All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

BTW, the flood was caused by upstairs condo. Good reason not to buy a condo. But the condo association's insurance paid for the repairs. The upstairs tenants weren't negligent necessarily. But they didn't know to turn off the master valve when their pipe burst.

This is the original post.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/81/topics/129264-does-insurance-pay-for-legal-help

Right now I have a lawyer and so does my tenant. Her lawyer wanted me to try to get money for her for loss of wages, stress, basically loss of 'quiet enjoyment'. Checked with my insurance. No way. They said my tenant was going about this wrong and should contact her own renters' insurance. That if the place (flooded) was uninhabitable or whatever then they should have paid. I gave her a $500 break for 4 months that it took to repair everything but she wants the rest of the rent back for 4 months. That's a little over $4000. She's probably close to suing me, I don't know. Has anyone been thru anything like this before or know which way I should go? My lawyer is trying to negotiate with them to put this to bed. Maybe that's the best bet. Ok, if my insurance company won't represent me in this situation what would happen if something really bad happened? Like the place burned down and someone died. Would insurance represent me or hang me out to dry?

Hi David, the upstairs tenants weren't really at fault. It came from the pipes near the wall. So anyhow, the condo insurance handled it all. But my insurance would handle any reduction in rent. They've already paid me the $2000 I've paid her minus the deductible of $1000. I think it's best I just send the info to my insurance company and see what they say. Thanks for all the good replies.

My condo was flooded by the upstairs condo on January 8th. Thank you polar vortex. The condo association insurance eventually took over, long story, and it took 3.5 months to repair everything. I gave the tenant a $500/month break for 4 months. She recently sent a scathing letter from her attorney, actually just a draft, and demanded all the rent back from the 4 months, or else. I hired an attorney to answer to hers. That's where it stands now. I was just wondering if I should bring this up to my insurance or would it cause my insurance to go up? I don't know if they'd help pay for any of the legal fees or not. Thus far they're not real expensive.

Hi John

Good to see you on here. Sorry to hear about the downturn misfortunes. I'm looking to massage my portfolio of 10 places. Scary at 55 years old. Some of the condos I'm not too sure about so might dump them at some point. Also one fairly expensive townhouse in Odenton that does cash flow but not sure I should be holding it. Whew!

Scott

I'm looking to modify my buy and hold model. The hardest part of all this is identifying the best areas to invest in and those to stay away from.

There is a winterization method but I don't know if the upstairs tenants did it or not. I have not been able to contact the HOA for a week now. They just take calls and don't return them. My tenant just asked if she could break the lease and leave. She's been a great tenant and I don't want to put her thru anymore so I told her it was ok. I will make a concerted effort in my already stressful life to put the screws to whomever caused this.

Hi Dawn, one issue is that no one is really telling me what happened although I do suspect negligence from the upstairs condo. They are tenants there and I've tried to get in touch with the owner but thus far unsuccessful. He'll get a piece of my mind when I do contact him.

I liked the idea of just asking the tenant and this I already have done. Haven't heard back from her yet, I'm sure I will though.

To Scott, the HOA master policy is cleaning everything up but they aren't answering the phone or calling back. Have left messages. I will also let her help with what type of carpet to put in. For some reason I highly doubt they will compensate any money break that I give the tenant. They probably go by the book. A friend of mine said to call Public Insurance Adjusters who help with insurance situations for a reasonable fee. I might do that.

I agree Jon, half a month rent would be worth it...

Really appreciate ALL the comments!

Well, the upstairs condo did it again. Their pipes froze and burst and flooded my rented condo below them. All the carpet has been removed to cement floors. The lower 2 feet of the walls cut out. She has to keep her cat in a cage to keep it out of the walls. A lot of her furniture is ruined but she has rental insurance. It's taking time to get everything fixed. My guess is about a month. The last time this happened (6 months ago due to clogged condensate line from same upper condo) they had to cut a hole in the ceiling of the my condo and replace a much smaller portion of carpet. She was happy with a $100 break on rent. I know I need to compensate her more this time. The place is totally livable but definitely annoying for her. Rent is normally $1575. How much would you compensate the renter? She is a good renter BTW.

I like that 4 plex Katy B brought up in her post. It looks cheap, in good shape, and even the schools are rated high. I'm very frustrated with the Baltimore area. The building in her post, if the price were the same here, would have schools rated 1 or 2 instead of 7 or 8 like zillow shows them to be. It would probably be a drug zone. I own 9 properties in quite nice areas. They cash flow so-so. If I go where the cash flow is better then the area scares me away. And there's a lot of that around here.