A Faulty Pipe Causing Dampness on the Lower Floors

I live on a lower floor in a building of about ten floors. For over a year there has been a leak on the four lower floors: water is dripping, the walls are peeling, there is mold, and sometimes creatures also appear in the area of the mold. We brought leak inspectors and plumbers, at a cost of tens of thousands of shekels, which in the meantime we paid ourselves. They did not manage to locate the exact point of the hole, but they did manage to identify which pipe apparently has a hole. This was reinforced after one tenant was away from his apartment for a certain period and the leak decreased significantly, and when he returned the leak increased.

May the tenants continue using the pipe, when in the meantime sewage water is spilling into the lower apartments? And may we block the pipe until all the neighbors conduct a thorough investigation and the source of the problem is found, based on the principle of “avid inish dina lenafsheh” (“a person may take the law into his own hands”)?

Peace and blessing 

The response of the Beit Hora’ah:

A. The upper-floor tenants may not use it in this condition, since the pipe is faulty; this is improper use that causes damage to one’s neighbor, and it is forbidden.

B. All the residents of the building are partners in the building, and all of them participate in the repair of the building’s property (the plumbing). If there is no appointed va’ad bayit, or if there is a va’ad bayit that is negligent in making the repair, one of the residents of the building may notify everyone about repairing the problem and hire a good professional (who does his work faithfully and is not more expensive than the accepted rate), and afterward demand that everyone participate in the cost of the repair.

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