BC resident sues upstairs strata neighbour for pouring water on the floor

A strata resident sues their upstairs neighbour, accusing them of pouring buckets of water on the floor, which caused leaks in the resident’s unit.

In an interesting BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, the resident who sued needed to prove that the leaks originated from the upstairs neighbour’s unit and not something related to the building.

Mubarka Begum Ali sued Lino Stringhetta, claiming $5,000 in damages.

You might also like:
• Passengers take Air Canada to small claims court after flight lands 56 hours late
• Homeowner takes strata to court over $150 move-in fee and sort of wins
• Renter sues landlord claiming she entered his room while he was naked

Ali lived in unit 212, while Stringhetta lived in 312, directly above.

Evidence suggests that at some point before this specific tribunal dispute, the water did indeed leak into unit 212, and the water was determined to have originated from unit 312. When that incident occurred, the strata asked Stringhetta to reimburse it for repairs, which they did.

Ali claimed that between 2021 and 2022, more leaks originated from 312 five times. Evidence submitted to the tribunal did suggest leaks occurred, leaving stains and other damage. Ali also claimed this was thanks to Stringhetta pouring buckets of water on the floor.

The tribunal decision states, “The respondent says they do not pour buckets of water on their living room floor or anywhere else in unit 312. They say they only use water to rinse their sundeck when washing it and tell their neighbours when they are doing so.”

Unfortunately for Ali, while they proved that leaks did occur, they could not prove that their strata neighbour was actually pouring buckets of water on the floor, nor any evidence that the leaks originated from 312 rather than just common building pipes.

The tribunal dismissed Ali’s claims, awarding them nothing.