Should I ask my PM to pay for bill they can't get reimbursed?

[Dean Attali]

I own one side of a duplex out of state, it's managed by a reputable property management company.

Several months ago I received an email from them saying that there was a large plumbing issue that had to be addressed immediately - the main line collapsed and needed fixing ASAP. They had talked with the owner of the other side of the duplex and verbally agreed to share the bill. They called a plumbing company and fixed it. All of that was done without my knowledge before they had a chance to tell me because of the urgency. I was billed for the job, and my PM has been trying to get the other owner to pay me back half the bill.

Now we're months later and the other owner is unresponsive. My PM gave up on trying get them to pay their 5k. I'm very annoyed that my PM let something this big go by without a written agreement.

Would it be fair for me to put the responsibility on my PM for how they handled it, or do I just need to suck up the fact that I lost that money and it's not their fault?