Leaky stack: who's responsibility is it?

[bmwpower]

Parents own a condo that has a leaky stack in the attic space. Whoever installed the stack originally put a Y near where the stack exits the roof, except they installed in upsidedown. So whenever it rains, water has collected in a 6" piece of pipe branching off the Y. To make matters worse, the 6" piece of pipe is tilted downward and not secure. Looks like they skimped on the glue, too.

The question: Who's responsibility is it? Is it the homeowner's association that normally takes responsibility in fixing something like this?

[sloooo]

How old is the home?

[bmwpower]

How old is the home?

It's a condo and it's probably about 20 years old. They just bought it last spring.

[designac]

normally the homeowners association only covers things that are common to all owners. if the stack feeds more than one condo you might get them to pay for it. or they may tell you to have just the condo owners who use that stack pay a portion. if the stack only goes to that condo they will probably make you pay for repairs. if this was a problem that the seller new about and did not disclose they could be liable but you would have to prove they knew.

[bmwpower]

normally the homeowners association only covers things that are common to all owners. if the stack feeds more than one condo you might get them to pay for it. or they may tell you to have just the condo owners who use that stack pay a portion. if the stack only goes to that condo they will probably make you pay for repairs. if this was a problem that the seller new about and did not disclose they could be liable but you would have to prove they knew.

Stack is shared between us and the condo downstairs. The other problem, and my main concern, is the owners downstairs have found mold in a cabinet and under their vanity. Not sure if it's related, but it's a possibility. Everything is dry downstairs, but I'm sure they want to blame us. I'm trying to relieve all responsibility as it appears to have happened a long time ago and over a course of time, ie. before we started to occupy the space.

[AllanJ]

I hope you understand the difference between "and" and "or".

In most condominiums, any part that is physically located in common space or serves more than one unit is a common element and is the responsibility of the association as a whole.

Also read your condominium documents (bylaws, etc.) to find the exact definition of what is common space.

As far as under the vanity goes, it is unlikely that water leaking from a unit upstairs was the problem. In addition you can claim that the owner downstairs waited too long to bring his claim.

[Getolmes]

I lived in a condo on the first floor and there was a crawl space that was filled with water. I told the condo association about it and they said they would look into it. The water was seeping through somewhere and my whole condo smelled like a wet basement.

The condo association said they would look into it but dragged thier feet and missed appointments. I sent them letters and e-mails with pictures telling them of the problem. Still nothing was done. I finally threatened to call the health department and call 7 on your side (the local news that does that shame shame on you stuff) Finally they fixed it. It was a $10 gutter problem that was dumping water into the crawlspace.

I would tell the condo association about the problem and hopefully they will fix it. If not do some creative threating and call a lawyer.