When water comes through your ceiling, you expect the association to ask one question: where is it coming from? In too many Hawaii condominiums, the question quickly changes to a different one: what is wrong with the owner who keeps complaining?

Psychologist Jennifer Freyd has a name for this pattern: DARVO, short for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. First the problem is denied (“we found nothing”). Then the person raising it is attacked as difficult, emotional, or a serial complainer. Finally the roles flip, and a volunteer board is portrayed as the one under siege.

I want to be careful with the term. DARVO is a psychology concept, not a legal doctrine, and I use it to recognize a pattern, not to label any person or board.

Ideas showcases stories, opinion and analysis about Hawaiʻi, from the state’s sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org to submit an idea or an essay.

Read More

Many boards are volunteers doing hard work in aging buildings, and honest disagreement about where water is coming from is common. The signal is not disagreement. It is when the conversation moves from the leak to the owner’s character.

The pattern hits owners with interior leaks especially hard. You can see the damage in your unit, but the source is often somewhere you cannot reach: an exterior wall, a roof, a riser, a shaft. Those are usually common elements controlled by the board and the property manager, and your own plumber or engineer generally cannot trace the leak without their permission. The owner is expected to prove where the water comes from while locked out of the places it may start.

Who bears the legal burden depends on the claim and the forum. In practice, the owner who cannot document the leak is the one who loses ground.

As soon as I understood the board’s behavior, it helped me focus on the water leak and not the personal attack. In my unit, water comes in where there are no plumbing pipes or air-conditioning condensation lines nearby, and it enters during long, continuous rain. When it rains, it leaks. That points to water moving from outside to inside, and it is a pattern an owner can record: the date of the rain and the date of the water.

Owners can start with common sense. Ask which way the water is traveling. Water coming from outside to inside, such as through an exterior wall, points to the building’s exterior, which is usually a common element. If there are no plumbing pipes or air-conditioning lines near the leak, and the water appears only during or after long rain, that strengthens the case for an outside source.

Water that appears regardless of weather, or when a fixture is used, points to plumbing, condensation, or a unit above. Direction and timing show where the water starts, not who is responsible. The declaration and bylaws decide that.

Then make your credibility beside the point. Keep a dated log with photos. Put every notice in writing and ask specific questions. Ask in writing for access for a licensed contractor, or for the association to inspect and give you the report.

Request the records on the leak, including the files kept by the resident manager, who is often an association employee, and by the managing agent. Keep your tone flat and stick to facts. Your emails may be read aloud at a hearing or a mediation.

Owners can only do so much, so the rules matter. As the Legislature’s condominium task force prepares recommendations for the 2027 session, here are four ideas worth discussing:

• A written response and inspection timeline once an owner reports water intrusion.
• A clear path for an owner’s licensed contractor to reach common elements under reasonable conditions, or a written inspection report from the association.
• Plain-language guidance on owners’ records rights, so owners do not need a lawyer to learn what they may ask for.
• A low-cost, neutral way to resolve disputes that does not depend on hiring an attorney.

None of these would force a board to concede a leak. They would require only that reasonable questions get answered.

Boards and owners share the same interest in dry buildings and sound finances. A leak should prompt a repair. It should not turn into a debate about the person who reported it.