Renter's Rights / Landlord's responsibilities.....

[Plaidfish]

HELP....
last night I came home around 10 PM and my house was flooded..... the plastic fitting on one of my toilet's makeup water split and made a waterfall for a few hours while I was out....I just spent all night cleaning and I've still got 3 rooms with water in them....seriously an inch of water through most of the house last night....it soaked through the walls and soaked one of my neighbor's apt as well....I currently have no lease, it ran out over a year ago and I never signed a new one....but it says the rules of the lease are to carry beyond that document's expiration date....I get along with my landlord but the buiding 4 times in the last 1.5 years the main drain plugged up and the nasty side of the water pipes backed up....1 time I had to clean this up the other 3 the landlord and his wife cleaned it all for me.....I am always on time with my rent with exception of 1 month after my mother died......now I have soo much water saturation I know my beds are ruined and a ton of Tattoo supplies I just purchased....NOW for the real kick in the head...I've been working on a project for work and we use very specific very expensive programmable controllers on...I set up a small test network on the floor before going out last night....yes it's all ruined...it is also Super critical that all of those be working on monday so they can be installed in a facility that employs over 9000 people....I've been prepping the site for 2 months getting everything ready to change over on monday since pres day the place will be a ghost town and I will be able to shut down entire air handling systems as we replace them....THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN NOW....I seriously am afraid of loosing my job over this....that would not only affect me but also my father as I am paying his health insurace since he lost his job due to a degenerative condition he's recently been diagnosed with(another long story)......again I like my landlord but I may be really fiddlesticked over all this....I'm waiting to hear back from my boss about what we can do, but it doesn't look good.....
does anyone know if I have any recourse against my landlord in this case.....I understand things break and it's not his fault but I am renting for this very purpose, So I don't have to worry about these issues......he said last night no plumbers or cleanup crews were available to come out.....it wouldn't have made a difference in the damage done but I dunno what I'm asking I just needed to vent....any input on what rights I have would be appreciated...no speculations please I have a head full of them until I hear back from my lawyer......

 

[jetmechG550]

First off do you have renter's insurance? Also since you are in FL flood insurance may be an add on but in the case it wasn't a natural disaster ie Hurrican Tax you guys get to pay down there for not having snow. Something to check into with your company is their insurance and how it covers products they sell in respect to being off site. At any rate, your landlord is ultimately responsible since it's part of the building he owns and it was not an act of negligence on your part. Just for piece of mind I would talk to an attorney, especially if you lose your job over it. You're bound to find one that would take it regardless but you have a lot of things on your side. Hope things work out for ya fishy.

 

[ohmygahitscoby]

Yeah. It was the landlord's toilet in your house, unless you changed it. But anyways, if it breaks, it's really his fault.

 

[Plaidfish]

First off do you have renter's insurance? Also since you are in FL flood insurance may be an add on but in the case it wasn't a natural disaster ie Hurrican Tax you guys get to pay down there for not having snow. Something to check into with your company is their insurance and how it covers products they sell in respect to being off site. At any rate, your landlord is ultimately responsible since it's part of the building he owns and it was not an act of negligence on your part. Just for piece of mind I would talk to an attorney, especially if you lose your job over it. You're bound to find one that would take it regardless but you have a lot of things on your side. Hope things work out for ya fishy.

