Maintenance, as of right now, has taken well over an hour to respond.


I have called an emergency plumber, who has yet to call back.


What recourse do I have?


IE, what sort of compensation should I demand from the apartment complex?

7/26/2007 6:30:18 PM

motherfuckers fix this shit now, and find me a new place

7/26/2007 6:32:10 PM

dude called me back and was like "I'll be there in 30 minutes"


and I was like "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS"

7/26/2007 6:33:10 PM

pics pics pics- idk i always hear people say take pics when shit like this happens...goodluck

i've heard of apartment complexes taking money off the rent or offering a month for free before

hope everything goes ok

7/26/2007 6:33:28 PM

neighbor above me had a leak in his dishwasher drain one time...i noticed it when i turned on the kitchen light and it popped and went out...it was full of water..long before the sheetrock got stained

7/26/2007 6:37:53 PM

I came home to this. It's been steadily pouring into my apartment. Maint. guy still not fucking here.

7/26/2007 6:44:49 PM

BUCKETS!

We need buckets!

I hope you have insurance for this kind of thing. That sucks ass.

Probably the biggest drawback to a lower-level apartment (shit flows downhill).

7/26/2007 6:52:16 PM

unfortunately I dont have renter's insurance



but the complex is gonna be held liable for this


they're supposed to have a 24 hour man ON SITE.

I should not have to wait an hour. EVER.

7/26/2007 6:58:11 PM

STILL NOBODY



FUCKING CHRIST ALL GOOD GODDAMN MIGHTY

7/26/2007 7:10:35 PM

Go outside and find the water main and turn it off. I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

Might piss off everybody else around you though.

7/26/2007 7:15:29 PM

I was gonna do that, but didnt want to piss everyone off



whichever idiot repaired the upstairs neighbor's dishwasher didnt put the water line back on right

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 7:22 PM. Reason : so the apartment complex is at fault]

7/26/2007 7:20:55 PM

turn off the water

if people bitch tell them to talk to maintenance

7/26/2007 7:25:37 PM

let's see some pics. you're going to have to document the damages anyway

7/26/2007 7:29:07 PM

Are you legally allowed to turn off the main to a place you don't 'own'?

7/26/2007 7:39:37 PM

the water's off.



that doesn't stop the 3" of it in the apartment above mine from pouring into mine and onto the 3-4" I've got myself.

7/26/2007 7:41:23 PM

you better demand that everything that the water touched be replaced or you will contact the health department

mold is no joke, you can break a lease over it

7/26/2007 7:59:56 PM

yo let me come bring my laptop to your place...please kiljadn...my shit is from nov of 2002 and i could use a new one bad

7/26/2007 8:06:02 PM

this is serious business cuz, if you didnt get the memo, black people cant swim.

7/26/2007 8:11:08 PM

Get pictures and document everything, times and number of calls you made especially.

7/26/2007 8:28:32 PM

a couple weeks ago, my friend's appt got flooded by the appt upstairs and the management didn't contact them for 3 days (friends were out of town at the time)

7/26/2007 8:29:11 PM

i am a dipstick

i thought it said pig in the apartment above me, dyslexia ftw

7/26/2007 8:30:30 PM

that's not dyslexia, genius

7/26/2007 8:31:12 PM

also there going to try to put high powered fans in your apartment so make sure they compensate you for the power those will use

7/26/2007 8:37:32 PM

oh they put them in here already


and they're bringing a dehumidifier in the morning



I've pretty much got it in my mind that this is worth 2 months worth of rent to me and my roomie

7/26/2007 8:51:34 PM

good luck with that

7/26/2007 9:09:11 PM

I have a feeling that if there are any vacant apartments like yours they will let you guys move to them. (unless they are complete assholes)

7/26/2007 11:53:51 PM

7/27/2007 12:00:40 AM

7/27/2007 12:04:58 AM

Quote :

"unfortunately I dont have renter's insurance but the complex is gonna be held liable for this "

they may give you a free month but anything personal of yours that got ruined will be your own responsibility to replace......that is why they tell you when you move in to get renter's insurance. $70 a year is def worth it....

