Insurance. leaking balcony into downstairs shop

[startingnow]

Hi everyone, very long time reader, 1st time poster. Thanks to all of the advice from everyone i have found on here to help me with purchasing my first home.

My problem is that weeks after i bought my house i had the real estate property manager from the shop below me call me up to tell me that my leaking balcony (my floor)has leaked into the shop (their roof), destroying the plaster, walls and flooring with water damage.

she told me where the crack was, and i have (to the best of my ability) had the cracks repaired by a friend who works in concreting while i paid for the materials.

I have noticed the roofing downstairs has been replaced already, and with a heavy downpour of rain now, im worried that the repair may not hold up.

It seems wierd that the plasterers, or insurance agency have not contacted me to see if the repair has been done. Is this normal policy?? am i neglible??
i have not heard from anyone about the problem except for the cranky real estate property manager calling me at 9am yelling down the phone that i have destroyed the shop downstairs.

im just preparing for the worst if i have the dreaded phone call that all the plastering has been ruined again because of my own repairs havent held up.

any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
sorry for the long message

 

[Perp]

It seems wierd that the plasterers, or insurance agency have not contacted me to see if the repair has been done. Is this normal policy?? am i neglible??

I'm surprised you haven't received a huge bill from them, too!

Am I "neglible"? Well, that's not a word, but I think you were trying to spell "negligent", and actually meant "liable" for the cost of repair.

Yes, you are liable for damage caused by water leaking from your property. Your home insurance should contain a public liability clause that I suspect would cover this, but I'd be checking it out quickly. This has the potential to be very expensive. Do not just "hope for the best" and think it'll be OK because you've not heard from them. They may be just waiting for all the bills to come in, at which point they'll whack you with a lawsuit for the lot, probably including damages for loss of business. Ouch!

 

[handyandy]

Why isn't there a strata involved?

Normally where one property is on top of another there is a strata covering the whole complex. The strata is then responsible for any common property such as a balcony floor that is also the roof of another residence.

Cheers

 

[startingnow]

yeah, its in the same body corperate, all under the same insurance policy, so i have assumed that i would be paying the excess, but if that is the case, i wonder why they havent contacted me to get the actual cause of the problem fixed correctly?

thanks for the speedy replies!

 

[Perp]

yeah, its in the same body corperate, all under the same insurance policy, so i have assumed that i would be paying the excess, but if that is the case, i wonder why they havent contacted me to get the actual cause of the problem fixed correctly?

Oh, I see. Yes, that is different. If this was an insurable event, and not considered due to lack of maintenance on your part, then I would have thought the insurer would pay for the repair of your balcony, too.

Are you sure that the insurer is covering the claim? Or are they possibly claiming that you contributed to the problem, in order to try and void the claim? I'd be proactive in finding out exactly what the situation is, I think, for my own peace of mind.

 

[startingnow]

im not 100% sure that it is covered by insurance yet (gulp). i am only going by what the tennant downstairs have told me. This is my 1st place i have bought so i am just learning everything as i go. So i will take your advice and call up the insurance company 1st thing on monday morning. thanks allot for your help...

i just hope this ends in a 500 dollar excess payment.
(fingers crossed)

 

[pulse]

Not really anything to do with insurance, the strata manager has to get it fixed (your balcony and the ceiling that is).

In strata, problems you aren't responsible for leaks, pipes etc in the walls, these are owned by everyone in the block. You own the space inside the four wals from floor to ceiling.

Not sure who the real estate property manager is but get them to speak to the strata manager. All you need to do is arrange access for the tradies.

Cheers
Pulse

 

[startingnow]

thanks for the response pulse. i may be able to get some sleep now tonight.

 

[Spectre]

and if this is a strata insurance issue - keep the invoices etc towards the work you already did - you might be able to claim them back through the insurance

 

[startingnow]

ok, latest update. I called up the insurance company that the whole owners corperation are insured by. They have no records of any insurance claim being made for downstairs. (and i looked through the window and can see that there have been allot of plaster work already started)I asked him what i should do from here, and he replied "just fix your balcony". I asked if i was liable for downstairs and he said "no, just repair your balcony". To me that does not add up. Someone must be liable for all the damages and repairs done to downstairs? Surely its me as i own the balcony which has leaked into the downstairs shop?

Any advice on what i should do now?

Thanks so much for all the advice so far, its helped allot!

 

[handyandy]

Believe it or not where there is a strata leak the strata will only fix the leak and the individual lot owners are liable for any subsidiary damage that may have resulted from the leak.

So maybe the RE was just trying it on when he complained directly to you knowing full well that he was actually going to have to pay for his own repair unless he had specific insurance to cover his repair.

This could be up for more discussion as it something that I have discussed many times with various stratat managers without a really satisfactory answer.

Cheers

 

[startingnow]

gee thanks handy andy. that handy to know.

I feel bad for the guy downsatirs though. Although, i did buy this leaking unit off him. My main concern is that the repair i have had done is going to be enough to stop further damage... I wished they had of waited a week, as we have rain forecast for everyday over the next week. I would have like to make sure the reapir was 100% watertight before they replastered the roof for both our sakes. The repair that has been done is only a temprary fix, as we need a week of sunny weather before the whole balcony can be re-tanked.

