Insurance, Leaks, Liabilities

Here’s a tale: In one building, someone on the seventh floor put kitty litter in the toilet. As you can imagine, the toilet solidified like concrete, and basically just blew up. The leak traveled vertically down through connected suites. On the second floor, our tenant lost many valuables, including designer clothes. In this instance we settled with her as nicely as possible and within a half-hour had a restoration company in there.
At Downtown Suites we contact emergency restoration as soon as any such incident happens. We understand that with leaks there can be so much humidity with conventional carpets it is necessary to move all furniture out asap, before the moisture gets to the wood and warps it. Even in a concrete building the dampness can cause mould from the absorption of moisture. However, an immediate call to a restoration company can avoid much of the water damage.
Insurance is essential, for tenants and landlords, as well as strata corporations. Recently, insurance has become complicated, as some companies have a cap on the deductable per suite, rather than per occurrence. In the per occurrence scenario, imagine 15 claims at $5000 deductable per claim. This is where the owner’s insurance comes in, paying the deductable if it is a building claim. Usually, the tenant’s alternate place to stay isn’t covered by that insurance, which is one reason why the tenant would need to have his own. In normal circumstances, the deductable would be the owner’s responsibility, rather than the tenant’s. Of course, liability is a big issue, and as property managers we help both owners and tenants understand which areas are their responsibilities in such circumstances.