Exactly correct.  It was my Condo, and if it was an exterior wall, then the Home Owners Association would be charged a &quot;Special Fee&quot; (We had recently dropped $100+K on repairing wall damage from a rain leak) - but ceiling damage would have been on me.  To make matters worse, they were renters living in the upstairs unit, and when I contacted the owner, it turned out he was a lawyer, and initially all he said was, &quot;If you have a problem, sue me.&quot;<p>Thankfully, the manager of our property management board was much more sane, had seen the space above bathroom vents, knew that it <i>always</i> looked funky (lots of moisture going up through those vents), and saved me $30K.<p>I guess my point was - given a choice, a subcontractor can always turn a minor clean up into a $50K project, but it&#x27;s entirely possible, there is a $5K choice as well that the home owner might want to consider pursuing.