Water Seeks Its Own Level
HOAs are an interesting test for one who has chosen to live in their soul and not their ego. They seem to be very ego driven, with a twist of wanting to be right.
My journey began on March 11th of this year with a backed-up sink. This was not our first experience with the old pipes at the condos. I knew what to do having been chastised two years earlier by the previous property manager. “NEVER TOUCH THAT PIPE AGAIN!!! IT BELONGS TO THE ASSOCIATION!!!!!” So, I didn’t. I reported it to the new manager. Six days later, while my renter lived with brackish black water in her sink, the plumbers came out. It was at that point I was informed that this was a problem with my plumbing and the association would not be paying for it. I attempted a conversation, but this new manager does not take or return calls. I called my plumber and fixed it.
Thus began my gift of getting to know the neighbors. We have owned the condos for fifty years and as a family we have resided often in one of the two units. It has now been 15 years since a family member has been the occupant, so the composition of the community has changed. Because of this issue, I now know two of my three fellow owners. It began with the lady next door who also does not reside there and inherited from her father. Evidently, she has been chatting with the Board and management company for quite some time about the pipes we four units share. She is a zealous advocate. Unfortunately, her doggedness seems to be off putting to the Board. There were several more plumber visits during March.
Then on April 9th the refrigerator in my unit made a strange noise, off gassed a woody smell and died. The replacement arrived the following afternoon, with my having chalked it up to age. That is when I found out that there was water coming out of the electrical outlet. The fridge met its death by corroded plug. Luckily there was no fire and room to plug-in the new one in the entry hallway.
This is how I met the father of the upstairs neighbor as his wife is listed as the owner and so the Management company can only communicate with her. His daughter and a roommate live in the unit. Since the water was obviously coming from upstairs, I was informed that he was responsible. We had several lovely conversations, and he was amiable to whatever we needed to do. First, however, we needed to resolve the issues with the old, cracked and rusted out main line (the one that caused the March issue) and who “owns” it.
Ego Heather would have been in there swinging. Most likely having climbed up on her high horse to ride into the Association/Management Company fray. Soul Heather does not have the band width for that and could not see the point in it. Thus began our six week dance of a recalcitrant Property Manager and the owners or as we like to think of it, the people who pay her salary. The flurry of accusatory, changing information and one might say completely false emails emanating from the Management Company were impressive. We asked for the plumbing reports from the company and kept getting evasive comments. Then the daughter from upstairs who had been unable to use her kitchen sink for five weeks fired the winning salvo over their bow – she threatened to sue the Management Company if we did not have resolution to this by last Friday.
The reports arrived (seems the plumbing company told them on April 1 that the entire line and lines to our individual kitchens needed complete replacement – hmmmm….was that why we had not seen the reports?) and the daughter sent out a very concise and well worded statement of our position as the owners. All owners appeared at the Board meeting, and the plumbers arrived today to begin the replacement.
Ego Heather would have worn herself down from the irritation and utter waste of time they had caused. Soul Heather waded in and retreated as she saw fit and the miracle of someone else filling that void appeared. The nice lady next door has calmed down, which is good since this sent her to the ER last week. The two young ladies upstairs have been empowered and while previously adversarial with neighbors have learned to live in community. It now appears that the replacement of my water soaked wall and refrigerator will be an Association expense rather than my neighbor’s. The question I have contemplated is: Would it have resolved sooner if I had been a zealous advocate or did it play out in time as it was meant to be?
The Property Manager spent almost exactly the same amount of money the repair is costing on plumbing visits attempting to prove she was right. She just really needed to be right which has turned out to be so wrong. I hope she has learned a lesson, but I am not holding my breath. Mostly because I have learned to take cleansing breaths and see how things will turn out. One could say I am going with the flow.
