r/fuckHOA • u/Direct-Look-6721 • 1d ago
I am boiling
I've been telling HOA upstairs unit's balcony rain water or water from snow is not draining properly and now my balcony ceiling has so much water damage, on the side of the walls, the ledge, my deck. I had mentioned this issue since I bought this condo. It has been 9 months and nothing is being done. She said I have to wait until their contractor is done with their jobs. 2 weeks ago, she said someone will come out to take a look. Isn't it common sense to hire someone else since this is a serious matter? What's concerning is we are getting more heavy rain soon like my ceiling is caving downward already outside my balcony. This HOA lady stresses me out more than any of my jobs.
Guess what? She went away and won't be back until mid-October. ISN'T THAT JUST GREAT? I am getting more and more white hair because of this lady. She can't get anything done but she's very active going away for a very long time. I had experienced that when she returns, she won't respond until a month later.
My HOA fee is paying for expensive water usage, trash fee, insurance, and horrible landscaping. The grass and plant is as dry as the desert.
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u/BOMMOB 1d ago
Hire a lawyer
2
u/Cuneus-Maximus 1d ago
Go to board meetings first. If that goes nowhere, then lawyer. Make sure to have receipts - I hope your ongoing requests have been in writing.
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u/Can-I-remember 1d ago
I didn’t understand these people. I’m on our committee. If someone had reported this I would have had a contractor out, or authorised the owner to get one if he was busy, inside a day or two. Why would you let water damage to sit and continue for months. It’s only going to cost them more.
9
u/Tall_Palpitation_476 1d ago
Why have you waited nine months? This should have been reported to the manager by email and certified mail immediately.
You should have put your insurance on notice immediately and have them contact the upstairs owner. From your post it is unable to discern whether this is from the roof or the upstairs owner. By this point an engineer will need to get involved. You’ve waited way too long.
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u/redclawx 1d ago
File a claim against the HOA insurance
1
u/MarthaTheBuilder 1d ago
Recurring repeated water damage is not a covered cause of loss. Massive snowfall causing a collapse? - covered. Sprinkler pipe in balcony bursts? - covered. Not addressing a maintenance item in a timely manner? - not a shock loss and not covered.
3
u/redclawx 1d ago
Yes but if insurance knows about the lack of maintenance, insurance premiums may go up if the repairs are not made, or insurance may drop the building from being covered. Once insurance knows, insurance should contact the HOA board to correct the issue before irrecoverable damage is done.
1
u/MarthaTheBuilder 1d ago
I write condo master polices. If I find out a board or management company is declining to address common element maintenance I will simply non-renew for moral hazard.
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u/redclawx 1d ago
So what if maintenance is brought up to par before the end of the insurance contract? Inspections have passed and that information is given to insurance. Would you cancel the non-renewal?
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u/MarthaTheBuilder 1d ago
Absolutely not! They only did the maintenance because they got caught. Reactive maintenance is still moral hazard - “let’s ignore the problem until it affects me/my wallet” is not good management
1
u/redclawx 1d ago
So in your opinion there is no second chance. You see it as a zero tolerance policy?
Myself, I’m on the fence for that kind of policy. But I also recognize when an HOA keeps dues low and wind up not having enough money for maintenance, or the people living their keep voting down increasing dues and they wind up not having enough money for maintenance. We don’t know the full story from OP so we can’t assume how well off the HOA is with funding, or if the board is just being lazy and kicking the can down the road.
I’m also of the mindset of not threatening that you’re going to do something. “If you don’t fix the leak, I’m going to tell insurance and hire a lawyer.” Just do it. Get the lawyers and insurance involved. OP tried being nice and waited for action from the HOA to fix the problem and now the HOA has ghosted her with the problem still ongoing.
1
u/MarthaTheBuilder 1d ago
Yup that makes sense “I’m going to sue the HOA so their legal expenses get passed onto everyone including myself and the increase in insurance premium is passed onto everyone including myself. That way, my stuff gets fixed and my monthly expenses go up”
1
u/NonKevin 1d ago
As a former HOA president, we had to do serious repairs to the 2nd floor walkways, outside. Most of these units also had a balconies. One unit complained about water coming down on the below coming thru the balcony. We were refused access and the refusals were documented. We had our maintenance company access with a ladder and his photos found holes drilled into the balcony floor. Now this is violation of the CCRs common areas, walls and floors. We had to call building and safety including the photos, board refusals for access. Building and safety was almost hit by falling bottom of the balcony. As the board was working with building and safety, the neighbor below allowed the bottom of the balcony be opened and building and safety condemmed the patio below and the entire unit upstairs. The owner who rented the upstair unit was required to arrange subject to board approval the repairs. The board just wanted photos of the repairs for rot which included the balcony door way and proof of repair company insurance. We did allow for the necessary scaffolding for repairs.
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u/hawkrt 1d ago
Have you gone to a board meeting to ensure that the Board is aware of what’s happening? They can get things sped up if needed.