A tenant became trapped under debris when a condo ceiling collapsed at the Treetop condominiums in Largo, Maryland.
The woman was rescued by neighbors.
Merry Wiley, the owner of the condo, says she's been complaining about the cracks and other issues she’s found to the board of directors for almost a year.
Dale Evans, a neighbor who’s been having cracks repaired, is worried after what happened to her neighbor.
"I'm very concerned that I'm going to lose my property because of this ceiling, and they won't fix it," she said.
An attorney representing the condo's board of directors released a statement that says in part:
"We have engaged engineers to inspect the unit and are awaiting the results. This report should inform us if the problem stems from within the owner’s unit or from a common element of the building. Unlike a rental apartment complex, every unit in a condominium is the private property of the owner."
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Matthew Skipper is representing Wiley, the owner of the condo.
"It feels like it is easier to push responsibility on to the homeowner even when the law does not provide for that," he said.
Skipper says things like roofs, and in many cases ceilings, are considered common areas and are the responsibility of the condominium management.
"The idea that a ceiling collapsing could ever be a unit owner's responsibility is absurd, but that's exactly what they are asserting in this case and frankly, I think it's disgraceful," Skipper said.
After this devastation, Dale is hoping the tenant is safe.
"When I walk in here now I walk through real fast to go out the door. I try not to hang out in the living room too much —if I do I stay on this side where the ceiling looks good," she said.
In a letter from the management company, Wiley was told that there had been other ceiling collapses. The management company also made it sound like the owner is the one who's responsible for this damage.
