Flooding an apartment from the roof

Many residents of the top floors have experienced the consequences of flooding their apartment due to a leaking roof. The result will be especially sad if no action is taken: moisture affects the walls and ceiling and can cause mold and mildew to form. In the end, entire property may suffer. What to do if your apartment is flooded from the roof? Honest experts respond.

Who is responsible for restoring the roof of an apartment building?

The form of management of the building determines who is responsible for the property located in it. Most often, apartment owners sign an agreement with organizations; sometimes homeowners' associations are created, which, without the help of third parties, are engaged in maintaining the house and providing it with utilities.

Government Decree No. 354 in part XVI, paragraph 149b determines that in the event of an accident on common property, for which none of the owners of residential premises is responsible, it is assigned to the utility service provider. It is he who must compensate for the damage caused to the health, life or property of consumers due to a violation of the quality of service provision. The executor in this case is the management company or homeowners association.

How can I force the court to fix a leak from my roof?

After the time allotted for the claim has expired, you can apply to the courts to protect your rights and legitimate interests. Based on the prepared claim, a statement of claim is prepared. It is filed with the district court if the cost of damage exceeds 50 thousand rubles (the vast majority of cases) or with the magistrate’s court (court district in the territory) if the amount of the claim is less than the given value.

The following must be attached to the claim:

act of leakage;
expert opinion on damage assessment;
photographic materials;
complaint to the management company;
postal documents on sending the claim to the Criminal Code;
response to the complaint (if any);
copies of registration documents for the apartment.

You must pay a state fee. The filing routes correspond to those typical for filing a claim:

personally;
through a representative;
by mail.

If the submission is made by a representative, he must have the corresponding right on the basis of a power of attorney executed by a notary. In the pleading part of the statement of claim, it is required to indicate the need to eliminate the leak as soon as possible by the defendant. Make a reference to the norms of housing legislation. in particular, to paragraph 1 of Article 161 of the Housing Code, which clearly states that the company that manages the apartment building must ensure the safe and favorable condition of the common property, taking into account the safety and comfort of the residents. If a leak occurs, comfort and safety are impossible. Consequently, the rights of the persons living in the apartment were violated.

The plaintiff in the process is the owner or tenant of the residential premises.

What to do if the roof leaks and the apartment floods?

Russian Government Decree No. 354, Part XVI, Clause 152 states that if the contractor is guilty of causing damage to residents or consumer property, then he is obliged to compensate it. The fact of harm must be documented. For this purpose, a flood report is drawn up, which describes in detail the damage received. The document should be filled out by representatives of the Criminal Code in front of the victim. They should come after receiving a corresponding request from the resident.

If a roof leak is detected, in accordance with current legislation, you must immediately contact the emergency service of your management company. It is important to ensure that the request made will be recorded in the appropriate log. You need to provide your last name and initials, residential address and describe the problem. Ask the dispatcher to announce the request number that he indicated in the log, the time of registration and the information of the person who received it. This information should be recorded.

At the next stage, you need to write a statement to the Criminal Code about a roof leak; A sample application is not required, since the document is drawn up in free form: full name, address, description of the problem, date and signature. It must require organizing an inspection and drawing up an inspection report and a report of detected defects, eliminating violations and repairing the roof in order to stop the leak. The legislation leaves the Criminal Code three days to take action. The application should be drawn up in two copies, with your own number, seal and signature of the company, as well as the date of acceptance. This will be confirmed by an official appeal. It is best to conduct all communications with the management company in writing and keep the correspondence.

The application to the Criminal Code can be sent by mail. In this case, you must use registered mail with return receipt requested. It should include a package of documents and their inventory.

After the management company receives a statement about a roof leak, you should receive a response within three days. For example, you may be contacted by telephone. Usually a representative of the organization calls and arranges a time to arrive and inspect the home.

The most important thing at this stage is to receive a report of detected defects. It must be signed by a representative of the management company and the affected tenant. Keep one copy of it for yourself. Another important document is the act of damage. When flooding an apartment from the roof, it is necessary that the document reflects all the damaged property: surfaces, furniture, clothing, and so on. Often, representatives of management companies refuse to include certain things in the act; they should be described on another sheet, and before signing the document, describe their objections. This will be extremely important during the trial.

If we talk about restoring an apartment, then some traces of the flood often appear after a few days. Therefore, it is better not to rush into conducting an independent examination. The main thing is that there are two signed criminal acts.

