- Jurisdiction
- California
I own an upstairs condo (hereafter called "unit") and I was notified by the owner of the downstairs unit that he experienced water damage from my unit. Since our units presumably share the same floorplan the leak was presumably from our water heater. The water to the heater was immediately turned off and a hot water valve was opened. A contractor was called and the water heater was replaced with a new unit. I have no insurance on my unit for several reasons. 1, the HOA does not require it, 2. it wouldn't cover leaks, which are the only thing I would need insurance for. 3. I am disabled and cannot afford it. The owner of the downstairs unit uses his unit as a rental property. He has, to my knowledge, not contacted his insurance or our management company about the damage nor has he taken any pictures of the damage to his unit. He has simply demanded that we take care of it for him. We've tried to notify the management company but they said, basically, your leak, your problem. Davis/Sterling suggests, for all I can gather, that the duty of repair on our part is limited to stopping the leak if it originated from "single interest property" and the duty of repair for the water damage is on the HOA regardless of liability and I believe City of Burbank Statues place the burden of repair on the landlord of the rental property. Most contractors do not want to get involved between the two of us but I managed to get a water damage company to go out and submit an estimate but their estimate only covered demolition to the common ceiling and walls without repair. What should I do?
