A first-floor owner in a community in Lipu City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, sued 12 residents upstairs and the property management company to the court because the property damage caused by the blockage of the pipes and the return of sewage could not be resolved.
Clogged pipes
The property was damaged by the sewage gushing back on the first floor
Li Yinghua bought a 101-room house in a community in Lipu City and moved in in December 2021. Moving to a new home was a happy thing, but Li Yinghua didn't expect to encounter troubles after half a year of moving in.
On May 28, 2022, Li Yinghua, who had returned home from a business trip, had just opened the door of his house when a foul smell came to his face. Li Yinghua carefully inspected and found that it was the kitchen that was dirty, so he contacted the community property company to clean up and dredge, and the blockage was solid kitchen waste such as food residues.
In less than a month, Li Yinghua's kitchen was fouled six times due to a blocked sewage pipe, and the worst sewage overflowed into the kitchen, soaking the furniture in the living room.
The property damage caused by the return of pollution could not be resolved, and Li Yinghua sued the Lipu Municipal People's Court, demanding that the 12 residents upstairs and the property company compensate more than 16,000 yuan for the loss of furniture (large and small beds, wardrobes and doors).
The property management company argued that before the sewage return incident, the company had entrusted a professional organization to regularly clean up the outdoor sewage pipes in accordance with the property service standards, and fulfilled the corresponding obligations, and the pipeline was part of the pipeline concealment project, and it was impossible to send people into the owner's room for inspection at any time. After receiving the news of the water leakage, the company immediately organized personnel to clean up the site, clean the pipeline, and promptly arranged staff to make on-the-spot inquiries to the residents above the first floor, inform the backsurge situation and related sharing responsibilities, and fulfilled the maintenance and management responsibilities, the company is not at fault and should not bear the liability for compensation.
The upstairs occupants jointly argued that they had not committed the tort. During the time period notified by the property management company, none of them discharged sewage into the drain, and the damage suffered by Li Yinghua was not related to the residents upstairs. Li Yinghua's claim for the loss of furniture of more than 16,000 yuan was not supported by the appraisal report of the appraisal agency or the official purchase invoice. The relationship between Li Yinghua and the property management company is a property service contract, and the losses suffered by him should be borne by the property management company.
During the lawsuit, Li Yinghua applied to the court to entrust a qualified appraisal agency to assess the value of his furniture loss. After assessment, Li Yinghua's house suffered a loss of 4,885 yuan in property due to the backflow of sewage after the kitchen pipe was blocked, and he spent 4,520 yuan on the assessment fee.
During the trial of the case, Li Yinghua changed the litigation request to: demand that the 12 residents upstairs and the property management company compensate for the loss of furniture (including large and small beds, wardrobes, doors, desks and sideboards) of more than 11,000 yuan, and bear the assessment fee of 4,520 yuan.
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The 10 residents upstairs share the responsibility
After trial, the Lipu Municipal People's Court held that Li Yinghua was a resident on the first floor of the building involved in the case, and that he and his upstairs residents, as neighbors on the upper and lower floors, shared the same kitchen sewer pipe, and should jointly maintain the smooth flow of the pipes to ensure the normal use of public facilities. From the perspective of safeguarding the public interest, in view of the fact that the source of the sewage blocking the public part of the sewer could not be identified, and considering the specific circumstances of the case, in the absence of a disclaimer, the residents of the upper floor should jointly bear the responsibility for compensating Li Yinghua for the loss equally.
After receiving Li Yinghua's repair report, the community property company assisted in cleaning up the sewage in a timely manner, and dredged the sewer pipes, and later helped Li Yinghua coordinate compensation with the upstairs residents, fulfilling the general property management obligations of the property management company, and the property service agreement did not stipulate that the property management company should bear the liability for compensation in this situation, so the property management company should not be liable for Li Yinghua's losses.
He Li, a resident on the 13th floor, and Qin Wen, a resident on the 17th floor, basically did not live in the building during the infringement period involved in the case, and submitted proof that their houses had no domestic water records during May and June 2022, so they should not be liable for infringement compensation.
Huang Hao and the other 10 residents argued that they had not committed the infringement, but did not provide evidence to substantiate this, which had no basis in law, and the court did not accept their defenses.
Li Yinghua withdrew the lawsuit against Zhou Qiong, a resident on the 16th floor, but did not provide evidence to prove that Zhou Qiong was not at fault for Li Yinghua's losses, so part of the responsibility that should be borne by Zhou Qiong, a resident on the 16th floor, should be borne by Li Yinghua himself.
After assessment, the loss of Li Yinghua's furniture was 4,885 yuan, the assessment fee was 4,520 yuan, and the total loss was 9,405 yuan. Therefore, Huang Hao and other 10 households should each bear 855 yuan (9405 yuan÷ 11 people = 855 yuan / person), and the remaining 855 yuan should be borne by Li Yinghua himself.
The Lipu Municipal People's Court made a first-instance judgment: Huang Hao and 10 other residents compensated Li Yinghua for the loss of furniture 855 yuan.
Huang Hao and 10 other residents were dissatisfied with the first-instance verdict and appealed to the Guilin Intermediate People's Court. Not long ago, the Guilin Intermediate People's Court rejected their appeal in accordance with the law and upheld the original verdict.
After the judgment came into effect, Huang Hao and 10 other residents took the initiative to fulfill their compensation obligations. (All names in the article have been changed)
What the judge said
In daily life, adjacent households should correctly handle problems such as drainage, access, ventilation, and lighting in accordance with the principles of conducive to production, convenient life, solidarity and mutual assistance, and fairness and reasonableness. What should residents do if there is back-contamination from the sewer?
First, evidence should be fixed as soon as possible, such as collecting on-site photos, audio and video recordings, certificates from the maintenance unit or property management company, invoices for maintenance costs, and other evidence; second, the water leakage location and cause should be found as soon as possible, the subject of infringement liability should be determined, the property loss should be counted, and the relevant owners, property management companies, developers, etc. should be negotiated; finally, if the negotiation fails, effective measures should be taken to prevent the further expansion of the damage, and then file a lawsuit with the court.
Links to legal provisions
Article 1165 of the Civil Code: Where the actor infringes upon the civil rights and interests of others due to fault and causes harm, he shall bear tort liability. Where it is presumed that the actor is at fault in accordance with the provisions of law, and he cannot prove that he is not at fault, he shall bear tort liability.
Article 1170 of the Civil Code: Where two or more persons commit conduct that endangers the safety of others' persons or property, and the conduct of one or more of them causes harm to others, and the specific infringer can be determined, the infringer bears responsibility;
Article 1172 of the Civil Code: Where two or more persons separately commit tortious acts causing the same harm, and the extent of responsibility can be determined, each of them bears corresponding responsibility;
Article 1184 of the Civil Code: Where the property of others is infringed upon, the property losses are to be calculated in accordance with the market price at the time of the loss or other reasonable methods.
Disclaimer: This article reprints China's popular law, thank you!