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I’m looking for advice from anyone familiar with HOAs/condos, particularly Kentucky law.

About a year ago, my upstairs neighbor’s water heater failed and cause water damage to my condo. Water was pouring through my ceiling, so I immediately called the HOA’s emergency maintenance line to mitigate the damage. Both the property manager and maintenance confirmed the leak originated upstairs.

My insurance ultimately chose not to subrogate, so I already had to separately pursue reimbursement of my $500 deductible. Now, almost a year later, I’m being billed another $333 by the HOA for calling emergency maintenance.

I’ve reviewed my bylaws and cannot find anything stating that simply calling the emergency line makes the reporting owner financially responsible. I was also under the impression that emergency maintenance was covered by our HOA dues, although I’m willing to admit that may be my misunderstanding.

I have extensive documentation: call logs, texts, a detailed timeline from when I arrived home and discovered the leak, photos showing the water coming from above, and texts from the maintenance person confirming the leak was coming from upstairs.

The invoice claims three hours of labor. In reality, the maintenance person arrived about three hours after I called, appeared impaired, spent roughly 45 minutes using a shop vac, and left while the ceiling was still actively leaking. I spent the rest of the night setting an alarm and getting up every 45 minutes to empty pans because the water continued coming through.

So I’m being charged $333 for an emergency response that, in my opinion, did very little to actually mitigate the damage.

The situation gets more concerning.

I got my attorney involved, and he sent the property manager a formal dispute letter. The property manager had also previously told me not to pay the bill while it was being disputed.
I have now discovered that my attorney’s letter was apparently never forwarded to the Board. In fact, it appears that none of the documentation I submitted was forwarded either.

I asked management for the Board members’ contact information and was refused. The only reason I was able to speak with a Board member today was because I happened to discover that one of my neighbors is on the Board. She lives down the street and was someone I had previously encountered while we were observing another emergency situation.

During that conversation, I learned she apparently wasn’t aware that the water originated from upstairs and had not seen the documentation I provided. I’m also now hearing that there has been discussion about potentially placing a lien on my condo over the $333.

At this point, my concern is much bigger than the $333. I’m concerned that the property manager may be giving the Board a different version of events while not providing them with my attorney’s dispute or the evidence supporting it.

For additional context, this also isn’t my first serious dispute with this HOA. I previously had to pursue legal action against the HOA after I was injured because they failed to clear snow from common areas as they are supposed to. I’m beginning to wonder whether there is a broader pattern of management failing to address issues appropriately.

I have now formally requested in writing that the charge be reviewed by the full Board, that all collection/lien activity be paused while it’s disputed, and that everything moving forward be in writing with my attorney copied.

There are also broader concerns among residents about how our HOA dues are being allocated based on things several of us have personally observed, but I don’t want to conflate that with this specific dispute.

I’m not refusing to pay a legitimate bill. I just don’t understand how I became responsible for an emergency caused by another unit simply because I was the person who called for help, particularly when I have extensive documentation establishing where the leak came from.

What would you do next?

Should my attorney contact the Board directly? Should I formally request the HOA’s records/minutes and everything management has provided the Board about this charge? Is there a Kentucky-specific process for disputing an HOA charge or protecting myself from a lien while it’s disputed?
And how do you address a situation where the property manager may be withholding a formal dispute and supporting documentation from the Board?

TL;DR: Upstairs neighbor’s water heater failed and damaged my condo. I called emergency maintenance and spent the night emptying pans every 45 minutes because the worker left while it was still leaking. Almost a year later, HOA billed me $333 because I called maintenance. I can’t find anything in my bylaws authorizing this, and I thought emergency maintenance was covered by HOA dues. I have call logs, texts, timeline, photos, and texts from maintenance confirming the work time and that the leak came from upstairs. My attorney formally disputed the bill, but I just discovered management apparently never gave his letter—or any of my evidence—to the Board. Management refused to give me Board contact information, and I only spoke with a Board member today by coincidence. Now I’m hearing there may be a lien in the works. I’ve also previously had to take legal action against this HOA over an injury caused by failure to clear snow from common areas. What should I do?

I’m in a condo building in Louisville, and I’m honestly pretty pissed about how LG&E handled this.

I had contacted LG&E weeks ago because I knew my gas meter needed to be replaced. Filled out the online request form, was sent a list of available times/dates, and I specifically requested an appointment for a certain date. I never received confirmation that they were coming on any other date, so I assumed I was still waiting for the appointment I had requested.

Yesterday, LG&E apparently came to my building and replaced my gas meter. The problem is, I had no idea they were coming. Nobody knocked on my door or attempted to contact me to let me know they were there. I only found out that my meter had been replaced and that my gas had been shut off because I later found a notification left on my mailbox down the hallway. The notice was apparently left after they had already completed the work and shut off my gas.

I understand that LG&E owns the meter and has the right to replace it. I’m not arguing that they can’t do maintenance on their equipment. My issue is the complete lack of communication. I specifically requested an appointment for a certain date, never heard anything back, and then they showed up on a completely different day, replaced the meter, and left me without gas service without me knowing it was happening.

I called LG&E today to find out what was going on. They told me that they would restore my gas service sometime today, but they couldn’t give me any kind of timeframe. I asked why someone came earlier than the date I had requested, why I wasn’t notified that they were coming, why my gas was shut off, and why nobody attempted to contact me when they were here.

Neither the representative nor their supervisor couldn’t answer any of those questions. The response I kept getting was basically, “I see.” There was no explanation, no apology, and no real attempt to address what happened beyond telling me that someone would supposedly come out today to restore my service—but they couldn’t even tell me when.

I also found out that another resident in my building had apparently experienced a very similar situation with their meter replacement. So now I’m wondering if this is something LG&E is doing throughout the building and whether other residents have had the same experience.

I’m frustrated because I feel like if I had been given proper notice, I could have planned around the interruption. Instead, I unexpectedly have no gas service and am basically sitting around waiting for LG&E to show up at some unspecified time.

Has anyone else dealt with LG&E replacing a gas meter like this? Is this normal? If you requested a specific appointment date, did they show up on a different day without notifying you?