When you own investment properties you should find out who is responsible if the building gets condemned

When you own investment properties you should find out who is responsible if the building gets condemned

Over the last few years up until the middle of 2007 I was actively buying investment properties. Some were purchased with one other partner and the others were with three. I wasn't the biggest fish but I could hold my own in the pond. Some of the properties we bought were in fair shape and were located in tough neighborhoods. But I saw some potential to make a little income...not a lot but just enough to pay the operating costs and a little left over to keep in the bank. We were also able to rent them out who qualified for Section 8 housing. The money was guaranteed and we ended up getting two reliable tenants who paid their rent on time.

We owned two in the same complex and we were able to get them really inexpensive. We paid cash for them so basically we were responsible for the maintenance and taxes. Renovations we did were adequate enough and we were lucky to have any major repair issues...it was most regular maintenance with a few broken switches.

I knew going in that this complex was not in the best of conditions and I guess they did the best they can. So we rode it out for few years. When we put the tenant into one of the units it took us about 4 months before we were able to get the door to the building replaced after it was ripped off the hinges. Then we find out the management office located on the grounds burned down from a fire.

A few months later I was thinking what is next and I thought....what would happen if the building burnt down or our section got damaged from the fire. We were fully covered for fire and wind insurance but I wanted to know what other surprises would happen. A few days later we were making our rounds and stopped by complex and we see two fire trucks that happened to be in from of our building. What do you think happened next? "NO" your wrong...there wasn't the fire I dreaded would happen but it was as bad.....it was a FLOOD! One of the people living in the building right next to ours apparently their child turned on the bathtub and let it run for hours and the entire section of about 4 units were flooded out and we asked the property manager what he thought would happen and he said they would probably condemn that part of the building. We eventually decided that it was time to sell them as we saw the market start to take a turn. We ended up making a good profit and we held them instead of flipping them.

What recourse does an owner of investment properties have if they are told the building is being condemned?