HOA didn’t clean my gutters which created a hole in my ceiling…Said they would fix the gutters, but not the interior damage.
real estate attorney North Carolina Aug 29, 2026
Location: North Carolina Recently, I went into the outdoor storage space attached to my townhome to discover a hole in my ceiling, about 4 inches in diameter and surrounded by mold and/or water damage 2 feet in every direction. The damage continued dripping down the wall…where my electrical panel was. Needless to say, I was concerned, so I contacted my HOA thinking this was a result of a leak in the roof in the hope that they would fix the leak and then damages. They quickly sent out someone from their contracted roofers, who determined that the cause of the damage was actually a backed up downspout and gutter. The backup caused the excess water to flow back into the soffit and then the area above my storage room, ultimately causing the mold to grow and hole to form. They also said that the backup could likely have been avoided had there been an additional downspout for the section above my unit, and recommended the HOA install one. A week had gone by after this without word from the roofers or the HOA, so I emailed the HOA asking for a timeline on when things would get fixed. Ultimately, they said that while they are planning on installing another downspout as recommended by the roofers, they won’t be covering the interior damage. It’s their responsibility to clean the gutters, and the damage was a direct result of the gutters being insufficiently cleaned. Additionally, by installing the additional downspout that was recommended, aren’t they admitting that the backup was a result of infrastructure (or lack thereof) that is under their purview? Ultimately, my question is how are they claiming not to be liable for this damage? Is this common practice with HOA’s, and if so, what’s my best course of action to get them to cover this.
