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My husband and I awoke Saturday morning to the loud banging of our landlord at our door. When my husband went to the door and cracked it open to see what was the matter (we weren't dressed yet, so he didn't open it all the way) the landlord was at our door and started screaming at him complaining that he'd been trying to reach us by knocking on the door a few times over the last hour. (I'm not sure if this is true, as we were asleep on the other side of the apartment from the door.) My husband explained that it is a Saturday morning and we usually sleep in that day and we never heard him knock earlier. The landlord explained that there was a HUGE leak in the unit below us and it was an "Emergency Situation" and he needed access to our guest bathroom immediately. My husband granted him and a younger man that was with him access but warned him things were a little messy. The landlord replied saying that he didn't care about a mess, he just wanted to check if we were leaking and shut off the water. My husband lead him into our guest bathroom and discovered that the toilet had started overflowing in the night while we were asleep. There was about 1/3 in of water on the tile floor and the toilet was visibly still pushing up water, along with bits of toilet paper and such. The landlord started cussing out my husband - not bringing up anything specific just yelling obscenities. He yelled that he needed something to get the water up with so my husband grabbed our mop and brought it into the bathroom. The landlord took the mop, then threw it into the floor and yelled "That's not gonna work! Don't you have some towels!" So, my husband went and grabbed a few towels and brought them back to the bathroom where he started cleaning it up himself. Then he asked if we owned or rented the unit. When my husband told him we rented, he said he should have checked that before coming. (The complex we're in has some owned and some rented units.) The really disturbing part is that while walking back to the bathroom with the towels, my husband had heard a camera picture taking sound and thought that was odd. When he entered the bathroom he saw the landlord snap another picture with his phone and then quickly put it away. The landlord didn't explain why he was taking pictures of our overflowing toilet nor did my husband ask - he was surprised and wasn't sure how to address it. Then the landlord said he needed a bucket and left my husband in the guest bathroom still cleaning up the water with towels and went to our kitchen alone and picked up a popcorn bowl of ours from the sink and brought it back to the bathroom and started using it to empty the dirty toilet water into the tub. The entire visit was probably 5 - 7 minutes but we were left feeling violated and wondering what exactly he took pictures of and why. The guest bathroom sink was a little dusty, the inside of the toilet could use a scrubbing (mineral ring) and there was a trash bag beside the toilet that had bathroom trash in it (empty toilet paper roles, soap bottles, used tampons, dirty tissues) that was full. The landlord left saying that he would be back with a plumber on Monday - still seeming very agitated. Should we be worried?? And worried about what, exactly?
You seem to be unconcerned about the toilet that overflowed on your watch. How do you think the people in the unit below feel with your toilet water raining down on them.
I had no problem reading your text.
Pictures were likely for the insurance claim they will have to make. The guy didn't know if you owned or rented means it might not have been your landlord maybe just a maintenance guy. You could be held responsible for the overflowing toilet and the damage it causes if it resulted from a clog. The signs of paper show that the toilet was clogged and you guys just let it run, who doesn't hear a toilet running they aren't quite. Hope you have renters insurance.
Pictures were likely for the insurance claim they will have to make. The guy didn't know if you owned or rented means it might not have been your landlord maybe just a maintenance guy. You could be held responsible for the overflowing toilet and the damage it causes if it resulted from a clog. The signs of paper show that the toilet was clogged and you guys just let it run, who doesn't hear a toilet running they aren't quite. Hope you have renters insurance.
this times 100.
Yes, your post was a pain to read...so please use paragraphs next time.
You will be held responsible if it can be proved that you were negligent in any way. Read your lease..it might address the banning of certain items being flushed and if they find these items (condoms, tampons, baby wipes, adult wipes etc) you will get hit with the bill
I sure do hope you have renter's insurance and if you don't...get it after your clean this mess up.
A dirty bathroom isn't the problem the overflow is and most likely you will be liable for the damage. He would not be taking pictures if he didn't need them for an insurance claim. That's why people who rent have renters insurance.It provides for loss to the renters and the loss to a landlord. The drain was clogged from your unit so you or someone wasn't careful with what or how much they tried to flush. If you had guests it could have been one of them but it's still you held responsible.
IS there another person above your unit? It could be that they clogged the drain and water will come up in your unit. It could be the stoppage was past your unit and it back flowed into the unit below AND your unit. Where was the clog at? Between your unit and the one below with nobody above you? You most likely caused the back flow. Is this a shared drain between you and other units? In some units if it's a 4 unit square they put bathrooms in the corner on each unit where all the units meet so the water lines and drains are all together. Makes it easier at build time.
Now granted if you were the one who caused the clog by flushing things down the toilet and you don't share drain with other unit then you may be held responsible for the damages. Especially if you had a running toilet and ignored it
Last edited by Electrician4you; 12-13-2015 at 09:19 AM..
There was not a trash bag inside the toilet, there was a bathroom trash bag in the bathroom in a corner beside the toilet. As for the questions about a potential clog, our toilet was not running and when last used flushed like normal. There was not tissue in the toilet until the water 'backflowed' and a small amount of toilet paper was pushed up from the pipes into our toilet and bathroom floor.
I'm not a plumber so I have no idea if that means the pipe was clogged/could be something else. It was very obvious that our toilet had not been backflowing for very long, probably an hour at the most. Can they claim we were negligent/responsible for the leak when our normal functioning toilet started backflowing and they knew about it within an hour?
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The entire visit was probably 5 - 7 minutes but we were left feeling violated and wondering what exactly he took pictures of and why. The guest bathroom sink was a little dusty, the inside of the toilet could use a scrubbing (mineral ring) and there was a trash bag beside the toilet that had bathroom trash in it (empty toilet paper roles, soap bottles, used tampons, dirty tissues) that was full. The landlord left saying that he would be back with a plumber on Monday - still seeming very agitated. Should we be worried?? And worried about what, exactly?
