coopgrl, I think you live in my building. I posted something very much like yours on another thread. We had water damage five weeks ago - the kitchen hot water pipe from the apartment upstairs broke sending a "tsunami" into our kitchen, hallway, second bedroom and all the walls behind. The damage we have is unbelieveable - we see more and more each day. And what really hurts is that we just finished renovating the entire place. The managing agent rents out the apartment above, and therefore is responsible for it. We have asked that they contact their insurance company, and they have given us every excuse in the world. They will not own up to their responsibility. They are the ones who did not take care of this place, and it is mind-boggling how they are trying to avoid helping us in any way.

One can only be nice for so long, then eventually you have to get a lawyer involved!! Maybe write them a nice unthreatning letter state you are thinking of hiring a lawyer, but prefer to handle tis on a neighbor to neighbor basis. Best of luck

The best is to contact YOUR insurance company. They should then recoup their costs from those responsible for the damage.

If the person who should pay for this is the building owners (all the tenant/shareholders): You contact the board president. The board is elected by the building's owners (you and all the other apartment owners) to represent your interests.

one of your interests is to get repairs done promptly.

So I'd vote for sending a registered letter to the board president alerting him or her to the problem, and to the response of the building's managing agent (if that's who you've been contacting), or lack thereof.

Probably the easiest thing to do is to fix it yourself, and present the board--or the upstairs neighbor--with the bill--so you might tell the board's president that if you don't hear anything from them, that's what you'll be doing. Then everyone who owns an apartment (including you) will have to cover their share of that repair cost.

but it's also possible that your upstairs neighbor is the one who should pay for this. We soaked out downstairs neighbor several years ago, and we paid for the damages, not the building. Of course, it wasn't the pipe within the walls that caused the problem.

You need to get a lawyer and get your apartment dried out. You may have a mold problem if it is not fixed soon.

You know, my co-op is beginning t research an insurance-coverage gap--specifically, the walls and floors of our individual units. They are not the corporation's responsibility; they are our responsibility.

One benefit of having this "homeowner's" insurance (most apt. dwellers have rental and liability) is that you can file with your OWN insurance company, and THEY will deal w/ getting the money back from the upstairs tenant or the co-op board/corporation.