Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
The first thing you should do is review the condo bylaws and the corporation's insurance.
The most-important thing to know is that they can't charge you more than the cost of the corporation's insurance deductible -- even if they choose not to make a claim. Check the insurance certificate (which they should send you every year when it renews) to find out what the deductible is.
In the bylaws, there may be a clause under "Insurance" that reads something like this:
The last part is very important: "damage or loss was caused by or arose out of any act or omission by such owner, his servants, agents, licensees, invitees or tenants". That makes it a question of did you (or your tenant) do something (or fail to do something) that caused this damage to occur? A leaky dishwasher is often given as an example for damage that would not qualify as an "act or omission" on the part of the owner/tenant (unless it was improperly installed or installed without approval).
Definitely send the information to your insurance company and let them advise you as to the next steps to take.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse
I hate to say this, but if the leak came from a bad connection between your waterline and your dishwasher - you and your insurance could be on the hook to respond. Typically items within the wall are the condo's responsiblity, but anything after that is the resident. If the waterline behind the wall leaked, it would be the condo's fault, but as it's past that - it's unfortunately yours. As Getbak says above - check your bylaws. The devil will be in the details.
Condo boards are being killed for water events in their buildings, and insurers are becoming increasingly aggressive in passing on liability on to individual unit owners. The condo board is just the messenger unfortunately....
That said, your property manager seems to be terrible at communication. On the bright side, you have insurance which is incredibly important as a condo owner for this exact reason. Let your insurance companies duke it out, just like if it was a car accident.
Note that this would only apply if the condo's insurance accepted the claim. If they decline to respond, I would suspect the Board / Property Manager would have no choice but to go after the OP's personal liability insurance.
|
Thanks for the tips guys, after reviewing some of the documentation including a CPer sending me the Govt of AB's general Condo Act info and pairing that with my condo by-laws here's what I see:
I was encouraged originally to see the
general condo act insurance info:
"the insurance placed by the corporation is deemed to be
first loss insurance,
the insurance placed by the owner of a unit in respect of
the same property that is insured by the corporation is
deemed to be excess insurance." and " a
corporation must place and maintain insurance against the
following perils: ...water damage caused by sewer back-up or the sudden and
accidental escape of water or steam from within a
plumbing, heating, sprinkler or air conditioning system or
a domestic appliance that is located within an insured
building..."
Condo By-Laws
"an owner shall pay the insurance deductible for the losses claimed where the owner or occupant of the unit causes the loss..."
Condo Insurance Deductibles
Sewer Back-up $50,000
Water Damage $50,000
Equipment Breakdown $2,500
Property Damage $1,000
The total damage was ~15K and the deductibles are much higher than that it seems, so I can see the hesitancy to go thru that source of coverage on their end.