Refund procedure

According to the Federal Law “On the Protection of the Rights of Housing and Public Utilities Consumers,” compensation for material damage as a result of poor-quality provision of housing and communal services must be made within 30 days . During this period, from the moment of receiving a request from the victim, the management company must determine the method of compensation: repair of the premises or payment of material damage.

Simultaneously with the demand for compensation, it is worth filing a request for roof repairs. The management company must respond to this and take measures to further prevent flooding. If the roof is not repaired, water can again cause property damage.

If there is evidence of the loss incurred and the correctness of the actions of the victim, the management company, as a rule, does not avoid responsibility and meets the applicant halfway. However, if the management organization does not admit its guilt, it is necessary to demand compensation in court .

An assessment of material damage from an independent company that has the appropriate approvals will help determine the amount of compensation if the apartment is flooded from the roof In the assessment report, a specialist will describe in detail all the consequences and causes of flooding, and will also determine the amount of costs associated with restoring the premises and damaged property.

What to do if your apartment is flooded due to the fault of the management company? We answer this question in detail in a special material prepared by our editors.

Next steps after receiving a flood report

If the management company agreed to fill out two statements regarding a roof leak, this is not enough to go to court. After the incident you need to wait a few days. During this time, all the consequences of the accident will appear. Even if the act has already been drawn up before, you can invite representatives of the management company to supplement the document.

To justify the amount of damages, it is necessary to conduct an independent examination. To order a damage assessment from Honest, you must call our managers and make an appointment for an inspection three business days in advance, since you will need to notify the guilty party about the examination. We'll show you how to do this. Notifying the guilty party will avoid questions during the trial, if it comes to that, of course.

An inspection on average takes no more than 30 minutes, during which time the specialist draws up a contract with you, inspects the damage after the apartment was flooded from the roof and takes the necessary photographs.

The report itself is prepared within 3-5 business days. It includes both the cost of the necessary materials and the cost of repair work. As a result, you receive a package of documents that is sufficient for a dispute in any instance.

Preparation of a review of a judicial or pre-trial examination of an apartment's filling

FOR INVOLVED IN THE GAY
of other people's property, it is important to thoroughly understand the problem and prove your non-involvement, or reduce the amount of alleged damage, which is often inflated. A review (reasonable objection) is relevant both for the appraisal examination and for the construction and technical examination, in which the amount of losses was incorrectly calculated or the cause of flooding was incorrectly determined.

If you have an emergency situation - a leaking faucet, flexible hose, heating system, or plumbing elements in the kitchen, bathroom or toilet, do not try to completely “cover your tracks” and find a specialist who will undertake to “expose” you using illegal methods. You need to be able to answer for your negligence and not deceive your injured neighbors.

Find out the correct sequence of actions in the event of a flood and learn how to minimize damage and protect yourself and your neighbors in a separate article from our expert “What to do during a flood?”

Additionally, lawyers who offer "guaranteed" services

to avoid liability for the flood, in most cases they are unprincipled scammers, cooperation with which will bring nothing but financial losses for paying for dubious services, unnecessary examinations, as well as compensation for the work of the lawyer of the party injured during the flood. The fact is that judicial practice on the bays has long been formed and it is impossible to recognize the Gulf Act as “illegal” due to the presence of clerical errors and misprints in it, discrepancies regarding the date of compilation and the volume of recorded damage, but the statement to the contrary is the main argument of pseudo-lawyers.

Subscribe to real Gulf lawyers on Instagram (#jurzaliv), study expert and judicial practice, receive free recommendations on the prospects for resolving your Gulf dispute.

Instead of “gray” schemes, try to find errors from experts,

who completed the paperwork after the flood, because they may deliberately or due to low qualifications deviate from the established methodology. In such cases, it becomes possible to obtain a review of the pre-trial examination of the apartment. A competent review and honest position will allow the court to form the correct opinion regarding the evaluation or technical conclusion prepared by the plaintiff, as well as to doubt the objectivity of expert data.

A correct review of damage assessment or technical expertise for flood reasons will become full-fledged evidence in court, forming the basis for a decision without additional forensic research.

Pre-trial dispute settlement

Before directly going to court, it is necessary to follow the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute. It involves sending a claim to the management company, which is drawn up in free form. It describes in detail what happened and the actions required from the management company with specific dates. Copies of supporting documentation must be attached to the claim: a statement of defects discovered and a statement of damage caused; requirements, a date and signature are affixed at the end. The claim is also drawn up in two copies, and a list of the documents to be sent should be attached to it.