7/27/2007 3:30:53 AM

yea i dont remember exactly the number they told me, but it was literally like 7 bucks a month in AZ for around 20k. and everything was more expensive there

7/27/2007 5:52:23 AM

im paying like 100 bucks a year for 50,000 dollars worth of coverage, its a steal if anything were to happen

7/27/2007 8:14:48 AM

I thought renters insurance was to cover things the apartment complex/owner wouldnt be held liable for. Such as a flood, theft, tornado, fire, etc. If the pipe didnt just randomly break but was due to a poor installation, then whoever did the installation should be held liable for his items I would think.

7/27/2007 8:18:56 AM

Quote :

"but the complex is gonna be held liable for this"

Good luck with that.

7/27/2007 8:46:50 AM

Quote :

"unfortunately I dont have renter's insurance"

then you're an idiot.

Quote :

"but the complex is gonna be held liable for this "

no they're not. that's why you're supposed to have renter's insurance. shit happens.

Quote :

"they're supposed to have a 24 hour man ON SITE."

they are not required by any law to have maintenance on site.

Quote :

"What recourse do I have? IE, what sort of compensation should I demand from the apartment complex?"

if you keep your cool and don't show your ass, you might get a free month. but judging by the b.s. you've posted in here, it's highly likely that the apt. manager will also see that you're an idiot and not give you shit since they are not required to. the only thing they are required to do is to fix the problem to livable standards.

7/27/2007 9:03:38 AM

Quote :

"Probably the biggest drawback to a lower-level apartment (shit flows downhill)."

Fire burns uphill.

7/27/2007 10:54:18 AM

hey jadn

i dunno who owns the place you live,
but we were renting a townhouse from Clark Properties and our townhouse flooded pretty badly.. (my neighbors woke me up at 3am and told me my townhouse was flooding theirs)
we had ~2" of standing water on the linoleum and hardwood floors and our carpet squished everytime you stepped on it as water puddled around your feet.

i had to sweep the water from the linoleum and hardwood, then i placed down towels and moved all my furniture from the carpet to the now dry kitchen and hallway.

we got no one at our "emergency" maintenance number and just kept leaving voicemails. they had someone come in the next day to check things out. they shampooed and dried the carpets and took up all the linoleum and hardwood. there wasn't really any damage to our furniture because we moved it out of the way quick enough I guess. the problem was we had to spend a week away from the apartment because the whole downstairs was a wreck with giant fans and heaters and our kitchen and bathroom were all torn apart. it took over a month for them to replace our flooring, and longer than that to get a refund on the days we weren't in the apartment (which they still jipped us on) I really wanted them to replace the carpet too, but all the water that leaked was clean and we were moving out in 2 months so we were just ready to get out of there.

anyways the moral of this long story is.... i hope you moved your shit out of the water AND they should pay for any damage to your apartment.

7/27/2007 10:58:43 AM

^^^ You're a fucking dickhead. Stick to fighting fires and being a racist douchenozzle. You'd make a piss-poor lawyer.


1. It wasn't a pipe that broke, it was an inept repair performed by one of the maintenance men on the dishwasher upstairs that caused the apt above to flood for a week and a half before breaking through.

I know this for a fact because it was mentioned to me by not one, but THREE of the complex's maintenance men. Who knows which of them did it, but the fact that all three, plus the guy who lives in the apartment above was actually the one who found the problem and fixed it before anyone showed up, is more than enough to provide me ammo.

I can guarantee that any lawyer in the world would agree with the apartment complex being liable for that.


2. It's in my lease agreement that there will be a 24 hour man on site. Again, a legally binding contract between the complex and myself. They broke that contract. I am entitled to compensation. Any lawyer would agree.




I can promise you, as I have been through numerous other party-fault insurance issues, that if I push this, I will win. The apartment complex has insurance to cover their ass in the case of things that happen that are their fault. Even though the common conception is that the complex's insurance will not cover anything damaged, any complex in their right mind would prevent their premiums going up by preventing a legal fight. It costs much less to give me 2 months free rent than it does for them to go to court with a $300 an hour lawyer.

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 11:00 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 11:00 AM. Reason : .]

7/27/2007 11:00:12 AM

Quote :

"2. It's in my lease agreement that there will be a 24 hour man on site. Again, a legally binding contract between the complex and myself. They broke that contract. I am entitled to compensation. Any lawyer would agree. "

But does the lease guarantee a specific response time, or just that you will be able to reach someone?

7/27/2007 11:40:15 AM

It doesn't have to guarantee a response time. If it says "on site," and the guy who replied wasn't on site, then I win by default.



