Please help with liability question

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Financing
1

Hello CRE forum members

I have a townhouse rental property in Virginia. Last week my tenant called and reported water leak in the basement near the wall. She checked everywhere in the house and couldn’t find source of water leak. It turned out the adjacent townhouse washing machine was faulty causing water to over flow in their basement. Neighbor’s basement had accumulated water which then flowed into my townhouse floor under the wall. The neighbor’s townhouse has a tenant living there. The tenant had to be alerted by my tenant about the water leak before they realized their washing machine was leaking.

I filed a claim with my insurance company Travelers and asked them to get the damage paid for by the neighbor. Travelers told me in order to file liability claim from the neighbor I need to show the water accumulation in the neighbor’s property was due to “intentional act”. A fault washing machine does not necessarily mean the damage was caused intentionally.

Cost of repairing my townhouse is around $1200.00. Please help me out. What can I do to get the neighbor to pay for the repairs? Should I contact neighbor’s insurance company directly to claim the damages instead of going thru Travelers ?

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

NP

2

You have two choices:

  1. Contact their insurance and make a claim

  2. Sue them in small claims court.

By the way, if you own a condo or townhome as a landlord, you should carry landlord insurance SEPARATE from the HOA’s insurance just for this reason.

3

Hi William

Thanks for your reply. Home Owner’s Association (HOA) fees in the community does not include insurance. Travelers is my insurance company for home owners insurance. I’ll contact neighbor’s insurance company and try to file a claim.

Thank You
NP