Flooding in kitchen when it rains.

Hire a structural engineer and let the HOA pay for it. I would also start looking for a good construction defect attorney. Any money you paid out of pocket should be reimbursed. It is a frustrating experience an you should not have to live like this. Since it is just over a year, my guess this was occurring during the previous owners residency and failed to disclose it. AGAINST THE LAW. I would go after them, and their realtor too. No one wants to get involved in lengthy legal battles, but this scenario warrants that course of action.

Rain could be seeping into the attic via a roof valley or from around a chimney which has not be sealed outside properly. The water will follow the rafters down to its lowest point. If you can get into the attic and check it out right after a rain this will tell you where the water is coming in.

Water can come in one place, travel, and end up somewhere else. Is there a window that is close? The HOA definitely needs to be more involved here. They are responsible for the outside and came be made responsible for interior damage due to their neglect on the outside. You may have mold starting inside your walls, rotting wood, and bugs. This 8snt something to put up with. You should hire an attorney that deals with building issues just to be safe and see what recommendations you get from the attorney. Lastly, you can call your building department, but I’d do that if the HO doesn’t fix the problem. It is in their best interest to fix the problem while it’s smaller.

Sounds like the downspouts aren't handling the volume of water and moving it far enough away from the building. At this point I would want them to put the downspouts into the ground using french drain. If you are at the bottom of incline/slope, I would have a french drain installed with a catch basin to prevent reflooding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUFcrm2cL1Q

gutters.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT6ZUWXsYgQ

If you still have the paperwork from when you purchased the town home, please check your Inspection Report. It sounds as if this was an existing, reoccurring problem that should have been noted on the Disclosure papers. If it was not disclosed and should have been and you can prove it, you need to make your Realtor and possibly an attorney aware, to get this resolved. Now that you have had the flooding, were you to sell, you'd be expected to disclose to a new buyer, so it is to your benefit to get the problem resoled quickly. DO NOT give up on getting the situation handled as quickly as possible for both the environmental concerns you have but also your financial well-being right now and in the future. Your Realtor should become involved, even though it was a year ago sale. The previous owner may be financially liable for not disclosing OR the Home Inspector (if you had one) needs to step up, if neither do, the Realtor at best should know not to have THAT inspector for future inspections on properties they are involved in. Good luck to you....this sounds like a nightmare no one should have to be subjected to. Sorry for your problems.....

Interesting about the caulk. You have to make sure that the water isn’t getting in, so the outside needs to be watertight. If you are responsible for the door, you might 2ant to contact a door company and have them check it out. They may need to remove trim but should be able to tell if that’s the problem. If you have a window above, there is a possibility that it’s coming in there, traveling down, and coming out next to the dsliding door. Best of luck!

If the previous owners did not reveal this before you bought, you may be able to talk to your sales person and get some recompense for hiding that info!

A good thing is to always ask if there is ANYTHING you should be told before you close.., ask fir it in writing,

When I bought this house 30+ years ago, my salesman asked the previous owners that in my presence. They then came clean (partially) and said the front gutters at the porch MAY leak in a rainstorm. MAY??? They flood and causea big area of MUD> Right near the front door..

I called my salesman and he said if I really am upset, we could go to court and get the judge to either clear me of the purchase, or demand a monetary settlement. We gave that some serious thinking and decided it would be better to dig up that section of grass, level it and put concerete there. Been satisfied. I turned that area into a concrete area (abut 3X3 ft.) and put potted plants there, changing them seasonally. Not very ezxpensive. But looks nice.

Tanya, it sounds as if you are on the right track to getting this resolved. It is good that your Realtor is working with you to get it handled as well. As a former Realtor I would be so unhappy to know that I was a part of a situation like this. But now that you have started the process, just hang in there. Often, these issues take a lengthy time to deal with and the seller, seller's Realtor, HOA, etc. believe if they put up enough roadblocks, you'll just give up in frustration. Please don't let that happen. Seems you've taken the appropriate steps from the very beginning and it should get resolved in your favor. The absolute key is the falsifying the Disclosure Notice (falls back to seller). Then the Inspector probably did not do their job well either. So you are suffering the result of obvious misconduct (unlawful as well) by the seller and possibly by the Inspector. Just keep plugging away at it. There are laws in place to insure this does not happen. I wish you the best of luck in all this MESS and hope you don't have to deal with it for much longer. So sorry this happened to you! Thank you for responding to my post. I didn't realize how much you'd already done (exactly correctly) to get the solution underway. Though it may be some time, please let us know the outcome.....others may learn a lot from your eperience. Wow! since 2016. omg!