# Apartment: leak from roof, damage to ceiling



## Leaky1 (18 Nov 2009)

Hi,

am hoping someone can shed some light on this for me.

I am the owner of an apartment on top floor of the block and the roof has been leaking in the rain for the last week. I have contacted the management agent and they arranged for it to be fixed. How long would be considered a reasonable amount of time for them to send someone out? It has taken 6 days which is causing me a lot of stress. Add to that the fact that it was 'fixed' yesterday but is now leaking again. It will take several more days to do the repair again.

As an owner (and therefore member of the management co) how often can I expect the management agent to carry out general maintenance of the roof? I feel it'd be much better to do maintenance on worn areas BEFORE they leak rather than the stress of watchin water pouring through the ceiling for several days.

I enquired about making a claim for the damaged ceiling though the block insurance and was told it may be possible but I would need to pay the policy excess. Since the worst damage ocurred due to their delay in fixing it I feel they should foot the whole bill - though maybe that's just in my ideal world. 

Any advice is appreciated.
Honestly I'm worn out constantly phoning for updates and coming home to listen to the da.mn dripping!


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## onq (18 Nov 2009)

There are several issues arising.

Has the roof ever blown off?
(yes, roofs have blown off in Dublin)
What kind of roof has your apartment block?
(flat, pitched, with parapet, with overhung eaves)
Did you get Opinions of Compliance with your purchase agreement?
(These should include Schedule Assurances from the architect, engineer and builder)
Are other apartments in the complex showing signs of damage to the external envelope?
(ask other owners/occupiers whose apartment is in a similar location under the for)

ONQ.

[broken link removed]


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## Leaky1 (18 Nov 2009)

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The roof has never blown off in all the time I've been here.
It is a pitched roof as far as I know but there is a flat 'valley' around the edges of the building, if that makes sense.
I don't understand what the Opinion of Compliance is, sorry.
Other owners are having similar leak issues, I quizzed the roofers on how often they visited our building! Management agent put the increasing leaks/repairs down to age. Am not sure how long it takes for other people to have the fault repaired, this is the longest I have waited for repairs and it's driving me nuts!


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## Manage - ClC (18 Nov 2009)

6 days...well....each agent will have a prefered roof contractor, one or more which they have used before and trust. An apartment block roof leak is something they will want to ensure is taken care of properly. You will find in times where there is high rain fall all these leak appear and the roofers are swamped with work. Also there may be need for a cherry picker should there not be access to the roof, these are expensive and again a roofer maybe waiting on an available cherry picker. If you dont hear from anyone withen the next couple of days give them another call.


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