You should agree with 4 th floor flat owner for repairs to be carried out on costs sharing basis
2) if the leakage continues as far as 2 no floor owner is concerned then repairs should be carried out on sharing basis
Downstairs neighbour is pressurizing me to redo my bathrooms again.
I bought a flat in Hyderabad (in a multi-story apartment of 7 floors) on 3rd floor in 2012 and occupied the flat in 2013. Immediately, my downstairs neighbour from 2nd floor complained that there was water seepage into his apartment. I communicated to him that we should talk the builder and get it addressed. He told me that he is not confident of the builder(later I discovered that he has pending legal dispute with the builder) and insisted that we handle the issue among ourselves. He also refused access to his apartment for builders engineers to remediate the issue. As per bye-laws of the association, only the top floor person should get it addressed. When I checked with the association they said they were aware of similar issues and suggested that we split the cost in 50:50 basis and get the issue addressed. The neighbour kept calling for a quick solution, as a mark of good will I agreed to hire a contractor to address the issue. So, he brought in his own contractor for repair and building materials to be used during repair. The cost of repair was 62000 which we had equally split. Meanwhile, there was seepage issue from 4th floor of the bathroom in my flat in 3rd floor. I requested the builder to address the issue but even after multiple attempts he was unable to resolve the issue. I took the builder to consumer court which was settled as of out of court in 2017. I requested the association to talk to the owner of 4th floor but neither the association nor the owner was interested in addressing the issue. So, finally in 2019 I consulted a lawyer who sent legal notices to 4th floor and the association (he sent to all flats above him 5th-7th). The association replied that they have nothing to do with the issue and the 4th floor guy replied the issue is from floors above him and it was a motivated case. I asked my lawyer to file the case but he suggested that it will take long time to get it resolved in a civil court and asked me to work thru association. During covid, I locked my flat from Apr-2019 to July 2022 and moved to my parents home. In May 2022, the association finally convened a meeting with 4th floor person and he said he will do it on a 50:50 cost sharing basis. I told him that I had spent 23000 in last 10 years to temporarily fix the issue in my house as he was not cooperating and I suffered for 10 years so I will not agree for a cost sharing proposal. Meanwhile the 2nd floor person came back to me and told me that there is seepage again in his house. I told him that mostly the seepage is from 4th floor which is still an open issue. Now the 2nd floor owner is insisting that I have to redo my bathrooms again or he will initiate legal proceedings against me. His grouse seems to be that I have not shared with him the amount from builder settlement and also refused proposal from 4th floor owner for cost sharing. What should be my next steps?
Asked 3 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu
First answer received in 10 minutes.
Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.
6 Answers
- As per the new Bye-laws , the internal leakage repairing will be the responsibility of the member, and the society is only responsible for the external leakage problems.
- Hence, if the leakage is not due to the fault of the flat owner staying above you, then the expenses to repair the leakage has to be borne equally by you and above the flat owner .
- Further , if the said said neighbor not cooperating for repairing the same , then file a compliant before the Society .
- Further, you can mention the 2nd floor owner for the same issue with you , and hence you both should lodge a compliant before the society, so that the society can take action against that builder .
Hello,
- Send a legal Notice to the 2nd Floor owner stating the reason for the persistence of the leakage issues and ask him to approach the Society and the 4th floor owner and stop harassing you.
- Issue a fresh notice to the builder and the society asking to address the issue as you cannot be expected to keep spending money from your pocket for repairs.
Problem seems to be with the proper construction of whole building. Piecemeal repairs will not solve the problem. As flat owners will not readily come forward to share the expenses of repairs which they are liable with builder, there has to be a Court order for the same. Let the 2nd floor go the Court against you, after that you can impleade all flat owners in the suit. Get the structural expert appointed through Court for inspection and pinpointing the defect after that obtain a order for contribution from all residents of building. That will be permanent solution.
Since this is a continuous problem which was not properly addressed by the builder neither the association intervened into this to find an amicable solution, you may have to approach the civil court alone to get the problem solved against the neighbor sitting above your floor, and can drag the 2nd floor person also in the civil suit seeking the relief of injunction against him from interfering in your possession and enjoyment of your own flat besides to claim compensation for the damaging utterances made by him.
If he is also going to court, you may challenge the same on merit.
Contest the said legal proceedings if filed and get resolved through builder if it's a construction defect
