Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Financial reponsiblity for water leaks

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

Yes, the insurance companies are the experts at sorting out these
responsibilities, or at least very good at finding reasons that someone
else is responsible for paying the claim....

But when you don't have a claim to file that gets sorted out by the
insurance companies, we have found there are often questions of
interpretation of what the HOA CC&R's say or how it is applied to any
specific situation. For this reason, I would recommend a community (the
maintenance committee?) keep a running list of interpretations so you
strive for consistency if not absolute clarity.

With this specific situation, I would ask what the source of the water
was? Was it a private irrigation or regrading/landscaping issue? ie a
homeowner/or specific resident did something outside their home that
created the water issue (and therefore a homeowner issue), or was the
source of water something inherit in the building or original grading (and
therefore a community responsibility)?

FYI: ALL dirt, soil, and mulch should always be at least 6" below the
foundation and/or exterior siding and drain away from the foundation at a
minimum of 2% slope. We have found it very helpful to have the landscape
or maintenance committee do any annual check or the site grading because
many people are just not aware of the importance of keeping water away
from the foundations. Your general contractor should have made sure all
grading met this criteria when they finished the job.

Katie 

-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect
CoHousing Partners, LLC
241 Commercial Street
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousingpartners.com





On 1/25/14 8:42 AM, "Ann Zabaldo" <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:

>
>Hi David and all --
>
>Boy -- this is one of those not easy things.  Mostly it depends on what
>your by-laws say. 
>
>I had a leak under my kitchen sink.  Some days later we found out that
>water leaked down to the CH DR ceiling that is underneath my home.  I
>filed an insurance claim to pay for the damage to the CH.  The insurance
>company declined to pay because:
>
>1.  I shut off the water immediately
>2.  Called a plumber right away to respond to the problem in my house
>even tho' it was after midnight thereby fulfilling my responsibilities as
>a homeowner for the event.
>3.  In our by-laws the interior walls and the CH DR were common property
>are the responsibility of the community not the responsibility of the
>homeowner.
>
>I filed twice and twice the insurance company refused to pay citing the
>by-laws.
>
>Best --
>
>Ann Zabaldo
>Takoma Village Cohousing
>Washington, DC
>Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
>Falls Church VA
>703-688-2646
>
>On Jan 25, 2014, at 10:31 AM, David Entin wrote:
>
>> 
>> We are wondering how cohousing communities deal with the financial
>> responsibility (between homeowner pays or community pays or both)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> for water leaking through foundations caused
>> 
>> *    damage to flooring and structures
>> *    mold 
>> 
>> we have a couple of requests for reimbursement for water damage floor
>>and
>> structure replacement and tearing out wallboard and studs on which
>>there was
>> mold.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Any thoughts on how other communities have dealt with this problem
>>would be
>> helpful.   Thanks.
>> 
>> David Entin, Rocky Hill Cohousing
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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