Tenancy Related Question - Water Damage - British Columbia

[sunami]

Hello,

I had a water leak in my rental apartment last weekend. Do not have tenant's insurance. And my landlord is threatening me to pay for the repairs of the downstairs apartment.

Story: Was running the portable dishwasher, kitchen faucet pipe had a leak, water leaked onto my kitchen floor and carpets. Water leaked for roughly 30 minutes and it also made its way to the apartment downstairs.

Brought in Rug Doctors the next morning (less than 12 hours) and sucked out as much water as I could from my carpets as well as the downstairs lobby. My unit is fine now. Carpets have dried out. No mold or damp smell. The restoration guys concluded that the damage to my unit and to the unit downstairs is minmal.

Today, the downstairs apartment had a repairs company fix things for them and my landlord called and said that it will cost an incredible amount of money and I will have to pay for it because I was being negligent.

Has someone on this blog been through something like this? I dont think I am responsible for poor insulation between the two units. Reading through the BC tenancy laws at the moment but if someone can give me a different perspective, I would really appreciate it.

[Papa bear]

You’ll need someone to know more about Canadian real estate. But I had to comment... what the heck does the insulation have to do with water leaking between the units?? 

In my area, if the damage was caused by a tenant due to improper use or negligence on their part, I would charge them back for the damages.  And I have done that when tenants don’t know how to properly use a shower curtain and let water run on the bathroom floor which inevitably finds its way down to the drywall ceiling below...


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[ministashy]

You will probably need to look into BC tenant laws to see what your rights and responsibilities are for something like this.  In my experience (US and condo-based), the owner of the unit is the one that would be held responsible for any damage from a leak originating in their unit--so he or his insurance would have to pay for all repairs (or pay the association insurance deductible if the building is part of a HOA, whichever comes first).  Now whether he can come back after you for that expense I would assume depends entirely on a) your lease agreement has anything holding you liable for this kind of damage and b) BC tenant rights/responsibilities, which will dictate whether he could take you to court for something like this.

Something to think about though--even if it turns out he can't legally hold you responsible for the damage, he could still jack your rent/refuse to renew your lease.  So if you're up for renewal anytime soon, I'd keep that in mind and have a Plan B for moving out, if necessary.