A Property Nightmare!

Not in a mood of sharing happy things lately because of many bad things happening on me. A bad start to year 2009. Let me share one of the worst things that happened to me, maybe you could give me some comment or opinion.

On Dec 2005, after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, there was a decision to invest on property in Penang. So, a condo unit was bought nearby Queensbay Shopping Mall and it was being rented out straight. It was a good investment because as the rental could cover back the monthly installment and the property price kept rising.

It looked like a worry-free investment because as when one tenant ended the contract, another new tenant would be taking over the premise.

Recently, the tenant complaint that there was water dripping from the ceiling and it was getting worst. I went to check the unit and indeed it was pretty bad.

The ceiling looked like it was going to collapse at any time.

The dripping was so bad that there seemed to be ‘ice glacier’ forming from the ceiling,

…as well as on the lighting.

Water kept dripping till my tenant needs to place pails to contain it.

Some of the dripping caused shot-circuit to the wiring till disabling need to be done on some main electric switches.

Not to mention, some electric appliances were spoilt and part of the wall was destroyed.

To make the matter worse, there were somehow cracks on the wall linking to the outside that when it rained, water would be gushing in.

I went to contact the management of the unit and it seemed the cracks happened on many units. So I would be attending the owner committee meeting later (3pm) to raise this matter.

As for the leakage from the ceiling, the owner upstairs was contacted and a representative was sent to see my problem. From what I was informed, the tenant upstairs just recently moved in; and it matched with the time the leakage started happening. Are they building a swimming pool upstairs?

After discussing the representative, it seemed that we need to split the bill for the fixing , 50-50; and he said that the damages furniture I need to take care myself. This seems pretty unfair to me! If he said all fixing rows under the owner upstairs and I would take of my damage furniture I might agree. The worst thing was that my tenants seemed plan to move out because of the inconvenience they were facing. And this is understandable.

I had no choice but need to contact my lawyer tomorrow morning for legal advice, hopefully there is a better or fairer option for me. I’m looking at paying 5 figure cost of rectifying the problem. Sigh.

So, any comment? Any good lawyer that someone could introduce? What is the most appropriate action I could do?