Can I sue my neighbor and tenant for water damage to my condo?
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Can I sue my neighbor and tenant for water damage to my condo?
My neighbor who owns the unit above me had a dishwater malfunction “as she says” and flooded my unit. My tenants did not call me when this happened. As a result my bathroom, bedroom and laundry room walls are full of mold and the carpet has a big water stain, which I am sure has mold on the padding. My lease indicates the tenants must report immediately any damage done to my property, but since they neglected to call me, I had to just go down during an inspection to find all this damage myself. Can I sue both my neighbor that causes the leak and my tenant for not reporting this? And evict my tenants?
Asked on April 19, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Virginia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
You should be able to sue your neighbor, since it was something under her control (her dishwasher) which caused the damage. If the problem was that the machine was defective or was installed improperly, she in turn may be able to sue the manufacturer or installer--but that's her concern, not yours.
You may be able to sue your tenants for not reporting the leak, at least for such portion of the damage as was caused or exacerbated by their failure to report (i.e. they are not responsible for the leak or for any damage that would have occured even with a prompt report). Not only have they evidently violated a provison of their lease, but they also negligently (carelessly) caused damage to your property through their nonreport.
It is unlikely that you be able to evict tenants at this time. Even though they violated the lease, typically you cannot evict tenants for the first lease violation, but rather must given them a "notice to cease" telling them to not do that again--you can only take action if the problem then repeats.
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