A claim, a report and both acts are submitted to the management company. The copy that remains with you must bear the signature of the management company employee, the date of acceptance, stamp and entry number. After receiving the document you need to wait ten days. The claim can be submitted personally to the organization or sent by mail with notification of receipt.

If a roof leak occurs, and the management company refuses to fulfill its duties even when filing a claim, then you can go to court. To do this, you need to draw up a claim describing everything that happened (similar to a claim), attach copies of acts, an examination report, a claim with marks of delivery. In accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Article 333.36, it is not necessary to pay state duty.

Where to go if the management company is inactive?

Often, the party at fault in a flood refuses to pay compensation or delays the process of restoring property damage. What to do if the management company does not want to pay compensation? In such a situation, you should go to court, preparing a statement of claim recognizing the amount of loss and demanding compensation.

You can go to court , according to Article 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, within three years from the moment the apartment was flooded from the roof. Once the statute of limitations has expired, it is almost impossible to restore rights in court.

How to file an application to court? The statement of claim must indicate three categories of information :

Information about the place of appeal (court), plaintiff (victim) and defendant (Criminal Code). It is necessary to determine the value of the claims (amount of compensation) using the details of the parties.
Information about the incident, detailed descriptions of the scene and the reasons that led to the flooding of the apartment and the loss. Photographs of the flooding, witness statements, and reports must be attached to the application.

Information on costs associated with flood restoration. The amount of compensation must be determined on the basis of the report on the assessment of material damage.

An appeal to the court can be filed either by the victim personally or by his representative. It is more profitable to use the services of a lawyer, since the citizen is unlikely to be aware of the solution to such issues. All attorneys' and court costs will be paid by the defendant.

Along with the statement of claim, the court must attach a package of documents . These include:

Title papers in relation to the damaged property (apartment);
Flooding report and expert’s assessment report on the amount of loss;
A check or receipt for payment of the state fee, a copy of the applicant’s passport.

A separate category of documents are papers that establish the fact that material damage occurred due to the fault of the management company. You can prove damage using :

Photos or video materials taken at the time of the emergency;
Testimony of witnesses (neighbors, family members, relatives, friends);
Flood Act.

Claiming compensation from the perpetrator for a flood is a lengthy process. Therefore, you should be patient. If you have all the evidence of the damage suffered, then a court decision will be made in your favor.

Compensation for damage

There are 2 options for compensation for damage: the easy way - through the Criminal Code, the difficult way - through court proceedings.

If the Criminal Code wants to resolve the issue peacefully, then first of all it is necessary to call a commission and draw up all the necessary documents and calculate an approximate estimate for the work. The total amount should be reported to the person responsible for the accident.

When the management company agrees to compensate for the damage, then such a decision should be recorded. To do this, you need to draw up an agreement on compensation for damage caused by a roof leak. The agreement must be notarized. It happens extremely rarely in life when a management company is ready not only to compensate for damage, but even to do it in the amount required by the owner of the apartment. If the organization completely disagrees, it is unlikely that the matter will be resolved without going to court.

What to do?

Many residents of multi-storey buildings are at risk of being flooded by careless neighbors. The procedure does not differ depending on the culprit of the incident.

However, it is necessary to find out who is responsible for the leak:

If the accident occurred due to the fault of neighbors (an open tap, a washing machine breakdown) or the leak was caused by a breakdown of equipment belonging to the owner’s property (heating radiator, tap), then responsibility rests with the owner of the living space.
If the malfunction is caused by a breakdown of the water supply or heating equipment, up to the shut-off device located in the apartment, then responsibility rests with the management company.

It is necessary to note that the owner can shift his responsibility to third parties if the breakdown was caused by repair work carried out by an official company. He will be able to recover the costs of damages from them.

Art. 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation obliges the culprit to compensate the costs incurred for repairs in full. If you go to court, the guilty person will have to additionally pay all costs associated with the process.

However, immediate action must be taken before compensation can be made. Let's consider what to do if you are flooded.

The first actions of the injured party if the neighbors above are flooded

To minimize the amount of damage, you need to protect your apartment from the consequences of the flood and record all visible damage on camera. If neighbors were at home during the accident and opened the door to the victim, then you need to offer help in eliminating leaks and water from the floor surface.

