A Redditor encountered a challenging situation with their neighbor and went to the community at r/HOA to figure out a solution.
"I live in a condo in a 9-unit building in Boston. The first floor is a commercial unit that is rented out to a small business," the original poster wrote. "About a month ago, I noticed a significant leak coming from the ceiling in the basement, which is where our shared laundry machines are and the storage units for each unit. Some storage units have been flooding continually since then, but the leak and main flood is in the common area."
It turned out to be a leak from a hot water heater in the commercial unit. The poster went on to detail how the commercial renter has been promising to deal with the issue, while the homeowners association has yet to take concrete action. As of posting, it had been roughly a month since the leak had started.
Sadly, HOAs are keen to find cheap fixes and avoid costs even when they're necessary. Some have tried jury-rigging piles of rocks as a repair, while others refuse to even acknowledge obvious problems. In general, it's possible to work with HOAs to come to a compromise, but it takes some work and familiarity with a range of legal documents to change bylaws.
The Reddit community had a wealth of advice for the original poster.
"If the HOA doesn't act within the next day or two I would be reporting this to the city of Boston," one commenter said. "I have family who used to work for the city of Boston but since retired and they take stuff like this extremely seriously."
"This has gone on way too long and the HOA board needs to act immediately, regardless of who ultimately pays for it," another replied. "After 30 days of continuous water exposure, you likely have mold growth in the basement (drywall, insulation, stored items). This creates health hazards and potential board liability for failing to mitigate damage."
"If you have homeowners insurance, file a claim with them and let them figure out whether to seek indemnification from the master insurance," another chimed in. "If you don't have insurance, it's probably time to lawyer up and approach whomever owns the water heater to seek a resolution (and to sue that party if necessary)."
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