CONDOMINIUM ADMINISTRATION'S LIABILITY FOR STOLEN ITEMS FROM UNIT OWNERS AND TENANTS

Hi All,



I'd just like to find out if our condominium's building administration and security agency have liability for any stolen belongings from one of its unit owners and tenants.



Just to give you a background of what the story is, we stayed at Seibu tower in BGC, Taguig City. In the morning of 12/29/2017, our maid left when we were all deep asleep after my wife left for work. She took a huge amount of cash, phones, ipad, expensive shoes and even our kid's piano keyboard. She left with all of these without any hardship as it was caught on CCTV.

Upon investigating on my own, I found out that the building's security let her out without giving us a call to confirm the items she took, nobody even knocked on our door to check us out. What if I was stabbed while asleep, wouldn't they call or come to check me out while restricting the maid from leaving? We filed a police report of the incident and presented the CCTV screenshot of how she got out. And will press charge for qualified theft as soon as she's caught.

However, I feel bothered about the security personnels' negligence, which I also feel is also the responsibility of its employer to ensure it fulfill its duty. I feel like I don't want to let this pass as it may also happen to anyone in the building. What is the possibility of us winning if we also file charges against the building's administration and its security agency?



Your response will be greatly appreciated. Happy New Year!

Regards,
Carl

check your contract regarding liabilities but in my opinion, they will not be held accountable as this person was your maid and not a stranger unless you can prove that there is collusion between them.

Hi xtianjames!


I really appreciate the response. We only checked in as temporary tenants for 7 days before the end of 2017, while our unit from another condominium building in the same area was under repair. We don't see any collusion between the maid and the security guards. We have no building contract, the owner does, however, the owner didn't want to help us either.

What I was thinking about was, there was a red flag during the occurrence. The maid left the unit with 2 huge bags full of stolen items, 1 piano keyboard and a huge paper bag. I worked at night, so I was asleep during that time. Nobody rang the phone nor knocked the door to verify if the maid was authorized to leave with all the items.

We talked to the building admin after we found out the incident. However, we were only told that we failed to provide the identity of the maid that was why she was allowed to leave. But isn't their responsibility to identify their tenants in the building? What if I was stabbed while asleep and she left the unit with all the stolen items, wouldn't they check me out to see if I was alright as the maid tries to flee? We never thought this could really happen to us. The incident traumatized my fiance and my stepdaughters.

I will appreciate any opinion. I just want to hear views from different people through different angles.