I own a condo in a building in Chicago and we had a big rain storm and the building's storm drain was inadequate to handle the amount of water coming from the roof and the water has backed up into my second floor (none on the first floor) condo and my hardwood floors were destroyed. This is the second time this is happening within 3 years. First time the damage was $400 and I did not make much fuss nor did I make a claim with my insurance. I replaced cheap destroyed carpet with hardwood floor out of pocket. I did let the building know that is happened and that there is a problem with my unit being connected to the storm drain. However this time the damage is much bigger (estimates range from $4500 – $5500) and I am not paying myself this time. The Condo management company is being very hard to deal with and claim that this is typically unit owners responsibility. Who is responsible for the damage? My flood ins policy covers $2000 damage and have a deductible of $500. Do I have to pay $500 deductible + over $2500 that insurance won’t cover) or should this be paid by the association? Their master insurance covers common areas, and the exterior of my unit including drywall but not the flooring. However in the light that this is clearly not my fault, and that they had known about this problem 3 years ago and had not done anything to resolve it I believe the condo assoc should pay from their reserves fund. There is not point in me paying to fix this if I am going to get flooded next time major rain comes. Please advise

My HOA, along with advice from the property management person decided to change the roof on the four model condos. The condos where I live was built by two different builders. The first group of about 40 were build to be the best condos in the state of New Jersey. They were built with all solid wood doors, dual heating systems and air conditioners, 3 1/2 bath rooms, one with whirlpool and my particular condo had 7 skylights. The roof was a GAF Timberline that was guaranteed for 40 years. When the condo was 21 yrs. old, the HOA & management person decided to change the roof and forced us to get new skylights. I fought this but the lawyer that we pay wrote a letter on behalf of the HOA & management company that an engineer said they had to be replaced...she turned out to have a degree in Zoology.

I wrote to the HOA and told them I would not pay for anything that wasn't the same quality. I tried my best to fight against the skylights because I knew our skylights had so many good features and you can only get them today if you have them custom made. The HOA authorized Velux $225 skylights and $100 flashing to replace the $1200 (today's price) skylights I had with copper flashing and about 7 different features. They hired a policeman to make sure no one stopped them. Anyway the old great skylights were replaced and the roof of a different color without our knowledge was replaced with a 50 year Timberline roof/our old roof was a 40 year Timberline roof. I just recently found out that skylights are not supposed to get condensation between the panes of glass and all 7 of mine do. The roofer only charged the HOA $100 to install the new skylights because he is a roofer who needed the work. I am getting charged extra fees from the lawyer because I am the only one who refused to pay for the skylights because they weren't equal but now beside that they are all defective and probably because of installation.

Can I sue the HOA & the management person or the management company, the manager is the wife and owner is the husband for going against our HOA bylaws? They actually went against an engineer's report from 2000 that we paid to have done that said our roof was due to be replaced in 2023. I only can come up with one reason this was done and that was to pad the bill and they could not do it large enough without the skylights changed. I really think this could be criminal but I don't know if I can prove it as the manager's husband does the books. Thank you for any help you can suggest.