Who is responsible for the water leak damage in my invetment property

My investment property is in Gungahlin Canberra and has been managed by R&H Gungahlin for about two and half years. I recently visited the property with one of the PMs for the final inspect as the tenant had moved out. I hadn’t done it for a while so I wanted to have a look at it. However, I didn't really expect any big surprises as having being told by the PM that the property had been looked after well.
Anyway, as soon as I got into the rumpus room, I noticed that the wall had water marks near the skirting board, so I looked around and found that the laminated floor near the skirting board fattened up due to the water leak. After the inspection, we matched up the findings and the PM even didn’t spot the problem until I showed it to her. Anyway, the agency got a person to assess the damage and to provide me a quot around $9,000 covering locking down the wall, finding water leak, sealing it, and replacing the floor today. He mentioned that the water leak had happened for a long time and that’s why the floor seems seriously damaged. As soon I heard that, I started feeling that the PM may have neglected proper inspections whenever tenants move out. The PM argues now that my insurance company needs to pay for it. But I think the agency should pay for it. Any advice on this matter would be very much appreciated.
 
Hopotunity

Have a look at your aggreement with the agency, it would stipulate how often they are to inspect the property. It should be twice a year and when tenents move out and move in. They should have also had reports done at each of these times. With this in mind ask to see the copies of the last 18 months reports. See if this leak is mentioned on it.
Was it even mentioned on the final report when the existing tenants moved out?
Was it mentioned by the tenants when they moved in on there report?
How had he known about a water leak when you had to point out where it was leaking, seems very contradictory?
Has the bond been given back to the existing tenants
Ask the PM how long if he knew of the leak how long it had occured.

I could go on with another 20+ questions but there seems to be some concerns here. If he knew of the leak and never bother to mention it, how much damage has occured to the place since it first occured. In my books this is the POM's fault for not managing the situation. If nothing is mentioned in any reports then once again they are responsible.

Ultimatley do as he says ring your insurance and I bet there questions will also be directed towards the PM, although they may also see that as the place has been neglected and additional damage has occured that it will not be covered. eg: If you smash your car and your front bumper is loose and you drive it around for 2 months and it eventually falls off and spears the motor good luck getting the motor fixed as well.

Jezza
 
It does not take long for a water leak to happen. If the tenant did not mention it to the PM and the PM did not pick it up, well bad luck.

I doubt you could insist the PM pays for it.

Just sounds like normal maintenance to me. Good luck with the insurance company.
 
Thanks Jezza for your great advice. I will surely find the agreement and carefully read it and have started writing up some questions about the inspections and any reports or notes about the water leak damage from the tenants. I also need to check if they've got someone to attend the damaged bugler alarm system and the stolen shower head. I will keep posting as I go.
 
there was a major deluge 4 weeks ago. we now have stains on our property (the house we are still renting until we move into our our first ever home in 4 weeks)from that awful weekend. sounds like there may have been broken tiles where the water has come from that should have been mentioned to your PM. ANd the PM to you. However a month ago it rained terribly. We had water coming through the light fittings, and 6 large pasta boiling sized pots (ie 1 actual pot you would use to boil pasta and 5 buckets) picking up the water internally. the ceiling was about to collapse and we raced to bunnings to buy a tarporline to cover the roof that sunday morning amidst the 100ml deluge to protect the house. power was now off ceiling cavitiy swimming in water. it was at that point that we realised that we were protecting the house as if it was ours. we had home contents. owners had building insurance. and despite many years of telling the PM to replace the tiles which he never relayed to the owners...it was on deaf ears. stuff that. tipping point so we went searching for a house of our own. a few days later whatever happended up there tripped the house. then we had no hot water for 3 days. sparky turned up and told us the seriousness of the electricals. and that the batts were still in bags. after 5 years of living in the place. it was a good thing the batts were NOT layed out as the sheer weight would have made the ceiling collapse with all the water in the cavity. PM fired. It's the PM's fault. That's why you pay them the fees each week. Your tennants could have been electrocuted. You pay the PM % to do the easy stuff and the flip side is duty of care. Period.
 
In our leases here in the west if the tennant does not report maintenance issues within a certin amount of time then the tenant is liable for the repairs.
The problem is with that is though we have to be able to prove that the tenant has known about the problem. However when it is pointed out to the tenant when they sign the lease it does encourage them to report maintenance. We also have the PM leave a maintenance reporting sheet with the tenant on each and every property inspection.
it all helps n the long run
cheers
 
the problem with the MDF stuff is that it blows up like a balloon as soon as water gets near the stuff, but i suppose the wall needs to come down to find the problem, before it gets worse.and rots out the rest of the floor.

I had a similiar problem being that the house was tiled throughout and the lowest point for a small leak to go was the archetreive. so all blew up like a balloon. it was very hard to see being that it was not expected. its not loke a hole in a wall or door , that was abused , just a small leak?
 
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