xmike24
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Washington
I live in a 36 unit 3-story condo in seattle, wa. I am on the third level. The building was built in 1956 and then in 2008 it was renovated into condos. I purchased my unit and moved in in 2014. It is a 1 bedroom 500 square feet all hardwood floor unit. We are managed by a condo management group.
There has been water intrusion going into my unit for quite some time it appears.. It entered through an exterior wall on the back side of our building. My unit is the only one to have this issue going on.
I reported the incident as soon as I saw water on my hardwood floor in my bedroom coming from that exterior wall under the baseboard moulding. After the HOA hired a construction team to investigate they saw that it has been going on for some time and has been entering underneath the hardwood floor over the cement(subflooring). The hardwood floor of my whole unit needs to be replaced.
It turns out the water is entering from my CMU wall due to the roof scuppers being overwhelmed and the gutters have significant bellies that are not allowing the water to flow freely. The gutter anchors have pulled out of the CMU wall causing water to leak through the CMU wall. The roof scuppers, drain lines, and wall vents were poorly installed.
Because the issue is due to poor craftmanship, wear and tear, and maintenance insurance is not going to cover the damage in my unit.
HOA is refusing to help out with any of the repairs as it states in the condo declaration "the association shall not be liable for damage to property caused by the elements or resulting from water which may leak or flow from outside or from any parts of the building except to the extent of any insurance proceeds available"
In my eyes this is clearly their fault due to negligence, poor installation, poor maintenance and inspection of the building and they should be paying for all of the repairs to my unit or at least some of it.
Are they exempt from liability in this situation due to what is stated in the declaration? Or is their still some sort of "public policy" or law that would put them on the hook for this?
I've contacted a few lawyers and they all want to charge me a couple hours of labor to review the declaration but I have already reviewed the declaration and that is the portion that the HOA attorney is using on me.
There has been water intrusion going into my unit for quite some time it appears.. It entered through an exterior wall on the back side of our building. My unit is the only one to have this issue going on.
I reported the incident as soon as I saw water on my hardwood floor in my bedroom coming from that exterior wall under the baseboard moulding. After the HOA hired a construction team to investigate they saw that it has been going on for some time and has been entering underneath the hardwood floor over the cement(subflooring). The hardwood floor of my whole unit needs to be replaced.
It turns out the water is entering from my CMU wall due to the roof scuppers being overwhelmed and the gutters have significant bellies that are not allowing the water to flow freely. The gutter anchors have pulled out of the CMU wall causing water to leak through the CMU wall. The roof scuppers, drain lines, and wall vents were poorly installed.
Because the issue is due to poor craftmanship, wear and tear, and maintenance insurance is not going to cover the damage in my unit.
HOA is refusing to help out with any of the repairs as it states in the condo declaration "the association shall not be liable for damage to property caused by the elements or resulting from water which may leak or flow from outside or from any parts of the building except to the extent of any insurance proceeds available"
In my eyes this is clearly their fault due to negligence, poor installation, poor maintenance and inspection of the building and they should be paying for all of the repairs to my unit or at least some of it.
Are they exempt from liability in this situation due to what is stated in the declaration? Or is their still some sort of "public policy" or law that would put them on the hook for this?
I've contacted a few lawyers and they all want to charge me a couple hours of labor to review the declaration but I have already reviewed the declaration and that is the portion that the HOA attorney is using on me.
