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Landlord Refuses to Repair a Flooded House

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  • 01-24-2018, 02:40 PM
    fgworld
    Landlord Refuses to Repair a Flooded House
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: TX

    We have been living in a rent house since last September. Before we moved in, landlord filed flood insurance claim due to Hurricane Harvey and claim adjuster came and complete the inspect and damage claim over $3200 in October. We have requested landlord to repair those affected walls in garage and storage room since September. As of today, landlord/rent agent still did not come to repair. They asked us to pay the inspector to come and if it is proved there is mold, they would fix it or we have to pay the cost of inspection and any related repair. Is it our responsibility to prove there is problem in house? There is some flood house smell in those two rooms and black substance found and cleaned in one of the wall. Without open all the walls, we can not claim there is mold. What should we do? File a lawsuit to get a court order to force landlord to fix the rooms or get a mold inspector check the areas first? Hopefully, the inspector can check out the bad smell without open the walls?
  • 01-24-2018, 04:27 PM
    fgworld
    Re: Landlord Refuses to Repair a Flooded House
    Thanks. I will contact city building inspection for assistance. I have the flood insurance claim document (Settlement Instruction for building repair estimate (detail repair for each room and cost). Can this be used as prove of damage of the house and need to repair?
  • 01-24-2018, 06:20 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Landlord Refuses to Repair a Flooded House
    Quote:

    Quoting fgworld
    View Post
    Thanks. I will contact city building inspection for assistance. I have the flood insurance claim document (Settlement Instruction for building repair estimate (detail repair for each room and cost). Can this be used as prove of damage of the house and need to repair?

    Prove to who?

    In court you would need whoever wrote it to testify.

    For any other purposes, it would probably do.
  • 01-24-2018, 08:11 PM
    fgworld
    Re: Landlord Refuses to Repair a Flooded House
    Prove the house was damaged by flood. Landlord refused to open the panels of wall to fix it. Most likely has mold because the flood water.
  • 01-25-2018, 09:01 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Landlord Refuses to Repair a Flooded House
    If you want rental premises repaired as a condition of your living in the premises, it's best to have the landlord make repairs as a condition of the lease and before you take occupancy. Otherwise, you open yourself up to this type of situation. Some people, you can take at their word. Others, you cannot.

    The fact that a wall has been damaged by water does not of itself prove a health hazard to the occupants of a home, nor does it mean that any mold that may theoretically be contained within the wall space poses a risk to occupants without a means for spores to escape from the wall space into the living space.

    A bad smell is not passing through now-dry drywall, unless there are gaps or holes in the drywall. If there is a bad smell without any openings into the wall space, consider whether it may be coming from other sources, such as carpet or carpet padding that was not properly cleaned and dried after the flooding.

    If you're lucky, your local government will inspect the rental property and order any necessary repairs. The nature and quality of inspection of rental property varies significantly across the country, and even within a state or county.
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