Part 22 published on 01/05/08
Owner not responsible for deductible relating to water escape damage. However, special conditions imposed respecting owner’s selection of tenants.
Damage was caused to a number of units and to common property when water escaped from a waterline. The water line had been punctured by a bullet. The water line was located in a unit adjacent to Unit 205. Unit 205 was owned by the defendant, and occupied by the defendant’s tenants. The condominium corporation believed that the bullet came from Unit 205.
The damage was covered by the corporation’s property insurance, subject to a deductible of $5,000. The condominium corporation sought to recover the deductible from the owner of Unit 205.
The Court said:
“There are several theories advanced as to the source of the bullet that caused the damage, but in my opinion none is more preferable than the other.”
The Court could not say who was to “blame” for the bullet or the resulting damage. The Court accordingly said that “there would have to be either legislation or condominium by-laws that would impose strict liability in circumstances like this” in order to hold the owner responsible for the deductible. The Court said that there was no such legislation or by-law in this case, and accordingly held that the unit owner was not liable for the $5,000 deductible.
In its application, the condominium corporation also requested restrictions or conditions upon the owner’s selection of tenants. The Court agreed to grant such an order. The Court said:
“I am satisfied from the evidence as a whole that the respondent has not exercised due diligence in his selection of tenants. The incidence of notice violations and smoke violations and police intervention with occupants of the respondent’s premises far exceeds the average of such incidents with other unit holders that are tenant-occupied.”
The Court granted an order, which included the following:
- Tenant applications received by the owner must be forwarded to the condominium Board for approval or rejection within the Board’s reasonable discretion;
- The owner must provide copies of the condominium’s By-laws to all approved tenants;
- The owner must immediately evict any tenant upon written request from the Board (where the Board concludes that there has been a violation of the condominium’s By-laws).