Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have rented a home in New Jersey and went on a vacation for two weeks. When I came back, I saw water flooding in the house. Looks like some water pipe broke on the roof above the kitchen and there is water in the basement, kitchen.... When I left the home, I reduced the temperature to about 66. We have a gas furnace in the house for heating and the home was cold when we returned. I dont know if thefurnace stopped working and so the pipe broke or if the pipe broke independently. We live in a 1940s home that doesn't have the best of maintenance. I do not have renters insurance but home owner has home insurance. Preliminary inspection looks like a huge loss work. How do these events work out. Does anyone have any experiencewith these types of situations.
I have never met a furnace of any kind that stops working, lets the pipes freeze & burst open, then magically starts working again.
Pipes can "break". Even in new houses. Even in warm summer months.
I had a boss, many years ago, who took a three week vacation with his family (lived in a brand new, custom built house) in the summer & came back to his upper kitchen cabinets on the kitchen floor & there was so much other damage they had to move out for close to 6 months. The mold remediation alone...
You are a renter without renter's insurance. Anything of yours that was damaged is not covered under the LLs homeowner's insurance.
It may be a little late now but just so you know, a renters' policy for $25,000 in coverage is only about $10-$12 a month from major insurers. I highly recommend it to all my tenants. When I rented, I always had a policy.
Is there a way to say definitely the cause for the pipes to break. Can I look at the pipes and say they froze and broke or it is just an incidental breakage. Can a plumber be able to say that definitely
Sahm, why do you care if it's not your house? Are you being sued by the landlord? If the pipes froze and are copper, a plumber will likely be able to identify that as frozen pipes have easy to identify characteristics.
Is there specific topic you want to know more in detail about?
At a very high level regarding various areas.
- Loss of possessions. No renters' insurance = you get nothing. Hopefully you didn't loose too much stuff.
- Fixing the unit. Unless you did it purposefully or what not, it should be LL's responsibility. In mean while its being fixed, you cannot inhabit the unit so you need to move out perm or temporarily and move back in after fix. Depends on your contract and how you want to work it out with your LL. $$ involved with this will also depends on contract and how you work with out with your LL. I'm sure lot of it will also depend on how long it'll take to repair it all.
Personally I've had experience with flooded unit. Upstairs neighbor didn't have his heat set to min. temp during winter, pipes froze, burst, and flooded 20 units below them. My unit required full rip out of baseboards, floor, new appliance (like laundry machine, fridge), etc. and contractors required 60 days to fix everything to make it habitable. I lived in 900 sq ft 1 bedroom in apartment complex. My lease contract has a habitation clause that if unit is not habitable which is LL's responsibility, I had option to break lease and move out or LL will need to provide temporary housing while unit becomes habitable and I move back in. During unit being made habitable, I pay no rent, LL pays for temp housing. Because it was only about 60 days, I traveled bit at that time for work, and no kids, it was actually kind of nice. Living out of hotel in NYC. All my possessions that was damage was loss because my renter's insurance had lapsed and I forgot to renew.
In my situation, because of my contract and no renter's insurance. I lost all my stuff that was damaged, I can't really go after upstairs' neighbor because its not easy to prove it was intentional all that jazz, my LL and I agreed to continue LL/renter relationship, LL paid for 60 days of interim housing, I paid no rent during those months, and LL paid me for move in & out of my stuff so they can repair. I assume LL's insurance covered all of this part and some out of his pocket. In return, I did him a favor by checking in on the unit during repair because LL lived in a different state and I helped out as his eyes/ear. Also far as I can tell, LL could not take the upstairs' unit owner to court because same deal with me. Can't really prove it being intentional blah blah and its common occurance hence insurance. so meh.
But every case is different. One of my colleague had her unit flooded and she had to take them to small claims court because they wouldn't take care of habitation and all that. And she lived in a luxury rental building that was run by a management company... Mine was a private owner.
If you have good relationship with your LL and your contract clearly states habitation clauses. You could work something out. If not, move out because if repairs aren't done correctly or too cheaply, you as renter may have to deal with some post repair headaches. Flooring installed incorrectly or crappily so some of it becoming loose or a nail popped out, appliances that was replaced or repair seems to have lot of problems so you have to deal with it. etc.
I have never met a furnace of any kind that stops working, lets the pipes freeze & burst open, then magically starts working again.
Pipes can "break". Even in new houses. Even in warm summer months.
I had a boss, many years ago, who took a three week vacation with his family (lived in a brand new, custom built house) in the summer & came back to his upper kitchen cabinets on the kitchen floor & there was so much other damage they had to move out for close to 6 months. The mold remediation alone...
You are a renter without renter's insurance. Anything of yours that was damaged is not covered under the LLs homeowner's insurance.
If that is what you are asking....
The newer furnaces have auto ignition. My understanding is that if there is a power outage, they shut off and then reignite after power is restored. You can't even light the pilot light with a match. I was quite perplexed when trying to test out a furnace on a property I bought last summer. Who would have thunk to read the instructions on the door panel? I'm glad I'm not the only one who had never heard of these new tangled Star Trek furnaces
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
