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Ill try and keep this short as possible. We're renting a condo in AZ, have been for over a year now. The owners are Canadian, and use a broker (whose company name shall remain hidden -- for now) who we pay our rent to, etc. Ill try and keep this short as possible! When it rains (which isnt often here), the carpet in our son's room would get damp and stink a bit. We complained about this when we moved in last year, as well as complained about the ceiling in the master bathroom, which was bubbled and deformed due to the upstairs neighbor's leaky toilet. When our son's carpet would get damp, we would run fans, and it would normally dry out in a day or two. Last year they sent out their "repair guy" who went into the closet, cut a hole in the wall, looked around, and left saying "we'll figure it out". NOTHING was repaired since then. Just a few weeks ago we had record rainfall in Arizona, and the carpet in both our closet and our son's room was absolutely soaked. And when I say soaked, I mean soaked! We frantically started removing stuff from his closet, and immediately called our broker. He sent out Stanley Steemer and told them we were to pay for the cleaning. What?!?! Excuuuuse me???? We refused, and they left. In the meantime our place began to stink to high heaven, and we couldnt dry out the carpet because it was saturated big time. The next day they sent out another person, who said we had to pull out the carpet, so we took everything out of our son's room and they ripped out the carpet. They also checked our closet and found water damage there, too, along with mold in BOTH closets. They proceeded to rip out the carpet in our closet and set up big heaters in both rooms. When we were removing items from our closet, we discovered our water-damaged laptop, and all of my college artwork covered in mold and destroyed by the water damage. Needless to say we were ticked off! The broker said they wont help cover damages because thats what insurance is for. I said, its negligence on their behalf, they havent lifted a pinky finger to remedy the water problem from the get-go! Anyways, during the "drying out" process, BOTH of our shelving units in the master bedroom ripped out of the wall and came crashing to the ground, so we had to also remove all of our clothes and possessions from our closet to add to the existing mess. Then the neighbor's toilet really decided to start leaking, and has opened up a 4" hole in our bathroom, and I can see black mold all over the place in there. Its now been over 2 weeks and they havent lifted a finger around the place, other than to rip out the carpets and dry out the place. I have family coming from out-of-state on vacation in 9 days, and Im afraid they wont be finished by the time they get here. How embarrassing?!?!
I guess my question is, can our broker be held liable for some of the losses since they were negligent? Id be happy with getting our rent lowered or being reimbursed for our laptop, etc, etc. I feel like we're getting screwed with, and we're not happy campers. Our place is an absolute mess, and my son cant even sleep in his room as its ripped apart, with fiberglass hanging out of the walls, etc. Our bathroom has a moldy hole in the ceiling, and we have all of our possessions strewn about our tiny condo.
Your landlord has an obligation to address and fix maintenance problems in a reasonable amount of time. If you go to the first "sticky" on this forum you'll find a link to AZ landlord tenant laws which will spell out what needs to be done and how you go about ensuring it's taken care of.
Unfortunately the broker was right in advising you that you're responsible for damage to your personal property. You should carry renter's insurance - the cost is minimal but obviously in this case it would have been invaluable. You are NOT responsible for paying Stanley Steemer or anyone else to fix damage which is the responsibility of the LL.
Anyway, read your state laws so that in future you'll know how to properly address such issues and what to do if the law isn't being followed.
There is no reason why you can't ask for a rent reduction in light of all the problems you've been experiencing - but reimbursement for damage to your personal belongings isn't going to happen. Good luck!
Your landlord has an obligation to address and fix maintenance problems in a reasonable amount of time. If you go to the first "sticky" on this forum you'll find a link to AZ landlord tenant laws which will spell out what needs to be done and how you go about ensuring it's taken care of.
Unfortunately the broker was right in advising you that you're responsible for damage to your personal property. You should carry renter's insurance - the cost is minimal but obviously in this case it would have been invaluable. You are NOT responsible for paying Stanley Steemer or anyone else to fix damage which is the responsibility of the LL.
Anyway, read your state laws so that in future you'll know how to properly address such issues and what to do if the law isn't being followed.
There is no reason why you can't ask for a rent reduction in light of all the problems you've been experiencing - but reimbursement for damage to your personal belongings isn't going to happen. Good luck!
Thanks for the info. Ive read the landlord laws, and feared the worst. Our renters insurance doesnt cover floods (I didnt think we'd honestly need flood insurance in the desert), but this wasnt really "flood" damage in my book, it was a building design flaw that the HOA was also made aware of... the gutter empties too close to the foundation, which when we got that monster rain, it overwhelmed it and flooded out our closets. Normal rain would just dampen it, but this was abnormal rainfall, hence the "flooding".
Can you get the owner's name and address? Many of those tax/property records are online now.
Write the broker (phrasing separated into paragraphs) with a copy to the owner. When you write the broker say things like, "as you know" "the last time you wanted us to pay for the building letting in water" "when you said we should pay..." so that the owner gets the idea this is ongoing and the broker is doing nothing.
(The owner might not care, though.)
Then that you intend to....whatever you intend. Sue? See a lawyer? Don't say something you won't really do. And you will ask for damages and from this point since the broker and owner know about this you know and will not do anything they are letting you know it is intentional. They rented under false pretenses etc. (Hey, maybe you can contact the previous renter.)
The owners knew about the problem a year ago, too, and were apparently told the issues were "fixed" by our last broker. I hope they didnt send money to have the problems fixed, as they werent! Now the owners are irate that they have to dump thousands into getting this place fixed, so thats why I believe the progress has been so slow. In any case, we have been living with a mess for too long.
Two weeks later and our place is still unfinished. Our family will be here tonight to visit and the drywall isnt finished and theres no carpet installed. You would think a month would be ample time to hang a little drywall, mud it, and install some carpet, no??? We're getting di**ed around so bad by our broker. Theyre not even offering to compensate us for the month we've lived in half our square footage (a bedroom, and two closets are ripped apart).
Did you read the laws about how to address maintenance/repair issues and what steps you can take if they're not done in timely fashion? Have you asked for any compensation for lack of use of the premises?
Ive read through the act, yes. There are some gray areas, Im hoping my lawyer can elaborate a bit. They havent even offered any type of reimbursement other than $35 a night for 3 nights for us at a hotel. Are you kidding me?!?! You cant find a roach motel for that kind of cost. Im livid!!!!
Then you counter-offer. Best you just put this in the hands of your lawyer. What are you waiting for?
I have emailed my lawyer this afternoon. He has already responded and asked for a copy of my lease. Im just curious what we can do to get reimbursed for the mess we've dealt with over the last month, and a string of unanswered requests for the past 14 months. I mean, cmon, it took them 7 months to finally hang our laundry room door, it sat in the hallway for 7 months. Theyre ridiculous!
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Just a few weeks ago we had record rainfall in Arizona, and the carpet in both our closet and our son's room was absolutely soaked. And when I say soaked, I mean soaked! We frantically started removing stuff from his closet, and immediately called our broker. He sent out Stanley Steemer and told them we were to pay for the cleaning. 
