Damage? What Damage? 2008 brings another surprise

In January 2008 the project was finished and contractors were looking for money from the board.  We started to look for the condo board to start organizing repairs to our interior.   We wanted our own people  to perform the work inside but we couldn't get them to agree.  The negligent contractors wrote the board suggesting we only had a minor amount of damage, around $10,000.   They also insisted on the right to do these interior repairs themselves quoting the cheapest labour they could find.  We had little faith in their exterior capabilities and refused to let them risk damaging what remained of our interior.   The condo board appeared to be working towards a solution but then paid the contractors who departed and we've not seen them to this day.

By March 2008 we were still being told repairs would be made but delays occurred because the condo board could not determine the "scope of repair" which it insisted was needed before any work could be authorized on our interior.   The board's insurance company sent a number of different adjusters and eventually concluded the hardwood did need to be replaced.  The total was about $50,000 but we were forced to pay ourselves and unable to collect until we went to court and it was mostly paid in 2009.  Even today, June 2, 2010, there is about $5,000 that is still unpaid but we can't talk to that insurance company because "we're not the insured party".   We eventually sought counsel in April 2008 and the board then agreed to hire an expert to prepare a scope of repair so we could get our home restored.

That commitment never materialized, the expert telling us he never received a contract to do the analysis.  The insurance company refused to pay anything further without a scope of repair.  The board refused to pay for work until the expert delivered his scope of repair.   The expert would not do the work until his contract was signed.  What a mess.  But it got worse.