We live in a cooperative housing society in Mumbai. The owner of the apartment living above our apartment left his tap open and went out station without leaving the keys with anybody around. The water gushing from the tap flooded his apartment and due to this we had severe water leakage in my entire apartment with water continuously dripping and damaging my ceiling, walls (paint) and furniture. This happened for over 12 hours until we finally got access to his apartment. This has happened for the third time when the owner has left tap open, with the current damage being the maximum. Now the society has only fined him Rs. 1000 and has asked us to take care of the repair work.
Questions -
1. Legally who is supposed to bear the expense of the repair?
2. What steps should we take if the society or the owner above does not cooperate and fix the damages in my apartment?
Note - We expect the owner above to bear all the expenses for damage caused due to his negligence.
Kindly advice.
CAclubindia
