I recently bought a condo in Southern California/Orange County area in November. I was gone on vacation in Dec for about 3 weeks. When I came back, I saw sewage water in my Condo. Apparently, the main line had clogged and the water backed up and pretty much flooded my place. After talking to the Property Management company, and waiting about two weeks on them, they gave the approval to start remediation work on my property and they would bare the costs.

Fast forward to today, almost 4 weeks later, I'm still out of a house. The property management company has been working very slow. They continue to tell me that the HOA board and their insurance company have to approve any work before it can be done. I'm in the mold remediation stage right now, and then the construction will begin. I've been out of a house for almost a month now, my newly purchased home is unusable. What rights do I have as a new home owner to take some legal action against this? Even the plumber they sent told me that it was not my fault at all and was a main line problem (a common area issue, thus making the HOA liable). The unit next to mine had water flooding as well. I want to speak to someone on the HOA board to expedite things but the management company won't give me any contact information for the board.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I'd have an Attorney write a letter to the management company and let the management company send a copy to the Board - and I'd lay it all out legally. Who is paying your living expenses while the condo is uninhabitable?

This could be a very large claim. I would not do anything without specific legal advice based on your State law.

Whenever we deal with legal issues it help toknow what state you live. The HOA must be registered with the State. However, when you bought your condo the HOA info was part of your paperwork so review it. You have a right to attend one of their meeting and to speak. They are usually not required to answer right away but meetings are public and you can speak.

Im in California and currently, I'm paying for living expenses out of pocket. I did talk to my Home Insurance company. They advised me if the HOA isn't going to pay for my living expenses etc (which I have now confirmed they won't) then I'll have to file a claim with my Home Insurance to get that reimbursed as well as the cost of any property damage. Another thing they said was that at the end of the claim, they would figure out the "responsible party" and collect from them. Since my HOA is willing and currently IS paying for all the remediation/repair work, that would make them the liable party and I'm guessing the insurance company will then go after them. At this point, I just want them to speed things up so I can go back to living in my condo.

If you want to speed it up and stop guessing, know exactly what is going to happen, when and how - retain an Attorney.