Home Insurance Question in Las Vegas

[Alain Haug]

Hi BP community I hope you can help us.

We recently inherited a condo in Las Vegas. Since this just happened a few weeks ago, the property is still in the name of the deceased.

Unfortunately, we have just learned about a water damage caused by the people living upstairs. We also learned the deceased did not have home insurance.

This brings me to my question: who is responsible to pay for repairing the damage (How is it handled in NV)? In my opinion it should be the one who was causing the damage aka the upstairs people or their insurance. However, we received conflicting information suggesting the repair would be covered by our insurance (which we don’t have on this property).

Appreciate your professional opinion. Thanks a lot in advance.

[John Mocker]

Alain,

The Condo Documents (Bylaws and Declarations) are key.  They define what parts of the building are the responsibility of the Association and which are yours as a unit owner.  They also may contain clauses that limit the making of claims by one unit owner against another.  

State laws may also impact the claim.  Here in CT there are laws that, in many cases, force the Association to first put in the claim and then if it is denied, it goes to the unit owners insurance.