Insurance for water leak

[Nicholas Sanchez]

Hi all!

I live in top floor of a condo building and my downstairs neighbor informed me that a leak was coming through his ceiling. I called a plumber/hvac technician since I found some water in our mechanical closet.

They came out the same day and said the water heater tank cracked and needed to be replaced. We did this right away and the leak stopped.

Now, my neighbor is asking me to pay for any damages to his AC unit because of the leak but doesn’t want to go through insurance.

I’m wondering what is the best way to go about this? Am I required to pay these out of pocket or should I ask to go through insurance? (Also I haven’t heard back on the amount of damage yet, but not sure if that also affects how to go about it?)

Thanks!