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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    2

    Default Burst Water Pipes in a Rental Home

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Ohio

    I will attempt to make this as concise as possible.
    Other details are below, for context where required.

    · At what point should I consider contacting a lawyer?
    · What blame do we truly have in a burst water pipe event?
    · Should we even consider petitioning for recompense of purchased repair equipment, or personal effects?
    · What sort of Lawyer should we regard? ACLU, or something more immediate?
    · Does this sort of situation demand ASAP, or is waiting on something like the ACLU acceptable?



    I am sorry for the breadth of this, but I am admittedly worn now from lack of sleep
    and panic. Thank you very, very, very much for your time and consideration / opinions.







    Summary of events :

    My room-mates and I reported a leak from our radiator at 4am, soon as found.
    The building sent out a repair-man who turned the water off entirely, and left,
    claiming he would fix it later on, which he did, some 14 hours later.

    The problem is this. His turning the water off resulted in the pipes freezing and bursting.
    Once turned back on, the water sprayed through multiple lines, and at that
    point had bulged a break into the outer-wall, as well as flooding our apartment
    and those below us.

    Since this event, the management has blamed us religiously for the break,
    given we have not now nor ever heated the apartment, due to low income.
    Nor were we ever given any amount of information suggesting we should do
    so for any reason.

    Now we've been served with a 30-day remedy notice, blaming us for all damages.
    We've lost roughly $3,000 in possessions. Since the event the management has
    been badgering us, yelling at us ( quite literally ), blaming us, threatening that
    we've broken city ordinances ( which I cannot locate any of ) and so on.

    Furthermore, they have accused us of being horders, given we could not move
    all of our possessions out of the apartment for immediate repair, given we have
    no place to put them. The management at this point told us to throw possessions
    out to speed the process, glibly informing us that we would be compensated for
    absolutely nothing lost either, given it was entirely 'our fault.' All stories given
    by management change from ' It is your fault ' to ' we are dealing with this in
    several other apartments right now, we know what we are doing.'

    Were this not enough they demanded we work to shop-vac all possible liquid up,
    claiming they would normally do it, but they found our dwelling to be impossible.
    While not clean due to post-holidays, it is far from slovenly. We were often told
    " we will contact you with further instructions " only to be left waiting for 6 hours
    or more, then berated for not doing what they wished without instruction.

    The 30-day remedy is no trial as the place was dirtier than typical, and can be
    fixed easily. What concerns are the blames of all the damage entirely to our fault.
    I am left wondering if they will attempt to make us pay for it, on top of all of this.
    Additionally they asked if we could start spending the nights else where, moving
    our possessions out, and became irate when we responded we had no other place
    to go.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: When/Should You Contact a Lawyer [Burst Water Pipes ]

    Turning off the water is not the cause of the pipes freezing. While if the water was on and people used it occasionally it may have not allowed the water to freeze since it is more difficult to freeze moving water, the real reason the water froze is the pipes were not adequately warmed.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: When/Should You Contact a Lawyer [Burst Water Pipes ]

    Since their radiator was leaking I assume "turning off the water" meant "turning off the hot water heat."

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: When/Should You Contact a Lawyer [Burst Water Pipes ]

    You did state something that is odd. You said you never heated the space. If you mean you were in control of heating the place but due to inadequate funds, never spent any money to heat the space, you may very well be liable for the damages to the building.

    As as to your damaged posessions; if you had insurance, make a claim. If you didn't, you are likey out of luck. Based on your description so far I'm not seeing where the landlord would be liable for your damages.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Quoting flyingron
    View Post
    Since their radiator was leaking I assume "turning off the water" meant "turning off the hot water heat."
    I agree but the later statement of never heating the place suggests possibilities that would make that irrelevant.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: When/Should You Contact a Lawyer [Burst Water Pipes ]

    Absolutely correct. We did not heat the place before-hand, either. The
    maintenance-man did turn the radiator's water supply off, but it had never
    occurred to any of us to turn the heat on for the night. The maintenance
    man himself noted it was cold, commenting of as much, before he left. I
    had thought if heating were necessary he would have commented, or we
    may have received a missive of some sort.

    From what I have gathered from you all thus-far, it seems that was an erroneous
    assumption, sadly. Thank you very much for your individual time.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: When/Should You Contact a Lawyer [Burst Water Pipes ]

    We've just recently gone through a Polar freeze (even in the deep south) where places like Ohio have been below zero for the past several days.

    You believe you would have to be TOLD that heating is necessary in such type of weather?

    Gail

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