Water damage/seepage from neighbor's homes?

Question

I have a typical homeowners policy (nj) for an attached brick rowhouse. One house is in dis-repair and unihabited for 5+ yrs. (owned by LLC)His old gutters (no end cap), old roof causing water seepage/bubbling paint/mold on my interior exposed brick walls. His rotting extension room is leaving roofing-like tiles falling on my deck.Owner on other side placed drilled/nailed a metal box from his HVAC onto my wood-paneled extension yrs ago and now would is pulling away and rotting. Do I call city hall? Will my insurance co pay or theirs????? Am I covered from a neighbor's neglect or illegal placement of box on my wall??
THANKS---------

Thanks Gambit et al for great info. The "box" was removed when I saw it and apparently the "cowboy" contractor came back days later a stuck a bigger one on ! It's on a 2nd flr and I can't see it without a ladder. I saw that it was "gone" originally and forgot about it. I don't know what this box does, it's hooked up to a rooftop compressor with a large electrical coil going to box. It happens to sit directly in line with my interior eletrical outlet. Could they be using my electric? Is it a grounding wire. Don't want to involve my ins. co. Would power co. come to look? When I talked to owner, he admitted the Contractor was a "fiasco" Thanks again !!

Answer 1

It sounds like none of this occurred overnight, so you will have a hard time getting your insurance to pay. Most policies really only cover sudden loss (fire, lightning, vandalism, etc.) Contact the neighbor and let him know of the problems. If he is unwilling to help with the damages, then let him know of your intention to sue for the damages. If this is owned by a company, they should be quick to make a settlement.

Answer 2

When it comes to water damage, they key thingn to remember is that the damage caused by water is that the water escape must be sudden or accidental, or the event that caused the water to enter the house must sudden and accidental. Water seepage is not sudden, but occurs over time, therefore your insurer will not pay for the damages (mold is never covered). If the water entered your house from a sudden and accidental source (tree branch falling through your roof during a storm), then this would also be covered, but the description of your scenario leads me to believe that this is not the case either, so the water damage would not be covered. The same would go for the HVAC unit. The damage, whether caused by the HVAC weight or the wood rot, would not be covered as the damage is: a ) not accidental; and b) was caused over time. You can sue the owner of the vacant house for the water damage, however, first you should get an engineer's report or something similar from an accredited expert stating the cause of your damage so you can present it to a judge. As for the other neighbor, you ask "Am I covered from a neighbor's neglect or illegal placement of box on my wall??", however you also state that he placed the unit there years ago. If this is so, and you have done nothing to get the neighbor to remove or relocate the unit, it is unlikely a judge will be sympathetic.

Answer 3

I would sue him for the damages. His homeowners insurance should pay the bill. You can also call your insurance company. They will pay for it and probably go after your neighbors company to subrogate... but if you do it this way, it will show up as a claim on your insurance policy which won't look good and may increase your rates or even cause you to get dropped if you have other claims.

Answer 4

I have found the source box to be a good resource for this type of insurance. There are a variety of ways to go about this so I suggest you research some of the companies for their offers.