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Terrace Leak


danny

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We live in a building with 12 apartments.
Today the people below our terrace contacted us to say that they have black mold on the second floor which they think is caused by water leaking from our terrace.
Our terrace is 46m2 and is located on the 3rd floor of the building.
Surplus water from the apartments on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors and water from the next door buildings flow under and on to our terrace and then are drained onto the 2nd and 1st floors and then onto the street.
We asked a builder to have a look at the problem and he discovered that the membrane under our tiles has degraded and will need replacing. he estimates the cost to be about 8,000€.
We feel that as water drains into and onto our terrace that the cost should be spread between all of the apartments.
We would appreciate your thoughts on the subject.

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You should have a reglement de copropriété that stipulates the division of the property and your rights and responsibilities. Usually the sharing of repair costs would only apply to communal areas.

Presumably the surplus water is rain and the building is designed so that it runs off the terraces. In other words it is doing what it is designed to do but the problem is caused by your faulty terrace floor. Given that it is rain and not a leak from a flat above you can hardly expect your neighbours to contribute.

I doubt that you would feel the same way if the problem was caused by a neighbour's faulty floor. I expect that you have insurance to cover it.

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If you have one, start by talking to a member of your "Conseil Syndical" if not the Syndic that looks after your building.

If there is a general problem with the water proofing of your terrace and the draining of other apartments is reliant on it then they can have a survey done to see how it should be repaired as a starting point.
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Thanks Guys for your responses.
I have contacted Foncia who look after the building and they have responded very quickly. They have asked us to come to their offices to complete a water damage claim form for the damage inside the duplex which is to be claimed against the building insurance. Sounds somewhat complicated as it covers 4 insurance companies , ( The building Insurance, Our Insurance company, the duplex insurance company and the building next door insurance company.
Foncia have appointed an expert to visit us to determine the source of the leak.
Hopefully it will be a communal repair as our terrace membrane is used by nearly all of the apartments and the building next door. I am sure Foncia will inform us of who has to pay as they look after the affairs of the building next door, if it is on our head, then we will pay.
The priority for us is to make sure our tenant does not suffer.

danny

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I agree with you, if the problem is ours then we will pay. I have contacted Foncia who look after the building and we will accept what they have to say.
The most important think is to get the matter resolver as soon as possible to protect our tenant.

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Danny, I’ve just seen this and I’m pleased that something very positive is happening. Your syndique sounds to be effective, not true of all syndiques.

The advice given by LeHaut is exactly what I was about to give.

I was a member of the conseil syndical of our apartment building for several years and dealt with many problems that the owners had to pay for collectively.

The legal advice we were given was that any part of a building in joint ownership that could be seen by others was owned by all of us - the few private gardens and all balconies could be seen by other owners, so although they were for private use, they were jointly owned.

The biggest problem we had was similar to yours but rather worse, as 3 apartments had extremely bad water damage. It was eventually put right by the insurers after a long battle over several years and the conseil syndical and syndique were key to that.

Good luck. Reports on how it’s all progressing would be interesting for some of us, if you wouldn’t mind posting about it.
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Hi Gardengirl,
The information that you have provided seems be in tune from the feedback that we are getting from Foncia.
We saw our insurance company today ( Groupama ). They understood the problem and explained the complexity of the situation, they gave us some documents to complete ( Constat amiable Dégat des eaux ) . We have to get this documen completed by the 4 insurance companies involved. Essentially this is to cover the damage in the Duplex with the tenants.
Foncia have appointed a named person to liaise with us. They have appointed an expert to locate the leak and make an assessment of costs and I assume repair the problem.

So far Foncia have not said that the problem is ours to fix and resolve.

I do remember a couple of years ago, we had an electric shutter destroyed by a storm, our insurance told us that we are not covered for such damage as the shutter was considered as part of the structure of the building and was eventually covered by the insurer of the building. In an other case one of the owners in the building told us this morning  that when they had a balcony leak between them and the apartment underneath, everybody paid a share of the costs. This would support what you said in your response to me.
Danny.

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The expert that Foncia selected came around.
Subject to something different in the written report, his conclusions were as follows.
1. The external crack on the external wall between the Duplex and our terrace is the cause of the problem.
It is a communal problem and everyone has to pay.
As a temporary measure they intend manipulating or extending the membrane under our terrace as the painting and repairs to the building is due to commence in March 2023.
Foncia also confirmed to us that when the membrane is due to be replaced ( 5 to 10 years ) that it will be a communal charge.

Danny.

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