Water heater pipe burst in rental apartment: tenant and landlord responsibilities? (apartment complex, renter's insurance)
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We live in Michigan, in an apartment complex owned and managed by a large corporation (Village Green if you're familiar). It's a basic two-bedroom unit, with the water heater in a "closet" next to the kitchen area by the entryway. Over the weekend, it sprang a rather substantial leak, soaking the carpet in the entire kitchen area. We called the emergency hotline, maintenance guys came in, drained some of the water, replaced the water heater with a new unit and called a carpet tech to come in to assess/repair the damage. He arrived, pulled up a side of the carpet closest to that closet and put in a huge blower to dry it.
We didn't really lose anything in the flood, because we recognized it in time and moved everything into the bedroom, but the noise from the blower (think the loudest AC unit and then triple it), as well as the furniture now piled into our bedroom/living room has made the apartment uncomfortable to stay in, to say the least, so we locked the cats in the guest bedroom and spent two nights at a hotel, coming back on occasion to feed them and play with them. The carpet company will be back today to remove the blower and nail the carpet back down, so we've come back to the apartment, but now are wondering how to handle the situation.
I get full well that sometimes accidents are just accidents and nobody is at fault, but by the looks of our old water heater, it hasn't been replaced or even looked at in ages. Is there a prescribed time interval for the inspection of such items and, if so, how could we find out what it is or if inspection/maintenance had been performed? And if it hasn't been kept up, would it be reasonable to assume that the responsibility for the burst pipe lies with with the management company? I have no problem filing a renter's insurance claim, but wanted to see if that's the best course of action.
For what it's worth, the on-site manager has already told me that the apartment was not uninhabitable, because it was just the kitchen area and that the sound shouldn't have been a big deal, but that doesn't sit well with me. There is a provision in our rental contract that states we are not to be charged rent for the days on which the apartment is rendered uninhabitable, but I need information that I can use in order to claim it, so any help would be appreciated.
I believe an apartment has to have water, electric, heat and an operating toilet. I can't remember if the water has to be hot to be considered "inhabitable."
According to a decibel chart, 70db ranks between a vacuum, a screaming child and an alarm clock. Could you not have just used a different fan if that one was too loud?
I've lived with those fans in the past after a leak. They are annoying but do not render your home uninhabitable. You could have bought some earplugs at the drugstore to sleep with.
Did you speak with the management company about the situation before going to the hotel?
Did you speak with your renter's insurance about the situation before going to the hotel?
Did you speak with the management company about the situation before going to the hotel?
They are not around on weekends and I doubt they would have done anything for us, because to them a loud fan is just "white noise" (direct quote from the maintenance guys).
Quote:
Did you speak with your renter's insurance about the situation before going to the hotel?
No, but staying in the apartment really wasn't an option, so even if we end up being out of pocket on this one, at least we got two nights' worth of sleep.
I've lived with those fans in the past after a leak. They are annoying but do not render your home uninhabitable. You could have bought some earplugs at the drugstore to sleep with.
I sleep with earplugs as it is - they wouldn't have helped one iota.
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