Cold Shower or What Happens When Your Apartment is Flooded and You Don't Have Homeowners Insurance

 
This is a terrible story from a friend in Manhattan. The coop apartment that he owns and lives in was flooded when a hose sprung a leak and caused water to gush into his apartment for several hours.

 If any one has any advice for this friend please let me know. It's also a cautionary tale: make sure you have homeowners or renters insurance.

My heart goes out to this friend, who is struggling through this situation bravely and valiantly. But still. It's awful to be without a home (like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone). In his own words:

 "A couple of months ago I went out to dinner with friends and got back kind of late. Obama was in town and the traffic was bad. When I arrived I found that my apartment was gone. 

"A renovation in my upstairs neighbor's apartment had sprung a leak causing water to gush through my ceiling for several hours.  Okay so nobody's perfect.  Take me for example, I didn't have homeowners insurance. All right mea culpa, I know, pretty dumb.  Let me be a cautionary tale to all the rest of you and all that. I thought watching water pour through light sockets into my apartment was going to be the bad part. But apparently not.

"You see I’m not a corporation which is what the contractor's insurance company would be up against if I had homeowners insurance: I’m just a person who would like to live in my home.  Weeks are turning into months and nothing has happened. Evidently the insurance company doesn’t feel the need to pay a mere person.  They sent various adjusters to check the damage and they all agree: it’s really bad. I guess they don't like to write big checks. I myself don't like not having an apartment. Floods are all over this town, they tell me shaking their heads. (There was even an NYT article about it recently.) Chill out, the insurance company tells me, they are still investigating. Investigating? We all know whodunnit. There is no mystery here, no controversy, just another case of a big company getting away with what it can.

"So now I am faced with suing the company which will cost a third of what was going to be spent restoring the apartment, a process that will take about two years.  Next time I go out to dinner I hope I just get mugged, they can have my whole wallet, no problem."