Moisture damage from the neighbor – is the neighbor or the house committee responsible for the repair?

Moisture damage from a neighbor may lead to unpleasant hazards. The question arises: can only the neighbor be held liable for repairing moisture damage or can the house committee also be held liable?

A lawsuit was filed against a neighbor and this matter reached the The supervisor of the condominiums In Tel Aviv (468/20 Rosa Klish v. Levi Dana Yosef).

How do you know who is responsible for moisture damage from your neighbor?

In the case mentioned above, there was talk of moisture damage as detailed inThe statement of claim:

As alleged in the statement of claim, for a long time the plaintiff's apartment has suffered from moisture damage, including active leaks, damp spots, falling plaster, exposed iron, fungus and mold, which originated from defects in the defendant's apartment, as supported by an expert opinion on behalf of the plaintiff which was attached to the statement of claim. Despite the plaintiff's numerous requests to the defendant to repair the defects in her apartment, and a promise given by the defendant to do so, the defendant did not act to eliminate the moisture damage in the plaintiff's apartment.

On the other hand, the defendant argued as follows:

In the defense, the defendant denied the allegations in the lawsuit and petitioned to dismiss it. In its opinion, the cause of the moisture damage and leakage in the plaintiff's apartment is not a defect in the defendant's apartment, noting that as part of the renovation of the defendant's apartment, all the apartment's plumbing was replaced with new ones. It is also alleged that, as the plaintiff was informed prior to filing the lawsuit and based on expert opinions, the source of the leak is a pipe that constitutes joint property made of asbestos, which runs through the plaintiff's apartment. These findings were presented to the plaintiff and it was even suggested that she work together to repair the leak. However, the plaintiff refused to allow the defendant to repair the pipe in the common house.

The supervisor Appointed an expert on its behalf to determine who was responsible for moisture damage in the plaintiff's home. The expert's findings stated as follows:

בהתאם לחוות דעת המומחה, הגורמים לנזקי הרטיבות בדירת התובעת הם "כשלים בצנרת המים והניקוזים של דירת הנתבעת" וכן "כשל בצנרת 4 צול של הרכוש המשותף", as detailed above (page 7 of the expert's opinion). The expert added and determined in the opinion the work necessary to repair the defects in the defendant's apartment and the common property, as well as the work necessary to repair the moisture damage in the plaintiff's apartment, adding that a moisture content test should be performed on the filling material in the defendant's apartment in order to estimate the scope of the work necessary to repair the defects and whether it includes operating drying systems and dismantling the flooring surface in the apartment (page 7 of the expert's opinion).

That is, according to the expert opinion in this case, moisture damage to the plaintiff's home stems both from the defendant's home and from a failure in the relevant 4-way pipe. To the common property.

This means that it is not always only the neighbor you suspect will be responsible for repairing moisture damage, but sometimes moisture damage that allegedly results from the neighbor also results from a failure in the systems/pipes relevant to the common property. In this situation, the person who will be responsible for repairing moisture damage in the damaged party's home is the neighbor from whose apartment the leak is coming, also House Committee.

However, it is important to understand that not every leak can require the house committee to repair the moisture damage. As you saw, in the case described above, only after the inspector appointed an expert on her behalf who inspected the parties' apartments was it determined who was responsible for the moisture damage in the plaintiff's home.

It is also important to make sure that you sue both the relevant neighbor and the House Committee representative. If you do not sue the House Committee representative for moisture damage, you will not be able to claim any relief against them. In this matter, the inspector determined as follows:

As for the defect in the 4-pipe Tsol pipeline, which constitutes joint property, as detailed on page 7 of the expert opinion, since the condominium representative was not requested to be added as an additional defendant in the lawsuit, I am unable to issue an order in this matter. In order to correct this defect, the plaintiff must act in relation to the condominium representative, who, according to the provisions of the law, is responsible for the proper possession of the joint property in the condominium.

Please note that if you did not sue the House Committee representative in the first place for moisture damage, and your claim relates solely to the neighbor, you can request during the procedure Correct the claim And add the House Committee Representative as an additional defendant. This will save you from having to file a separate lawsuit for moisture damage for which the House Committee Representative is responsible.

What is the legal source for demanding that a neighbor repair moisture damage?

The Inspector also addressed this matter in the ruling, stating as follows:

Instruction Section 3 of the regulations contained in the appendix to the Land Law, תשכ"ט-1969, מורנו לאמור:

"(א) בעל דירה זכאי לדרוש מהנציגות שתבצע כל תיקון בבית או ברכוש המשותף, שאי ביצועו עלול לפגוע בדירתו או בערכה.

(ב) בעל דירה זכאי לדרוש מבעל דירה אחרת שיבצע תיקון בדירה האחרת, שאי ביצועו עלול לפגוע בדירתו של דורש התיקון".

By virtue of this legal provision, an absolute obligation applies to the representative of a condominium and to the owners of an apartment in the condominium to repair any defect in the common property or in the apartment, respectively, that may cause damage to the apartment in the condominium. This obligation applies, aggravating and aggravating, when the defect caused damage to the apartment in the condominium and the representative of the condominium and the owner of the other apartment failed to act to repair the defects. This absolute obligation is regardless of whether the defect stems from the actions of the representative of the condominium or from the actions of the owner of the apartment, respectively, from their omissions or from any other reason.

As the scholar Prof. Y. Weissman says in his book Property Law – Ownership and sharing (תשנ"ז-1997), עמוד 482: "אם יש בדירה דבר הטעון תיקון שיש בו כדי לגרום נזק לדירה אחרת, חייב בעל דירה לבצע את התיקונים הדרושים למניעת הנזק" (ראו גם: ספרו של א' אייזנשטיין Fundamentals and rules of real estate law – Part Three: Condominiums (תשס"א-2001), עמוד 160).

בסיומו של ההליך המפקחת חייבה את הנתבעת בהוצאות משפט בסכום כולל של 11 אלף ש"ח.

In conclusion

Moisture damage from a neighbor may cause a lot of damage to your apartment, and also cause you a lot of emotional distress. Sometimes, that moisture damage is not only the responsibility of the neighbor, but also the responsibility of the house committee, because the leak may stem from a pipe that is considered property. For this reason, it may be appropriate to file a lawsuit not only against the neighbor but also against the house committee.

If you are considering filing a lawsuit for moisture damage from your neighbor, you need to understand exactly what remedies you want to claim in order to understand which judicial instance to file the lawsuit with. The condominium supervisor It lacks jurisdiction to hear tort claims. That is, if you want to claim financial compensation for damages caused to your apartment or compensation for Mental anguishYou must file the claim with the secretariat. Magistrate's Court.

Sample lawsuit for a leak from neighbors.

Frequently asked questions about moisture damage from a neighbor