Neighbor cause water damage to my condo - help!
jerseyjane
19 years ago
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talley_sue_nyc
19 years agolazy_gardens
19 years agoRelated Discussions
help! neighbor causing 12' stream of water in my yard
Comments (3)Hello, This sounds like a legal question. I am not a lawyer but I know a little about this because I was in a similar situation and I have worked in real estate a long time. I don't think you will be able to recover any damages regarding the damage to your landscape, here's why: 1. You purchased a property in which this problem already existed for 30 years. I am certain the damage did not just suddenly begin in the last 4 years you have lived there. A home inspector should have pointed this problem out to you and you could have considered costs needed to correct the problem which you should have negotiated in your purchase price. 2. I don't know, maybe you have some recourse with your home inspector for these costs if your home and property was inspected and you were not told. Your home inspection should be in writing. That said, it is 4 years later and this should have been addressed with the home inspector the first year you were there. I don't know what the statute of limitations are in your area for this. 3. Consider yourself fortunate that your neighbor corrected the problem on his side, at no expense to you. Where I live (not far from you) you are allowed to drain water right up to the property line. The grade of the neighbor's property is their responsibility, and if it is lower than your property, then that person would want to install a drain, ditch, or something similar to redirect water flow. All water flows from high to low (obviously) and the person with the lowest property, unfortunately, is going to pay for it. In general, that's usually negotiated in the sales price. Most of the time, neighbors are neighborly and correct the problem, like yours did, however they are not legally obligated to do so. It sounds like your neighbor did the right thing. I'm not sure if going to war with your neighbor will help you, especially when I think you stand a very good chance of loosing. If you win or loose, you still need to live next door to this neighbor. There is also the other neighbors to think about, I don't know what their relationships are like or how big your town is. It's just something practical for you to think about. Regarding your building a berm. This would depend on what your goal is and how much you want to spend. You might find it more cost effective to dig a ditch to the street, removing dirt rather than bringing more in to create the berm. That said, you could build a berm but you said you had 12' (12 foot) of water. I'm not sure if that's 12' deep or wide. It would need to be quite a large berm to redirect the water to the street depending on water volume. You should also think about what you would like to plant on the berm and if it could tolerate standing water if there is any. A berm could help provide you with privacy and could help keep out some noises if you have any. If noise is not an issue, you may be able to dig a good sized deep ditch, at a strong pitch, to the drainage ditch at the street. A berm could be pretty but you could also line the ditch with rocks which could be pretty as well. The rocks are a good option if you don't want to mow or weed whack in there. If you're willing to spend a little, you could do a combination of berms and ditches, or even french drains, with piping to the drainage ditch on the street. You have several options. Now, all of this said, you also must find out what your local building inspector says about all this because your code may call for certain setbacks from your neighbor's property for building a berm or the drainage ditch. In my area, we cannot change the original grade of the land in any way without submitting a plan first. You should know this first so as not to incur extra expenses for yourself. Regrading from the house down is a good idea and will improve on the health and longevity of your home. You should speak with your local building inspector about this and any permits you may need so as not to incur fines. Depending on how extensive your project is, the building inspector may want to see a drainage plan. Keep in mind that sometimes an improvement you may make on your property may change or affect the drainage or water flow to your neighbor's property. This can be a good or bad thing. It all depends on your situation. I hope this is helpful and I wish you the best of luck on your pool! G....See MoreWater damage from neighbor's hot water heater!
Comments (10)Kweenie, The difference is that a fire is not usually a result of direct negligence on the management's fault. If it were then you probably could sue them. For instance, if an electrician told them they had faulty wiring that was a fire hazard and they opted not to fix it, and that wiring caused the building to burn down, the tenant's losses would be a direct result of the managements negligence, and I'd bet they could win. Same here, this was a result of negligence. I have a friend who lives in the same building his sister lives in. It's a highrise, but the units are owned, like condos. The bylaws state very clearly that the highrise management company is not responsible for damages to personal property. My friend's sister had insurance to cover her belongings. When the pipes in the building froze and burst, sending a virtual waterfall into her apartment, my friend told her not to even report it to the insurance company. Instead he threatened the management company with a lawsuit, because the damages to her property were a direct result of their negligence. They bought her all new furniture. If any damage had been done to my washer, dryer, or upright freezer when our maintenance crew incorrectly installed our hot water heater, causing the outlet pipe to burst sending scalding hot water spraying all over our utility room, you better believe they would have bought us new appliances. Would have paid our hospital bills to if my husband had been hurt running into all that scalding hot water to shut off the intake to the water heater. Basically, damages to tenant's property that are outside the apartment management's control, like storms, trees falling down, fires, are not the responsibility of the management. But if negligence can be shown to be the reason for the damage, you better believe they can be held responsible. You might have to actually take them to small claims court, cuz they'll calim that your renter's insurance is responsible....See Morenew construction causes water woes for neighbor
Comments (8)Yes, sounds like poor planning by the builder. Do all the other homes in your neighborhood have gutters and downspouts? Sounds very strange that the builder wouldn't install them on this home. It makes this new home stand out from all the others, in that it is *missing* a desired feature. It should conform to all the other houses, but I don't know of any way to make the builder do it unless it is code or there is a HOA that requires gutters and proper drainage. Is this a custome home? Did she buy it from the builder's inventory (a "spec" home)? Did she select from the builder's plans and have it built? Ask her to look back at the builder's specifications/features sheets and see if gutters and downspouts are mentioned. Seems to me if they were mentioned as features on their homes, then you can ask that they be installed even after closing. Am I reading that you want to find a solution that doesn't involve a fued with your niece? Is this her first home? Direct her to this forum! She'll learn that new homeownership doesn't involve just showing up at the closing and getting the keys. Home ownership involves maintenance and improvements where needed (yes, even on a brand-new home!), including installing gutters on a house that's missing them. Also landscaping. Maybe you two could do yardwork together (I've had some neighbors that are much better at it than I am to help me). Point out some landscaping tips that will help with the drainage and help her make them a reality. In my earlier story about my drainage problem, I didn't take the time to mention that I also had to take steps to solve it. Even after my neighbor redirected his downspout, I had to move some plants and regrade the front yard a bit to improve the drainage. That involved a tiller (from the rental place) and some very very hard red-clay dirt. But it worked. Also, my warranty documents with my new home stated that the builder would correct any drainage problems that caused standing water on my property. But it went on to define "standing water" as any water remaining on the surface 24 hours after a rainstorm. I had a lot of water during and immediately after a storm, but it would run off or percolate within 24 hours, so the warranty was of no use. Ask your neice to check her documents. I hope I'm not sounding too trite or naive. The time to integrate her into the neighborhood is now, not later after any tension builds up. Sometimes solving problems without starting a fued can be difficult. You have to go the extra mile and find a way to point out that there is a problem (and a solution) without assigning blame to anyone. Yes, the builder should have taken more steps, but most builders make themselves scarce after closing....See MoreDid my roof repair cause this internal damage?
Comments (14)Thanks all for the input. Most of these marks are divots, but there are some very obvious nail pops as well. And it's not just a few...we have counted at least 40 places throughout the house, in a house we do not intend to live in for more than 10 years. Obviously the damage will have to be fixed at some point and I clearly don't want to be the one paying for it. I understand this might be due to not having top tier quality drywall work, but this also wouldn't have happened without the roof work (at least that's how I see it since they weren't there up until the day the work started). My only challenge now is seeing if the company will take fault and fix everything, which based on your responses I'm expecting them not to....See Moretalley_sue_nyc
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