Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 15, 2019 15:28:28 GMT -5
Apparently our HOA insurance has a high deductible and the first thing they'll ask is for my individual insurance. So I want a lawyer to deal with these Called a bunch of law offices in the morning. Nobody's calling me back
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 15, 2019 15:29:44 GMT -5
I also want a lawyer so he or she can deal with the owner of the flooded unit. He's very angry with me and has a short temper
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Apr 15, 2019 15:46:25 GMT -5
I am so petty that this would have light a fire under my ass to petition the board to change management company. He works for you, so his behavior would have been totally unacceptable to me. He works for the association not for Ava personally. The Board does the hiring and firing.
It's a tough job as some owners have unreasonable expectations.
As bad as the situation is, at least no one got hurt. It's going to be a major PITA though.
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gacpa
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Post by gacpa on Apr 15, 2019 20:51:39 GMT -5
Hugs to you, Ava. So sorry you are dealing with this problem and all the evil people.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Apr 17, 2019 15:53:07 GMT -5
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 12:01:11 GMT -5
The flooded unit's owner's insurance called. Said they are not responsible because the tenant left the water running on purpose so it's not the owner's fault. The agent said I should go against the tenants insurance but he doubts they have it. So I called the HOA insurance today and they are investigating. At this point I'm pretty sure they won't cover me either. I called my handyman to see if he can start working on fixing my home this afternoon. I'll document everything just in case. Everything he does and every cost incurred. I also finally found an attorney through word of mouth. She is not taking new cases until May 2 so I'm in her wait list. I just want a consultation with her to see if something can be done
I can't believe nobody is responsible for this. I also believe the owner was negligent not mandating renters insurance on his tenants and I want to ask the lawyer her take on this
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 18, 2019 12:06:06 GMT -5
Unless your state mandates renter's insurance - there's no way the owner is negligent in not mandating it.
There's a really good chance even renter insurance wouldn't cover it if he had it -- they usually exclude intentional acts (or in my case acts deemed intentional because they neglected to check on their a/c unit for months on end). Technically the renter is responsible, but it's not something insurance covers so you'd have to go after the renter themselves. You'd have to ask a lawyer whether you could go after the owner.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 12:07:56 GMT -5
I can't believe nobody is responsible for this. Well, the tenant is responsible. You could always take him to court and sue for damages. I can understand why the owner's insurance isn't covering a deliberate act.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 12:09:00 GMT -5
The ex tenant is the kind of person who's perpetually broke and doesn't own anything of value. Going after him is a waste of time and money.
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Pants
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Post by Pants on Apr 18, 2019 12:16:11 GMT -5
Ava - I'm sorry this is happening, and I don't want to be the asshole here. but. This is why YOU need to have homeowners insurance. For your property. I'm sorry this is all so awful.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 18, 2019 12:49:06 GMT -5
Even if the renter had renter's insurance...would renter's insurance cover a specific malicious act that caused someone damage? That doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd expect renter's insurance to pay out on. Renter's insurance is there to protect the renter from accidents, not from paying off their victims of criminal activity. That's why landlords don't really care if renters have insurance, if a renter doesn't want to insure their own property, who is the landlord to tell them they have to insure their own property?
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 18, 2019 12:53:00 GMT -5
Ava - I'm sorry this is happening, and I don't want to be the asshole here. but. This is why YOU need to have homeowners insurance. For your property. I'm sorry this is all so awful. This is absolutely the case. I have insurance to protect MYSELF. If someone with no assets to their name crashes their car into my house and ignites a fireball destroying everything, I don't want to hope they have REALLY good insurance to rebuild my house and replace all my possessions. Your insurance is there to protect YOU, hoping that other people will have insurance to help you is what leads to this kind of bad situation (and lots of bad situations). Even in those cases, their insurance is protecting THEM, not YOU. It's protecting them from lawsuits. Other people's insurance is not there to help you, it's there to help them.
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 18, 2019 13:08:08 GMT -5
Ava - I'm sorry this is happening, and I don't want to be the asshole here. but. This is why YOU need to have homeowners insurance. For your property. I'm sorry this is all so awful. This is absolutely the case. I have insurance to protect MYSELF. If someone with no assets to their name crashes their car into my house and ignites a fireball destroying everything, I don't want to hope they have REALLY good insurance to rebuild my house and replace all my possessions. Your insurance is there to protect YOU, hoping that other people will have insurance to help you is what leads to this kind of bad situation (and lots of bad situations). Even in those cases, their insurance is protecting THEM, not YOU. It's protecting them from lawsuits. Other people's insurance is not there to help you, it's there to help them. Except, like the neighbor's insurance - any insurance she had wouldn't cover the deliberate act. My insurance wouldn't cover me for what it deemed a deliberate act by a neighbor. Not saying she doesn't need to get it herself -- if this was a burst pipe or an actual problem with the toilet insurance would cover it -- but she would still likely be in the same position in this case if she had insurance.
