Legal question concerning a leaky pipe

My wife and I own the unit we are living in. About 11 months ago we experienced several leaks in our ceiling. The construction company came (it is a new building) and drilled through the roof and discovered that the water pipe from the upstairs neighbor’s unit that carries the hot water to the bathroom was leaking around the elbow joint. They fixed the leak, and had a remodeling company come in to repair the damage done to our remodeling (we have a drop down ceiling in our living room). About 6 months ago same story, just in a different place with a different elbow joint. Once again, they came in and fixed it and repaired the remodeling. Now it has happening again, apparently in the original place. The construction company is coming to fix it, but they told us that they won’t pay for the remodeling this time.

My wife says that she is going to ask the upstairs neighbors to pay for at least 50% of the remodeling bill (whatever it turns out to be). I think that the construction company should have to pay. A leaky pipe should not have to be fixed on an annual basis. If they had done the job correctly in the first place they would not have to come back in to repair the work that was done 11 months ago.

Do we have a case against the construction company? Or should we focus our efforts on getting the upstairs neighbor’s to help pay for the bill. It is, after all, their pipe and their water causing the damage to our unit.

Thanks for any help, advice, or direction.

Does you apartment come with any kind of a guarantee or condition that they will fix defects for a period of time of time. If it’s a leaking water pipe that the construction company previously fixed then they must not have done a good job on it.

My company bought an office in a new building (top floor). Leaks and dampness after a couple of months. The construction company tried to blame earthquakes and settling of the building. A threat of a phone call to a newspaper to show the shoddy work of the construction company changed their mind, and then came in and fixed it. If I were you I would keep hassling the construction company. Constant leaking could point to shoddy design or materials used in the first place

People can say what they want about older second hand apartments, but since these have been lived in/used and abused for a period of time, any weaknesses or problems will have been exposed.

Ah the horrors of Taiwanese construction companies…

My wife and I had almost the same problem in our house except that we had no neighbours that we could blame as a scapegoat. From the bathroom off our main bedroom there was water leaking down onto the wall in our living room underneath it. It took them multiple visits (and messes) before they finally just redid the entire bathroom floor and pipe. Of course, the redone job doesn’t look as nice as the original one.

This is not your neighbour’s fault at all. Your wife should be ashamed of herself for thinking that they should pay any cost of this. Of course, it’s not your fault either. If this work was done less than a year ago then insist the construction company repair it for free and if not threaten them with all kinds of avenues of retribution. Even if it’s slightly more than a year I’d still take the same course of action.

That was only one problem we had with the construction in our house. If I had known then that the construction would even be half this shoddy I would never have bought.

I think it will depend on your purchase documents. I am told that a 12 month construction guarantee is the norm. We found that the builder had not hooked up, nor run electricity to any of the bathroom nor kitchen outlets at our new place. We immediately complained and they promptly came and tore the crap out of one wall to attach the power from the supply panel and started packing up to leave, leaving a big hole in the wall. A little screaming seemed to help matters and they plastered over the hole with cement but didn’t refinish the plaster or paint.
I guess I would read the documents carefully for the guarantee (you may need to contact the original owner if there was an intermediary). Perhaps a threat will suffice if you have the guarantee. I that doesn’t work, try a do-it-yourself (equivalent) of a small claims action. My guess is that all the joints will need to be inspected for proper installation methods and the repair expanded so the fix is made to all defective joints before your ceiling needs to repaired again.