 

[mgal]

Hi everyone, very long time reader, 1st time poster. Thanks to all of the advice from everyone i have found on here to help me with purchasing my first home.

My problem is that weeks after i bought my house i had the real estate property manager from the shop below me call me up to tell me that my leaking balcony (my floor)has leaked into the shop (their roof), destroying the plaster, walls and flooring with water damage.

she told me where the crack was, and i have (to the best of my ability) had the cracks repaired by a friend who works in concreting while i paid for the materials.

I have noticed the roofing downstairs has been replaced already, and with a heavy downpour of rain now, im worried that the repair may not hold up.

It seems wierd that the plasterers, or insurance agency have not contacted me to see if the repair has been done. Is this normal policy?? am i neglible??
i have not heard from anyone about the problem except for the cranky real estate property manager calling me at 9am yelling down the phone that i have destroyed the shop downstairs.

im just preparing for the worst if i have the dreaded phone call that all the plastering has been ruined again because of my own repairs havent held up.

any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
sorry for the long message

Hi Startingnow. Just wondering about the current status of your situation and whether everything has been resolved satisfactorily?

I feel as if i have hit the jackpot when i saw your comments as I was surfing the internet for a solution to my own problem!

anyway, I am in a similar situation as the owner of a top floor apartment (with a large balcony) in a triple storey complex. Out of nowhere, i received a letter from the Owners Corporation (strata) manager for our building advising that an apartment below our balcony is experiencing water damage and a plumber they have engaged to investigate the problem says that the source of the problem is our balcony, which supposedly requires waterproofing and we have to arrange to have the problem fixed at our expense (as the strata insurance does not cover balcony waterproofing) and forward the invoice to them so that they can claim insurance for the resulting damage to the apartment below (which is covered by insurance).

Given the size of our balcony, this is potentially a very expensive problem for us ....we are looking at thousands of dollars....

We arranged for our own plumber to look at our balcony and he says he could not see anything wrong with it... he was not able to access the apartment below on the day and we are in the process of trying to organise access for him through the strata manager (who is trying to dump everything on us instead to managing the problem).

My issue with situation are as follows:

1. Why is the waterproofing problem a "balcony issue" for us and not a "roofing issue" for the apartment below us? Isn't our balcony and their roof the same thing and shouldn't the problem be a shared one rather than ours alone? We have never had any issues with our balcony and feel that there is nothing wrong with it as such...it's only a problem as a roof for the apartment below!

2. While I am very keen to fix and limit the damage to the apartment below asap, I am hesitant to jump the gun and spend lots of money based on some informal opinion of a local plumber without any assurance that he's got it completely right. However, I am concerned that we could be liable for damages to the apartment below if we don't act soon.

If anyone can shed any light on the above for me, i would really appreciate it.

 

[Y33]

First thing to do is document all conversations and contact with the insurer, RE, neighbor etc. You may not be able to remember all conversations 6-12 months later if it ends up in court. Get at least 2 independent quotes or assessments for how the damage was caused and cost to repair. Do not use friends for these quotes. you can use friends later to fix but it looks better in court if you have unbiased independent quotes and assessments.

Get your cameras out and take as many photos as possible and document each photo. You can never have enough photos. Do not agree to anything verbally over telephones. If the insurance company tells you the claim is approved do not start any work until the cheque has cleared. When ever the insurance company or assessors say something like "most likely this has been caused by ???", your answer is " I don't think that has been determined yet". If the insurance company over the phone use the phrase "do you agree ???", your answer is "can you send / fax that to me to check please so I fully understand what you are saying".

When dealing with insurance companies, BC or REA set an exact time frame for any calls you expect back, for example, please let me know by 2pm tomorrow. If they haven't rung by 2pm then ring them. Keep on top of them and don't let them get away with anything.

Also check whether your land lord insurance is the same insurance company as BC? This gives them two opportunities to try and not back any claims.

 

[marg4000]

So your plumber and their plumber disagree. I would hand it back to the body corporate as you have evidence the damage is not caused by you.

If your balcony floor forms the roof of the apartment below, then it is a building problem.

Friends own a unit on the Gold Coast with a large outdoor balcony. The garages are below the complex and partly under the balcony. The tiles were cracked when they bought the unit and apparently water was leaking into the garage area. The body corporate repaired and re-tiled their entire balcony area at BC expense.

Things may be different in different states.

But follow the advice previously given and keep full documentation and notes of all conversations showing dates and times.

Marg

 

[farmilor]

I have a similar issue at the moment. Apparently both of the top floor units have leaking balconies into the unit below. Our strata manager reports that this is not an insurance issue as it is down to wear and tear. One quote to have both balconies waterproofed, levelled properly and retiled as come in at $7600 per balcony.

 

[mgal]

you are kidding! I haven't got a formal quote yet but have a really bad feeling about it. Have you looked into the issue of roofing vs balcony problem yet?

My internet research led me to an organisation by the name of "Australian institute of waterproofing" which has a list of members who provide waterproofing services - http://www.aiow.com.au/members.htm. Not sure how much better these people are than plumbers.

Did you get your quote from a regular plumber?

What's your plan of attack?