Wierd property insurance claim

[Joel Owens]

Ok so one of my distant family members in Massachusetts owns a condo that is on the ground floor.

A week ago he hears a gurgling inside his apartment and notices his walls start bowing out.

Water is coming into his apartment ! He calls the condo HOA and they come out with the emergency and fix the problem. Apparently the guy in the unit above was a druggie and passed away recently from an overdose and nobody was living in the property above even though the druggie owned the unit.

The druggie was married but the wife was not listed on title or mortgage and just coming occasionally to check on the unit. Who owns the unit now is under questions as apparently it is being probated through the courts. It is unknown if there is equity in the property or not. The damage to the ground condo was pretty extensive. A radiator above in the druggie condo unit had busted and that caused water to flow downstairs into my family members unit and since nobody lived above anymore the water kept going until the condo HOA could get there.

Now the family member is living with his girlfriend trying to sort out who pays for this. It is unknown if the person upstairs had renters insurance before they passed or if the estate can be sued with a damage claim or is the condo HOA liable in this case??

The family member has renters insurance but is water flooding in covered usually or do they say you have to have flood insurance for that?? It sounds like a big mess to my where the responsible parties won't pay and he will have to chase them in court for awhile to get restitution.

Not an insurance or claim expert so that I would post it here for insight.