is going to perform.

Here’s what to do:

- get water remediation experts in now!

- File the claims.

- ask for a claim number and contact information for each claim adjuster.

- Make sure to share that info with the other companies involved.

- Wait 24 hours for the adjusters to call you. If you don’t hear, call them.

- BE VERY KIND to each of these people. They are literally the difference between a good and bad experience.

- Ask for a clear step-by-step description of the process.

- UNDERSTAND that this kind of claim will have variables that can’t be perfectly defined right away.

- expect the companies involved to be clear about each step and hold them to following through.

If you have a good quality policy with a good company, you probably won’t hear a ton about what’s going on with the other parties. You’ll simply need to focus on remediation in your own unit.

If you have a local independent agent. Have this chat with her/him. They’ll be your advocate through the process if it’s needed.

Feel free to DM and I’ll share a link to our step-by-step property claim guide. Happy to help.