Neighbor roof leak causing damage inside our house

[medicus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

We live in a townhouse with a flat roof, and have been having ongoing issues with roof-leaking for the last two years. We have had a roofer out a couple times, but he was unable to fix the problem. We recently took a hose to the roof and were able to determine that hosing down the neighbor's flashing causes it to rain inside our house. We also have opened up the ceiling and have wet insulation, mildew, etc. We currently have a plastic sheet up to minimize any additional damage.

We talked to our neighbor who called her insurance. They advised her that they aren't obligated to fix it since it isn't causing her any damage. She hasn't decided what she will do yet.

So what are our options here if she won't fix it? If we repair the damage inside our house and it happens again (as it will if she doesn't fix it), would she/her insurance then be liable for fixing our house again? Is there something we should do to put her formally on notice that her roof requires maintenance, like a certified letter? My husband would prefer to fix the interior damage to our house ourselves but is there benefit in getting our insurance company involved?

I understand that I have an obligation to mitigate my damages but surely that doesn't extend to living indefinitely with a hole in my ceiling and plastic tarps inside my house.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

We live in a townhouse with a flat roof, and have been having ongoing issues with roof-leaking for the last two years. We have had a roofer out a couple times, but he was unable to fix the problem. We recently took a hose to the roof and were able to determine that hosing down the neighbor's flashing causes it to rain inside our house. We also have opened up the ceiling and have wet insulation, mildew, etc. We currently have a plastic sheet up to minimize any additional damage.

We talked to our neighbor who called her insurance. They advised her that they aren't obligated to fix it since it isn't causing her any damage. She hasn't decided what she will do yet.

So what are our options here if she won't fix it? If we repair the damage inside our house and it happens again (as it will if she doesn't fix it), would she/her insurance then be liable for fixing our house again? Is there something we should do to put her formally on notice that her roof requires maintenance, like a certified letter? My husband would prefer to fix the interior damage to our house ourselves but is there benefit in getting our insurance company involved?

I understand that I have an obligation to mitigate my damages but surely that doesn't extend to living indefinitely with a hole in my ceiling and plastic tarps inside my house.

Getting your insurance involved is about the only way to make sure that the problem is dealt with fully and properly.

 

[medicus]

Thanks, yeah, she had someone out who did something that didn't fix the problem and now is telling us we can't hose down her siding to further diagnose the leak. It sucks dealing with the insurance since we could fix our issues for less than our deductible but I called them today and they will get an adjustor out soon.

We had had a decent relationship with her, but now she's being a jerk about other things too, even though I really don't see how we could have handled this issue differently. The really sad part is that the fix she needs to do that will likely fix the problem is is only a couple hundred dollars.