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Pants
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Post by Pants on Apr 18, 2019 13:14:32 GMT -5
This is absolutely the case. I have insurance to protect MYSELF. If someone with no assets to their name crashes their car into my house and ignites a fireball destroying everything, I don't want to hope they have REALLY good insurance to rebuild my house and replace all my possessions. Your insurance is there to protect YOU, hoping that other people will have insurance to help you is what leads to this kind of bad situation (and lots of bad situations). Even in those cases, their insurance is protecting THEM, not YOU. It's protecting them from lawsuits. Other people's insurance is not there to help you, it's there to help them. Except, like the neighbor's insurance - any insurance she had wouldn't cover the deliberate act. My insurance wouldn't cover me for what it deemed a deliberate act by a neighbor. Not saying she doesn't need to get it herself -- if this was a burst pipe or an actual problem with the toilet insurance would cover it -- but she would still likely be in the same position in this case if she had insurance. Of course it would. My homeowner's insurance covers me if a crazy person burns down my house, or if someone breaks in. Protecting your property from damage from others is one of its primary functions. The neighbor's insurance wouldn't pay for the damage to her house because it's not the neighbor's property.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 13:15:46 GMT -5
This is absolutely the case. I have insurance to protect MYSELF. If someone with no assets to their name crashes their car into my house and ignites a fireball destroying everything, I don't want to hope they have REALLY good insurance to rebuild my house and replace all my possessions. Your insurance is there to protect YOU, hoping that other people will have insurance to help you is what leads to this kind of bad situation (and lots of bad situations). Even in those cases, their insurance is protecting THEM, not YOU. It's protecting them from lawsuits. Other people's insurance is not there to help you, it's there to help them. Except, like the neighbor's insurance - any insurance she had wouldn't cover the deliberate act. My insurance wouldn't cover me for what it deemed a deliberate act by a neighbor. Not saying she doesn't need to get it herself -- if this was a burst pipe or an actual problem with the toilet insurance would cover it -- but she would still likely be in the same position in this case if she had insurance. What did your neighbor do? When I was a kid we owned a bar that someone pissed off at my Mom's boyfriend burned down. Our insurance covered the bar even though it was arson because we weren't the ones that did it.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 18, 2019 13:16:37 GMT -5
This is absolutely the case. I have insurance to protect MYSELF. If someone with no assets to their name crashes their car into my house and ignites a fireball destroying everything, I don't want to hope they have REALLY good insurance to rebuild my house and replace all my possessions. Your insurance is there to protect YOU, hoping that other people will have insurance to help you is what leads to this kind of bad situation (and lots of bad situations). Even in those cases, their insurance is protecting THEM, not YOU. It's protecting them from lawsuits. Other people's insurance is not there to help you, it's there to help them. Except, like the neighbor's insurance - any insurance she had wouldn't cover the deliberate act. My insurance wouldn't cover me for what it deemed a deliberate act by a neighbor. Not saying she doesn't need to get it herself -- if this was a burst pipe or an actual problem with the toilet insurance would cover it -- but she would still likely be in the same position in this case if she had insurance. I don't believe this is true in most cases (whether the insurance balks at it or not I can't say). If you are not the one who committed the deliberate act against your own property, insurance should cover that. For example, most homeowner policies cover loss due to theft, which is a deliberate act. Obviously I can't speak to what your particular insurance has for clauses, but generally insurance will cover you for deliberate acts of others that damage your property.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 18, 2019 13:22:30 GMT -5
This is absolutely the case. I have insurance to protect MYSELF. If someone with no assets to their name crashes their car into my house and ignites a fireball destroying everything, I don't want to hope they have REALLY good insurance to rebuild my house and replace all my possessions. Your insurance is there to protect YOU, hoping that other people will have insurance to help you is what leads to this kind of bad situation (and lots of bad situations). Even in those cases, their insurance is protecting THEM, not YOU. It's protecting them from lawsuits. Other people's insurance is not there to help you, it's there to help them. Except, like the neighbor's insurance - any insurance she had wouldn't cover the deliberate act. My insurance wouldn't cover me for what it deemed a deliberate act by a neighbor. Not saying she doesn't need to get it herself -- if this was a burst pipe or an actual problem with the toilet insurance would cover it -- but she would still likely be in the same position in this case if she had insurance. Yeah....it would if you have decent insurance. Just like it would’ve if someone broke in and stole and trashed your place.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 18, 2019 13:27:13 GMT -5
I think what Ava needs to do now is to hire a water mitigation come in and fix her place first. Then she needs to take either the neighbor or landlord to small claims court if the HOA doesn’t cover it.