Power outage

To ensure the safety of the residents of a flooded apartment - people and pets, it is necessary to de-energize the premises to prevent a short circuit. To do this, turn off the power supply in the panel, which is located on the landing.

It is advisable to perform the procedure even if water flows do not reach the wiring, since excess moisture contributes to the accumulation of static electricity.

A flooded apartment should be de-energized even if the water does not come into contact with the electrical wiring.

Recording what happened on your phone

Photos and videos taken of all damage caused by the flood from above will become visual evidence of damage to the apartment's finishing and property. Before starting the filming process, it would be a good idea to invite several neighbors who will be ready to testify to the damage they see in court.

Filming begins at the entrance to the entrance, then into the apartment, approaching places with signs of flooding. After printing the photographs, indicate on the back side the date, time, location of the shooting, and verify with the signatures of the neighbors present.

After the apartment is flooded from above, it is necessary to record all damage using photos and/or video.

Algorithm for a peaceful solution to the problem

If the neighbors responsible for the flooding do not avoid contact and are ready to compensate for losses, an agreement is drawn up. In addition to the passport details of the parties, the text includes the following details:

date and place of signing;
address of the affected apartment;
a list of damaged property, including decoration (floors, walls, ceilings), furniture, household appliances, etc.;
the amount of damage that the culprit undertakes to compensate;
procedure for compensation - cash or finishing work at the expense of the culprit, for example, replacing a stretch ceiling, painting walls, etc.;
deadlines for payment of compensation or repairs.

Each party puts its signature with a transcript. If necessary, the paper is notarized, but this action is not necessary.

Drawing up an act

Damage to property is recorded in a report, which is filled out and certified by an employee of the management company called to the scene of the incident. If a representative of the management company refuses or is unable to arrive in the near future, the paperwork is drawn up independently by the injured party.

The document is certified by the signatures of witnesses invited to inspect the damaged apartment.

The act contains the following information:

addresses of apartments where the flooding occurred and where the consequences occurred;
a description of the source of the accident (if the culprit does not object to inspection) or the alleged cause of the flooding;
passport details of the apartment owners - the victim and the culprit, persons who became witnesses;
signatures of the parties.

Act on flooding of an apartment (Act on leakage, Act on the bay).
The most detailed information. The refusal of the neighbor responsible for the accident to be present when the act is signed is recorded in the flooding act.

The report is proof of the flooding and is therefore kept by the owner until the damage is fully compensated.

If new consequences of the flood appeared after the act was drawn up, it is necessary to record the damage in a new document, similar to the previously signed one. In this case, you will also need witnesses or a representative of the management company who will certify the paper.

Damage assessment

In case of disagreements caused by the refusal of neighbors to admit guilt and compensate for losses, they turn to an independent appraiser who is licensed to carry out the relevant actions. The service consists of identifying the culprit and the amount of damage with the subsequent preparation of a damage report.

The expert report is checked for the presence of all information about the damage, and in case of disagreement with the appraiser, shortcomings are pointed out.

A prerequisite is the signing of an agreement with the expert, and upon completion - an acceptance certificate for the work performed. If the court decides in favor of the owner of the flooded apartment, the costs of assessing the damage will be taken into account when compensating for losses.

To avoid disagreements and possible challenges to the conclusion, you should officially notify your neighbors of the expert’s arrival a few days in advance.

Payment for repairs

The person responsible for the flood can pay the cost of restoring the apartment in the amount of the agreed amount or carry out the repairs on their own, purchasing building materials themselves. These nuances are included in the text of the agreement.

During the assessment, the expert is provided with receipts for the purchase of building materials and service contracts concluded with contractors for previously completed repairs.

If there are no supporting payment documents, then compensation is calculated based on the average market cost of similar work and materials accepted in the region of location at the time of the incident.

Nuances if it was the tenants who flooded, not the owner

The responsibility for owning residential premises on the basis of a rental agreement imposes obligations on the tenant to maintain plumbing fixtures and household appliances in good working order. An open tap during a temporary lack of water or a bathtub left unattended will also be considered the fault of the tenant.

The result will be a claim against the tenant for damages due to flooding of the neighbors below. In this case, the rental agreement must be valid. His absence automatically shifts the blame to the owner of the apartment.

If the apartment from below is flooded by the tenants, then the responsibility to compensate the injured party in full falls on the tenants of the premises.

The reason for collecting damages from the apartment owner is liability for faulty water supply wiring or unwillingness to replace unreliable plumbing fixtures.