One would assume that the on site person would come by in a reasonable amount of time, hence them being on site.

7/27/2007 12:00:00 PM

yeah my a/c broke a couple of years ago and the lease stated that it was considered an emergency if the outside temp was >85deg. called after hours maint. they were there in 10 mins. that's good service.

sucks that your apartment complex sucks yo.

7/27/2007 12:13:38 PM

Quote :

"Again, a legally binding contract between the complex and myself. They broke that contract. I am entitled to compensation. Any lawyer would agree."

Not neccessarily. Violation of a contract does not automatically entitle the other party to remuneration. You have to prove damages...and you have not mentioned any substantial damage to your personal property in this thread.

'On-site' will probably be defined by whatever policy the complex has in place concerning the on-site maintenance man. For example, it may be acceptable for the on-site maintenance man to leave for meals, errands, etc. as long as he carries the duty beeper/cell phone. Even then, you'd probably have to demonstrate that the maintenance man wasn't otherwise engaged (e.g. making repairs in another apartment) and that any damages to your property were the result of him not responding in a reasonable amount of time (i.e. your property wasn't already damaged when you called). Keep in mind that 'reasonable' is not a quantifiable value.

7/27/2007 12:22:34 PM

so can i get a better laptop or what?

7/27/2007 12:45:39 PM

^^ That's because it's not my personal property that got damaged, it was my roommate's. In this case when I say "I" I'm speaking for both of us."


The "on site" maintenance man actually lives and works at a complex 30 minutes away, as told to me by him when I spoke with him on the phone. All of that would be substantiated by employment and residential records, if it were to go to court.


Furthermore, the damages caused to items in my apartment may or may not have been caused by his delayed response, but they most certainly were caused by the negligence exhibited by the apartment complex's failure to properly install, maintain, and repair my upstairs neighbor's dishwasher.


They're really two separate issues:


1. Negligence on the part of the complex in regards to the cause of the flooding.

2. Failure of the complex to meet the binding agreement upon which they entered by being negligent in not having 24 hour maintenance staff on-site.


Pretty much, it's "I could break my lease because of #2 and sue you for #1.... or I can overlook #2 completely if you bend over backwards to accommodate me satisfactorily for #1."

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 1:11 PM. Reason : .]

7/27/2007 1:09:18 PM

only problem now is that you said that they should rather want to give you free rent then pay for a lawyer......i am pretty sure the complex has a lawyer working for them anyhow. So is it worth you paying for a $300 an hour lawyer?

I am sure this won't be the first time someone has "threatened" to sue. I have heard of many people having problems with stuff like this happening and whenever they bring up the lawsuit threat the apt complex basically says bring it on. Keep us posted on what they say though b/c i am interested to find out.

7/27/2007 1:27:26 PM

Quote :

"Pretty much, it's "I could break my lease because of #2 and sue you for #1.... or I can overlook #2 completely if you bend over backwards to accommodate me satisfactorily for #1.""

Absolutely wrong. A lessor's failure to uphold their end of the lease does not give you the legal right to break the lease. And again, 'on-site' will probably be defined by company policy and not by what you think 'on-site' should mean.

The only damages you might be entitled to would be the damage to your roommate's belongings. Nothing more.

7/27/2007 1:29:17 PM

well then what is the point of the contract

7/27/2007 1:37:31 PM

moral of the story: get renter's insurance that covers water damage, the best $10 you will spend a month....

7/27/2007 1:40:16 PM

How is a lessor not upholding a contract not grounds for breaking it?
If a lessee doesnt it gets tossed out the window, last I checked *all* parties involved in a contract are bound to it.

That's tottally non-specific to this situation mind you whether it's broken or not, but just sayin.

7/27/2007 4:11:13 PM

7/27/2007 4:26:21 PM

^^ If the lessee doesn't pay rent, the lessor is required to go through a (sometimes lengthy) legal procedure to evict the tenant. It's not an automatic "If the lessee doesn't pay the lessor may evict."

There is something similar whereby a lessee may apply to break the lease if the lessor fails to uphold his end of the lease. The lessee has to demonstrate that the lessor's actions have made the apartment uninhabitable and that the lessor has failed to correct any problems given ample time and notice. Again, there is a legal procedure that you have to go through--neither the lessee nor the lessor has an automatic right to break the lease if the other party fails to complete their contractual responsibilities.

7/27/2007 4:52:14 PM