Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois
Hi,
I own a condo(1W) in a 4 unit building, 2 floors high, sidebyside. I own the first floor apt. which is currently rented. The unit above me(2W) is also rented, the owner is in Greece for next couple months. Yesterday my tenants complained of lots of water on their ceiling and inside light fitures. The roof was completly redone couple years ago for 10k+. I went to the upstairs neighbor (2w)and checked their bath and kitchen, NO leak, same for all neighbors. so today i cut a 1x1ft hole in my bathroom ceiling to check for leaks from upstairs while their water was on (as it had a leak last year) but no leak. Ive tested the roof by leaving hose on for 1hour+ no leaks. The only way the water could have come is if the tenants upstairs dropped several gallons of water on the floor. There is damage on the ceiling in the bathroom, living/dinning room, main bedroom, this was alot of water. The owners next door to the tenants above me (2E) informed me of a huge wet rug which the tenants had left outside to dry the day before. they told me they saw the tenants putting it outside the day before we noticed the water damage. The upstairs tenants(2W) say there is no leak there and have not told me they had an accident, i havent confronted them about my findings. my question is who pays for this, how am i suppose to prove they did it, (although i can cut a hole in the ceiling above the leak and ill see their subfloors have water marks). now im suppose to fix and repaint most of the appartment because of ignorance. who would be laible to pay in this case, the building's insurance or the tenants. i believe the tenants upstairs spilled water or simply cleaned with way too much water. the damage is too wide spread to be an accident. I will write them a letter today informing them of the damage and my findings and warning them if there are any more leaks I will seak compinsation for all damages. I now have water damage and mold growing where my tenants have their two year old daughter. plus water damage next to their home entertainment electronics worth thousands of dollars. i spent thousands trying not to be a slum landlord only to have some idiots damage the apt. these plaster walls cromble when water damaged.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP YOU PROVIDE!
1 Answer from Attorneys
The declaration and bylaws will disclose what the Association's insurance SHOULD cover, and then contacting the Association's insurance agent will tell you what the insurance is REALLY covering. Normally, however, if there is no problem with the common elements or limited common elements, association insurance is generally not invoked - in reality common elements get damaged, and the real insurance at stake is the unit owner that caused the damage -- at least where the condo insurance does NOT cover the situation. Now the problem here is that each unit is rented. But in condos usually the OWNERS are responsible, and if they've rented the units the upstairs owner is liable to the downstairs owner and then the upstairs tenant is liable to the upstairs owner......and the downstairs owner is liable to the downstairs tenant -- but here the leases may state differently. So there's a LOT going on here. The condo decl, bylaws, leases, and insurance policies ALL need to be examined. But I hope this gives you a bit of a clue as to how things are inter-related. And everyone (association, owners and tenants) should be contacting their own insurers. Sometimes the insurers will figure out who is going to handle what, but don't let them run wild or somebody could get shorted.
The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. Attorney is currently licensed to practice law only in the State of Illinois. Responses are based solely on Illinois law unless stated otherwise.
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