She also needs to get a homeowners policy too. Her homeowners policy would have mitigated her damage and gone after those who caused damage. They have way more power than she does as an individual.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 14:13:03 GMT -5
The hoa insurance called back. They said that A-our HOA insurance has a 5k deductible and won't cover anything below that but I still shoul work with my association to reimburse me. B- they said the other insurance denying my claim is illegal because by state law the owner is responsible for damages caused by a tenant. So I called the owner's insurance again and they stand by their decision of denying my claim.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 14:13:32 GMT -5
I think what Ava needs to do now is to hire a water mitigation come in and fix her place first. Then she needs to take either the neighbor or landlord to small claims court if the HOA doesn’t cover it. She also needs to get a homeowners policy too. Her homeowners policy would have mitigated her damage and gone after those who caused damage. They have way more power than she does as an individual. That's exactly what I'm doing
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 14:17:17 GMT -5
The lawyer will give you the specific rundown of the laws as they pertain to this in your state. Insane that she can't see you for two weeks! This is pretty common in my area. It always amazes me when people in other geographic areas claim to get appointments the same day for lawyers doctor's dentists. Two weeks out is the best I was able to find. I called numerous lawyers offices and asked for a consultation. Nobody called me back. This is a heavily populated area with plenty of lawyers, dentists doctor's etc
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 14:21:38 GMT -5
The only good thing about this is that I have enough cash to pay the water damage. I don't know how much it will be for the heat and lawyers consultation. Today I temporarily reduced my 401k contribution to the match only, so I'll have enough for the other expenses
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 18, 2019 14:41:07 GMT -5
Has anyone here who is telling me I'm wrong actually owned a condo and got a claim like this paid?? I thought just like you until it happened.
Condos are different than stand alone houses. There's plenty of places that will insure houses but not condos - they're separate animals. All the shared spaces and walls make for different things apparently. I tried all avenues and was shut down each way.
The unit 2 floors up from me had a block in the drain of the a/c which caused their pan to overflow and continue to overflow until it soaked down 2 floors (which likely took months) and I just happened to notice it because it was in the a/c area that's blocked off unless you unscrew the a/c access panel. It was all denied because to do that damage it had to go on long enough that it was neglect/intentional/forget the exact wording. I went through mine, the unit that caused it, and the HOA. None covered it. Even called up some housing regulations or something too (forget what exactly, it was well over a year ago now).
Maybe there's some special condo insurance that will cover it but isn't standard - if you happen to know of it I'll look into it.
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Bunnysmom
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Post by Bunnysmom on Apr 18, 2019 15:03:25 GMT -5
Has anyone here who is telling me I'm wrong actually owned a condo and got a claim like this paid?? I thought just like you until it happened. Condos are different than stand alone houses. There's plenty of places that will insure houses but not condos - they're separate animals. All the shared spaces and walls make for different things apparently. I tried all avenues and was shut down each way. The unit 2 floors up from me had a block in the drain of the a/c which caused their pan to overflow and continue to overflow until it soaked down 2 floors (which likely took months) and I just happened to notice it because it was in the a/c area that's blocked off unless you unscrew the a/c access panel. It was all denied because to do that damage it had to go on long enough that it was neglect/intentional/forget the exact wording. I went through mine, the unit that caused it, and the HOA. None covered it. Even called up some housing regulations or something too (forget what exactly, it was well over a year ago now). Maybe there's some special condo insurance that will cover it but isn't standard - if you happen to know of it I'll look into it. I had a boyfriend whose condo was damaged by a fire that started in the walls of the downstairs unit when a plumber was brazing/soldering something. His unit ended up with extensive smoke damage. The damage to his unit, living expenses, all his furniture and personal belongings were covered by that unit’s insurance. It was a very generous coverage and he ended up with a lot of money (lived with his parents) and ended up with a fully renovated unit (his brother did most of the work so he pocketed a lot of the money). My townhouse had water damage from water leaking through the roof. The roof was covered by the HOA insurance so they fixed the roof but they told me to go through my own insurance for the interior damage. It was a decision by HOA because apparently it was previously covered by the HOA but was getting costly. Knowing what i know now, i would have disputed. Whether it is required by your mortgage or not, you should get homeowner’s insurance to protect your asset.
