# Condo Water Damage: Who Pays When It Leaks From the Unit Above?

> The association covers common elements, you cover your unit and HO-6, but a negligent owner can end up owing the gap. Verified condo-act rules, cited.

Updated: 2026-09-29. Source: Who Pays the Repair? — https://whopaystherepair.com/guides/condo-water-damage-who-pays/ (claims cited to primary sources; see /methodology/).

Short answer: the association maintains the common elements and the insured structure; you own your unit and its finishes. If one owner's negligence caused the leak, the cost insurance doesn't cover can shift to that owner. The recorded declaration and each side's insurance policy control the details.

## Three zones, one pipe

Every condo splits into three kinds of space: your unit (interior finishes, flooring, cabinets, your own fixtures), the common elements (structure, roof, shared walls, pipes serving more than one unit), and limited common elements, things like a balcony or a single pipe run that only serves your unit but sits outside it. Florida's Condominium Act draws maintenance along exactly this seam:

> "Maintenance of the common elements is the responsibility of the association, except for any maintenance responsibility for limited common elements assigned to the unit owner by the declaration." ([Fla. Stat. §718.113(1)](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0718/Sections/0718.113.html))

California's Davis-Stirling Act splits a limited common element the same way but cuts it differently, upkeep to the owner, structural repair and replacement to the association:

> "Unless otherwise provided in the declaration of a common interest development, the owner of each separate interest is responsible for maintaining the exclusive use common area appurtenant to that separate interest and the association is responsible for repairing and replacing the exclusive use common area." ([Cal. Civ. Code §4775](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=4775))

Location does most of the sorting: water from a shared roof or wall-cavity pipe starts as the association's problem; damage to your carpet, paint, or cabinets is usually yours.

## Who maintains isn't who pays after a loss

Illinois's Condominium Property Act shows why the maintenance line and the insurance line differ: the association's master policy must cover the building down to the "bare walls, floors, and ceilings" of each unit, with any shortfall funded from that same pool:

> "Property insurance (i) on the common elements and the units, including the limited common elements and except as otherwise determined by the board of managers, the bare walls, floors, and ceilings of the unit..." ([765 ILCS 605/12](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=076506050K12))

Texas, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia run the same shape, the condo act requires the association to insure the common elements (Georgia names roofs, exterior walls, windows, and doors specifically), and that shared policy funds common-element water damage first. New Jersey and Massachusetts reach the same result through common expenses: New Jersey bills repairs by each owner's percentage interest in the master deed, and Massachusetts funds casualty rebuilding from common funds and insurance proceeds. What the shared policy never reaches, your flooring, cabinets, and a special-assessment shortfall, is what your own HO-6 policy and its loss-assessment rider are for.

## Florida's negligence overlay

Florida is the one state here with an explicit statutory fault rule on top of the maintenance split. If an owner, their family, tenant, or guest caused the damage through negligence or a rule violation, that owner owes whatever the association's insurance doesn't pay. Under the statute, the unit owner is responsible for:

> "the costs of repair or replacement of any portion of the condominium property not paid by insurance proceeds if such damage is caused by intentional conduct, negligence, or failure to comply with the terms of the declaration or the rules of the association by a unit owner..." ([Fla. Stat. §718.111(11)](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0718/Sections/0718.111.html))

So an unreported burst supply line or an overflowed tub can turn a common-element repair into that owner's bill. Elsewhere, fault still matters in a dispute, but it runs through ordinary negligence law, not a dedicated statute.

## New York: the act sets no default

New York's Condominium Act tells the board to repair whole-building damage from insurance proceeds as a common expense, but sets no default for an ordinary leak, who fixes the in-wall pipe versus the drywall on your side of it:

> "damage to or destruction of the building shall be promptly repaired and reconstructed by the board of managers, using the proceeds of insurance, if any, on the building for that purpose, and any deficiency shall constitute common expenses" ([N.Y. Real Prop. Law §339-cc](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/339-CC))

Instead the Act pushes that boundary down to each building's own by-laws, which it requires to cover "operation of the property" (§339-V). In New York the declaration isn't a tiebreaker, it's the only rule that exists.

## What actually decides your bill

- Find which zone the water came from, unit, common element, or limited common element, from your recorded declaration or master deed, not guesswork.

- Check whether your state's condo act sets a maintenance default (most do) or defers entirely to the bylaws (New York).

- Check whether your state layers on a negligence rule (Florida does, explicitly; elsewhere it's case-by-case).

- Carry HO-6 walls-in and loss-assessment coverage regardless, the association's policy was never meant to cover your finishes or a special-assessment shortfall.

Look up how your state and issue are documented at [the lookup](/lookup/), browse related disputes at [browse by issue](/issues/), or ask a specific question at [the who-pays concierge](/ask/).

This is general information, not legal advice. Read your declaration and confirm your state's condo act before you assume any of the above applies to your building.