Renter's insurance is a no go...I tried to get it JUST for flood....my ins. payments would be absolutely ridiculous because I'm right in the path of every hurricane.....I think I can salvage the work and pilfer some parts from another customer's site but I'm working this whole weekend...My landlord came and finished shop vacing the rest of the water...I dumped almost 20 full 16 gal buckets and squeegied for another 3 hours this morning.....I'm still cleaning now with a 2hr nap from 7-9 this morning....if I can get the work situation fixed I'll be O.K. but my brother is staying in my spare room and his box spring sits right on the floor and is soaked....all the laundry..the freaking baskets sat in a low part of the tile and the water went over the bottom of the basket and crept in....the clothes just wicked it right up the whole basket (x3).....my UPS saved my PC I hope..it let some magic smoke out.....I lost some old college text books I sort of used as refference material every now and then.....loads of tattoo stuff like disposable tubes and needles.....the box all th eink was in fell apart but the bottles are plastic....my daughter's bed is a captains bed that's particle (sponge) board and it now looks like ass.....her dresser is the same...mine is a little screwed but I wanted to get a new bedrrom set anyway......but landlord don't need to know that......am I wrong in asking him for reimbursment? I don't want to move...even though we had issues with the sewer drain before he is very prompt to fix things, he kept trying different plumbers until they found what the cause was instead of just keep snaking it......they replaced all the drain, so he is a good guy but I haven't asked him to replace any of the rugs and clothes that I threw out from being in poop water before.......
I am definately waiting to hear from a lawer I know (he's a divorce lawer though).....If anyone has experience in this I'd love to hear about it.....

 

[jetmechG550]

He should have some sort of insurance as well Eric, at least talk to him and get a feel. You may want to consult an attorney first though, this way if he balks at doing anything you'll have back up. If not you always have the bo staff or nunchuks!

 

[Rolex]

This is the first time I've heard of a Fishy having problems with water.
Sorry man, I don't mean to make light of your situation. That's a really bad spot you're in.
You landlord is NOT responsible. Sorry. If you were home, and called him when it broke, he would be responsible to come over and turn off your water, or call a plumber.
His interest in cleaning up the water is to protect his building from further damage.
His insurance will cover new carpeting and replacement of damaged sheetrock and other structural items such as a downstairs ceiling collapse.
This doesn't make him a bad guy, but that's the way insurance policies work. Whether or not you have a lease is not the problem here. You are living there with his knowledge and permission.
Renter's insurance is the ONLY recourse you would have had.
You might want to look into it and see if you can get a policy that covers you against theft and damage with a disclaimer against NATURAL flood damage, usually referred to as an "Act of God".
Stay on good terms with the landlord. He's almost as upset as you are due to his property damage, and in no way can he be held responsible other than through negligence. A law suit would get you no where other than into another landlord's residence, since he would no longer want you living there.
I'm really sorry to hear about that much damage, but keep us posted on how things work out.

 

[Plaidfish]

I know he has no financial responsibility to my losses but I spoke with him today and explained my "unhappiness" with the plumbing situation in his building..I also told him I understand it is not his fault but it is his equipment that is failing, and he is not directly responsible for that but this is a moral issue not a legal issue, and I am more about building a mutually benificial living situation wherever I live.....and this is not very mutual in my eyes.....he knocked 400 bucks off my rent next month and buying me a new shop vac that brokebecause I wanted to just fill the buckets before dumping (my fault, yes and I already knew that) the thing was on it's last leg anyway but he's buying a new one for me......I'm happy with that deal.....
Still cleaning out everything....funny that it didn't do anything to my dining/garage room.... that's the only room that really needed to clean up.....LOL

 

[hamz9561]

Sounds like a really good landlord. I'd say he's keeper. I'm glad that everything's working out for you.

 

[Rolex]

Consider yourself very lucky to have a landlord like that. It also says that he wants to keep you there. Knocking $400 off your rent certainly doesn't cover your losses or your time, but it's $400 and a shop vac MORE than any other landlord would ever have done.

 

[Plaidfish]

Consider yourself very lucky to have a landlord like that. It also says that he wants to keep you there. Knocking $400 off your rent certainly doesn't cover your losses or your time, but it's $400 and a shop vac MORE than any other landlord would ever have done.

Egg Zackley my friend......I hate scumlords...had a few of those and it just sucks.....this guy is German with the thick accent and none of the tenants think he's a good landlord....some people just want to bitch for the sake of bitching...I feel bad for the guy cause everyone of my neighbors feels he is supposed to replace everything that was ruined....I knew that wasn't the case but I was curious....and I really didn't want to have to have any negative relationship with anyone who has a power over me (Like someone who owns the house I live in)....I feel better he wanted to try and ease my side of the problem...400 is 1/3 of my rent...pretty big chunk off I thought....like getting 10 free days in hotel ....LOL...