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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1

    Default Is There a Way Around This Bill

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Florida. Sorry if the story is too long; I tried to include most of what I think are important.

    A month ago, I accidentally tripped and bumped into the refrigerator causing the pipe in the back to break. Water was gushing out like there was no tomorrow. I tried to see if the pipe could reconnect but it didn't. So I told my roommate what was happening and we called the main office and told them what was going on. A few minutes later, a girl from the office came and tried to solve the problem. She explained that the main water switch was in the locked closet by the kitchen. Unfortunately, she didn't have a key and had to call someone from the office who did have it.

    After another five minutes or so, a man brought the key and opened the closet. They located the switch and turned it off. But the water continued flowing out but with less pressure (about 60-70% less). Twenty minutes later, the resident director came and checked out the situation. Mind you that the water was still flowing out. She checked out the switch and turned it back on again. The water pressure went back to 100% and when she noticed she turned it back off. Again, the water pressure went down to 60-70%. She went where my roommate and I were at and the first thing she said was "Who is taking responsibility for this." I told her what had happened and wrote my statements.

    The water completely stopped 45 to 50 minutes after I original called the front office. They replaced the pipe to the refrigerator and I tried to take as many pictures of the broken piece as possible but the man repairing took it away from me and said that he needed it; he just ended up putting it in his pocket. Afterwards the fire alarm came on and we had to evacuate the building.

    After this chaotic event ended, the resident director told everyone that no major damage had occurred and that it was safe to go back into the building except for us and the people below us. The people that lived below us were relocated and the resident director told us we were going to be relocated for the night. The workers to drain the water arrived and proceeded to do their work. So my roommate and I went back to our room and packed some of our belongings. After waiting for the director downstairs, she told us that we were not going to be relocated and left. When we went back up to the flooded room, the workers draining the water were surprised that we were allowed to live in such an environment. They told us to be careful with the machines that were surrounding the living room and our hallway to our rooms.

    On December 2nd, I received a call from the front office telling me that the bill for the water damage is ready for me to pick up. The bill was about $1300 but we noticed there was a calculation mistake. So now they lowered it to about $950.

    My question is: Is there anyway around this ridiculous bill. I do not believe I should have been responsible for all of this damage when the pipe shouldn't have broken in the first place and that the main water switch shouldn't have released that much water for 45 minutes after it was fully closed. Also, I strongly believe we should have been relocated, isn't that against the law to have my roommate and I still living under those conditions.

    Thank you for reading my incredibly long story and taking the time to answer my questions.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    471

    Default Re: Is There a Way Around This Bill

    File a complaint right away, this is important so they cannot add late fees and charges or use slow pay to make you look bad. http://www.800helpfla.com/complnt.html

    Go to small claims court. This works like this: Call the county court and explain you want to go to small claims court. They send you an application and filing fee. You fill out the information pay the fee and are assigned a court date. The court setting is very informal (like the TV shows) and you state your case. Be sure to ask in front of the judge if they filed an insurance claim for the damages.

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