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 18, 2019 15:12:02 GMT -5
Has anyone here who is telling me I'm wrong actually owned a condo and got a claim like this paid?? I thought just like you until it happened. Condos are different than stand alone houses. There's plenty of places that will insure houses but not condos - they're separate animals. All the shared spaces and walls make for different things apparently. I tried all avenues and was shut down each way. The unit 2 floors up from me had a block in the drain of the a/c which caused their pan to overflow and continue to overflow until it soaked down 2 floors (which likely took months) and I just happened to notice it because it was in the a/c area that's blocked off unless you unscrew the a/c access panel. It was all denied because to do that damage it had to go on long enough that it was neglect/intentional/forget the exact wording. I went through mine, the unit that caused it, and the HOA. None covered it. Even called up some housing regulations or something too (forget what exactly, it was well over a year ago now). Maybe there's some special condo insurance that will cover it but isn't standard - if you happen to know of it I'll look into it. I had a boyfriend whose condo was damaged by a fire that started in the walls of the downstairs unit when a plumber was brazing/soldering something. His unit ended up with extensive smoke damage. The damage to his unit, living expenses, all his furniture and personal belongings were covered by that unit’s insurance. It was a very generous coverage and he ended up with a lot of money (lived with his parents) and ended up with a fully renovated unit (his brother did most of the work so he pocketed a lot of the money). My townhouse had water damage from water leaking through the roof. The roof was covered by the HOA insurance so they fixed the roof but they told me to go through my own insurance for the interior damage. It was a decision by HOA because apparently it was previously covered by the HOA but was getting costly. Knowing what i know now, i would have disputed. Whether it is required by your mortgage or not, you should get homeowner’s insurance to protect your asset. I have it. If it was a fire, or a leak in the roof or a burst pipe or anything like that it would have covered. My experience and Ava's fall under to this apparent black hole with condo insurance - if they can pin in on intentional or long term neglect by a neighbor it's not covered. I'm not sure whether that's only when it comes to water damage or not. And I'm not sure if I can get insurance that does cover that or not. But my insurance told me point blank that if it was a pipe that burst it would have been covered. Or a toilet that suddenly started to leak. Or hell even if something catastrophic had happened to the a/c suddenly causing all the water to leak then it would be covered. But because the other condo unit should have known they had a problem with their a/c and fixed it months before it got to my unit it fell in that intentional black hole that Ava's has.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 18, 2019 15:51:14 GMT -5
My contractor starts working tomorrow to remove the water damage. Then in May I'll see the lawyer and know for sure if I can get reimbursed for this. I also have to get the heat fixed, but the water damage is more urgent
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Apr 18, 2019 15:59:10 GMT -5
The hoa insurance called back. They said that A-our HOA insurance has a 5k deductible and won't cover anything below that but I still shoul work with my association to reimburse me. B- they said the other insurance denying my claim is illegal because by state law the owner is responsible for damages caused by a tenant.So I called the owner's insurance again and they stand by their decision of denying my claim. If this is true, then maybe you will be able to successfully sue the owner for expenses, regardless of whether or not his insurance covers it. He may have to pay out-of-pocket. I don't really know though since I have no experience with this. Hopefully the attorney will clarify everything for you.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Apr 18, 2019 17:28:05 GMT -5
My contractor starts working tomorrow to remove the water damage. Then in May I'll see the lawyer and know for sure if I can get reimbursed for this. I also have to get the heat fixed, but the water damage is more urgent Is your handyman experienced in water mitigation? The sooner it's started, the less damage and mold issues there will be. When my basement flooded, Servicemaster had the carpet and padding out of here the next day and the fans ran for several days after that. Good luck.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 17:33:17 GMT -5
I would have pulled the carpet and pad myself day one. I'm no stranger to flooding and contractors and insurance people that have gone over my house can't even tell there was ever a water issue because I get it dried out fast. This is a basement though where the underlying floor is cement.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Apr 18, 2019 17:39:44 GMT -5
I didn't and don't know how to do that. I have insurance that might have covered my water issue. Servicemaster ended up being $400 more than the $1000 deductible so I didn't file a claim.
The guys told me when they came back the next day to check the fans that people that they couldn't get to until the second day had water damage where the water seeped up the insulation and drywall. They got to mine quickly enough and I didn't have that problem.
They only got to me because I had insurance and the contract with the insurance company said they had to be here within 24 hours.
I called in the middle of the night when I first saw the water and they came mid-afternoon. Family came over and we moved furniture out of the area that was carpeted as they told me they charged by the hour and the time they spent moving furniture would be time I paid for. The furniture was high enough from the cement floor that there was no damage to it. Just the carpet and padding were ruined.
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