Soggy situation: Water leak leads to bitter legal battle between neighbours
The housing situation in Vancouver is already tough enough without neighbourly disputes adding to the struggle. Unfortunately, Teresa Kwan had the unlucky experience of dealing with a water leak that led them into a nasty dispute with their neighbour.
In May 2021, water leaked from the kitchen of an apartment owned by Eric Koklip Lee into the neighbouring apartment of Kwan and other areas in the building. According to documents from the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, the damage took two months to repair by the strata corporation. During that time, tenants could no longer live in Kwan’s apartment.
Kwan filed a lawsuit against Lee and another respondent, Kale John Knondra, for the loss of two months’ rent, totalling $3,500.
Ouch. That’s a lot of money.
Kwan claimed that Lee and Knondra caused the leak through negligence. Though the decision detailed that there was little evidence of how the leak started, the court found Lee and Knondra negligent as they did “not explain how the leak happened or deny that they were at fault.”
That meant that the remaining issue for Kwan’s lawsuit was the amount owed in damages.
According to the decision, the strata that completed the repairs thought the cost would exceed its deductible and had arranged to repair all the damage. However, the strata did not actually end up making an insurance claim once the repairs were complete.
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Lee told the court that they thought “the case was closed” by the end of August as the repairs were finished, and they never received letters from Kwan’s insurance company about the lost rent compensation. Lee also told the court that their insurance company would not help them with the costs now.
In an attempt to dismiss the claim, Lee argued that Kwan’s insurance company should be responsible for the lost rent. However, this argument did not turn out in Lee’s favour as Kwan’s insurance coverage does not dismiss Lee’s liability under insurance laws.
The court ordered Lee and Knondra to compensate Kwan for the loss of rent based on a copy of a tenancy agreement that showed the monthly rent was $1,750 at the time and the two-month timeline of the repairs indicating that the damage was substantial.
In total, Lee and Knondra were ordered to pay Ā $3,500 in damages for the loss of rent, alongside $223.43 in pre-judgment interest and $175.00 in CRT fees.
Let’s use this dispute as a reminder to check our taps and pipes.