The Good O'Neighbor Woe

[bleuless]

So, I live on the 3rd floor of a 3 story condo. One day the first floor resident came up and claimed that her sink in the kitchen over flooded and wanted to know if we saw any problem, she was going to check with 2nd floor too. "nope, nothing looks wrong here" i said.

few weeks later, i get a letter with an invoice paid by her to the plumber she had used to fix the problem. she claimed that she spoke to HOA and that HOA said to take it up with us. The plumber claimed that the common pipe was clogged which caused backflow, and its due to 3 unit's insink garbage disposal putting waste and food into it.

I wrote back an email told her that she should take it up with HOA, and let them handle it.

she writes back still wants me to share the bill. Plus she had also planned on calling the plumber every 6 month to do "preventive" work.

should i
a) call HOA and try to take control of the situation*
b) ignore her
c) simply pay the bill
d) write back and explain that i will not be paying her, but only HOA.
e) ______

*she claimed that HOA said this is a common problem. well, if it is common and routine, why the hell isn't there regulation, or be incorporated into the HOA fees? sorry for being mr. paranoia, but how do i know if the first unit isn't scamming me? maybe it was totally her fault, maybe it is the 2nd floor. maybe it really is all 3 of us. either way, i am not going to send a check to just any joe schemo. what if the plubmer is lying? there's numerous reasons and possibility for foul play w/o HOA intervention, how can the HOA simply sit on the side line? After all, this is borderline legal stuff, what if i move and the next guy sues me for non-disclosure? i mean what's the worst can happen if i simply ignore her... i don't want to be a jackass, but i think her approach is totally wrong.

 

[eakers]

How do condos work? are you even responsible for the piping that isn't directly in your condo?

 

[Nutdotnet]

I say B. You have no obligation to pay her.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: eakers
How do condos work? are you even responsible for the piping that isn't directly in your condo?

I read that so wrong.

 

[eakers]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: eakers
How do condos work? are you even responsible for the piping that isn't directly in your condo?

I read that so wrong.

hehehe

"when it comes to condos are you still responsible for your piping?"

 

[Ornery]

If I were the HOA, and had associates coming for reimbersement, or even just bothering me over this, I'd yank all the stupid disposals and be done with it!

 

[Reel]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet
I say B. You have no obligation to pay her.

If it is his problem AND he feels that it can be proven in a small claims court case, then he should pay her. However, it sounds like there is a lot of guesswork going on here and blame being spread evenly since there is no conclusive evidence. If it is a system problem, then the lady who suffers should probably have the plumbing work done to fix it so that it doesn't need to be worried about again. It is not cost-efficient to have it cleaned every 6 months unless the work is really prohibitively expensive to fix it permanently.

I suggest you discuss this with the HOA so that they are aware of the situation and you have given them your side first. If they decide to overstep their bounds and assess you with a fee to fix it, you don't want to make the effort to take them to court even though you know they are wrong. Just speak with someone informally and get their input and find out what other trios are doing in the complex.

Of course, you also have to weigh the value of a not-angry neighbor.

 

[thomsbrain]

how about she pours a bottle of draino down the drain every six months instead of calling a freaking plumber? sheesh, we share our plumbing with our upstairs neighbors and it gets clogged all the time, but you don't see us sending them a bill every time something backs up.