Water backup in sink flooding rental unit, prop. mngt. won't pay

[Jun Ding]

Hi All,

     I apologize beforehand if this is not the right forum for such question, if so, please let me know where I should post this.

     On Christmas eve, I got a call from my rental condo's property manager that the unit below reported water leak from my unit. Since the tenants left for winter break over a week ago, I was surprised by that. When I got to my unit, I found both kitchen sinks were full of dirty, dish-washing water that overflew the sink and spilled onto the kitchen floor and living room floor. The U-shaped pipe under the sink also became detached while I was cleaning up the water, presumably due to the water pressure, and drained the dirty water from both sinks into the cabinet below then onto the floor. The plumber finally came out and unclogged the pipe and drained all the standing water in the pipe. According to the plumber report, he "ran 25-30 feet of snake and saw lots of sludge build-up".

     I thought this was a pretty clear case of main kitchen drain pipe backing up water into my unit and causing all the water damage, and that the building complex was responsible for this incident, until the property manager started disputing everything. She said the damage was caused by broken pipe under the sink, and there is no evidence that the blockage was in the main pipe between my unit, which is on the 2nd floor, and the floor below. I have filed a claim with my insurance company, but seeing the extensiveness of the damage not only in my unit but also in the unit below, I really hate for my insurance policy to have to pay for this and see a big hike in premium next year.

    Does anyone have any good advice on how I should fight the property manager on this, or should I just let the insurance company handle it? BTW, the adjuster made it clear to me that they would not pay for the damage of the unit below, citing that the insured, I, was not legal liable for their damage. I am troubled by this because I feel sorry for the poor couple downstairs and also don't want to get sued by them. Any advice on this issue is greatly appreciated also.

[Michaela G.]

I don't know anything about it, but maybe it would be good for you to call a couple of independent insurance adjusters? Your insurance will always take the least costly route and I personally am also surprised, that they say that you wouldn't be liable. But that's based on the problem being on your end. If the problem is the HOA's, then they should be responsible for at least the downstairs neighbor.

Make sure that you get in writing from the plumber, that they had to put the snake in that far and that in his opinion the problem wasn't inside your unit. 

But this is just off the top of my head and I have no experience with insurance claims.