Q My aunt owns a condo. The condo on top of hers had a plumbing problem that was leaking to her bathroom. They opened a hole in her wall to see the condition of the pipes and they were rusty and with leaks. Is the building association responsible for this repair or she?

—Maintenance Mishap

A “Your question leaves me with a number of questions myself,” says New York-based attorney C. Jaye Berger. “What “plumbing problem” was the unit owner above your aunt having? You do not say. If the leak was clearly coming from something in the condo unit above your aunt’s bathroom, what would have caused your building to make a hole in your aunt’s wall to see the condition of the pipes in her unit? That does not make any sense. If the leak was clearly coming from something in the unit above your aunt, they would have been looking for a problem in that unit to see what the source was of the water leak was into your aunt’s apartment. A tub could have overflowed. A seal at the base of the toilet might need to be replaced. There are many possibilities. Therefore, I do not understand what caused them to focus on pipes in your aunt’s unit, unless there appeared to be water leaking within your aunt’s apartment, when you were claiming it was really coming from the unit above. It is also not clear which pipes you are referring to. So let’s go back to some basics.

“Generally speaking, the unit owner is responsible for pipes within the unit. So if a pipe that you could see under the sink was leaking, the unit owner would be responsible for fixing it. However, the pipes within the walls are usually the responsibility of the building, because they are part of the structure of the building. This is why insurance companies always ask to see the Offering Plans and bylaws of condominiums when claims are reported to them. They want to know who is supposed to be responsible legally.

“The next question is what was going on in the unit above your aunt ? Were they renovating or did this just randomly occur ? If it had something to do with a renovation, there might be insurance to cover it. If it randomly occurred and was due to a maintenance issue with the unit owner above, that party still might be responsible legally, even if there was no applicable insurance. The fact that the building opened the wall in your aunt’s unit makes me wonder if that was a side issue unrelated to the leak. Many buildings have old risers which are in need of replacement. I can’t tell if those were the pipes that were looked at, but if they were, sometimes buildings try to “kill two birds with one stone” and have both issues fixed at the same time. In other words, the fact that pipes in her unit are old and rusty may have nothing to do with the leak from above, but they may be using it as an excuse to get her to update the risers.

“You might want to have someone come in to view the problem on your aunt’s behalf. You might want to do this in conjunction with an attorney who knows this area of the law. I often help clients to sort out these kinds of issues and the responsibility for them.”