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The building next door to us had a bad fire recently. Some of our shareholders got smoke/soot seepage into their units and they claim they still smell and have bad air quality even after their insurance companies sent in remediation teams. It's migrating through the party wall between our building and damaged one, as well as from our common areas. They are demanding to know what the BOD's are doing in terms of remediating the common areas and cleaning venting system of our building. What should we do? Thanks.
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Hi Sid, I'm sorry you and your building had to go through this, and I hope no one was injured, or worse. My building had a similar experience in the mid 1990's, and although I was not a resident at the time, I've heard stories and understand the difficulties you are going through.
To answer your question, let me throw these out. You may have already taken some of these actions.
* Get your board attorney involved. She/he should be your primary source of information and guidance as to your rights and responsibilities regarding the habitability of your building.
* Contact your building's insurer. They should have the resources to help you get your building back into a habitable state. They should be able to provide you with funds (within the limits of your coverage) to help you pay for repairs, and will work with your attorney to recover expenses not covered from the neighboring building's insurer.
* Have your shaeholders contact their insurance carriers for whatever help is available under their individual policies.
* You may need to engage an environmental engineer to survey the problems your shareholders are complaining about and provide you with a remediation plan. That will be your roadmap to recovery, and will also answer the questions your shareholders are asking about what the board is doing.
The best of luck to you in your recovery,
--- Steve
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