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  1. #1

    Default Major Sewage Problems

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


    My name is Erica Marshall, I rent an apartment in located in Palm Coast Florida. I moved into this apartment at the beginning of September, the unit was brand new, never lived in. When the apartment was shown to me, the toilet was running, and I was informed it would be fixed, no problem. A week after I moved in, the guest bathroom had been used once, the following morning, my laundry room flooded, the toilet wouldn't flush, and the sewage had backed up into my bathtub!! I called the office 6 times and no one would answer, when I tried again it went to voice-mail, I left a message and no one called back. The next day I call them back and they told me the maintenance man would be down to fix it. While I was out of my house, the maintenance man came into my home and shut the water on to the toilet and he left. I come home to a flooded apartment. The bathroom, hallway, living room, and guest bedroom where all flooded with about an inch of water. My schools books got soaked, my TV stand, my rugs, the bottom of my computer tower, my boxes that were yet unpacked and at this point I had a load of laundry that was sitting in my washer for a day and now wreaked of mildew. This is on labor day, I call the maintenance man back frantically, he rushes down and calls a water extraction man. He told me that they have had problems out of the end unit apartments a few times. The man shows up and extracts the water, he informs me that the 4 huge blowers and humidifier need to remain on for at least 2 days or their would be mold. That night my power started blowing out, I had to reset the breakers 3 times from all the power the blowers were using. I call the next morning to inform them of this and the office made the water extractor pick the blowers up. So they were not even in the house for no more than 24 hours. The plumber who built the piping showed up and spent over 3 hours trying to figure out what was wrong, he couldn't find anything. All he said is that he was pulling paper out. So he called out Roto-Rooter. During this time I look in the tub to find the maintenance man had thrown my bathroom rug into the tub filled with sewage!! The Roto-Rooter plumber pulled up the toilet, and sent the snake down and said he couldn't see what it was but thought he had pushed it on down the pipes and flushed it out. The maintenance man washed my rug and put it on my door step after I told him to just throw it away, I don't find that sanitary after it was sitting in sewage for a few hours. About a week later, it happens again. The toilet won't flush and it's in my bathtub again. They call out a plumber from the company who built it ( I believe he was the owner). He accused me of flushing tampons down the toilet. First of all, There is only a male who uses that bathroom, and secondly, I have a medical disorder where I do not get my period. A few weeks later and it happened again, (October 15th,2009) , I called the office to inform them of the situation, they told me the plumber would be on his way. 3-4 hours later I call them back and the manager tells me that the plumber won't be here until tomorrow ( October 16th, 2009) that she thought she heard the girl tell me today and she was wrong. So now, once again, I have sewage sitting in my bathtub for another 24 hours and the smell is overwhelming my apartment. I had called them back and asked if there would be a way to switch my apartment, considering the amount of times this had happened and the problems it is causing. She told me that they had to find out if this would be a reoccurring problem first. This is the 4 time in a month, it seems reoccurring to me. By the time the plumber showed up the following day the sewage had drained out. The plumber and the manager show up, she told me that they had the same problem in the clubhouse, and he told her that it was tampons then too and that after 8 different appointments with the plumber they found out it was some sort of equipment to do with a nail gun that had been lodged in the piping during construction. This time he sends down the snaked and pulls up paper. They proceed to tell me that this is all my fault that I have been flushing paper towels or some sort of wipes down the toilet. It sounds like common sense to me that, if there is something lodged in the piping that yes, toilet paper will not be able to move paste it and you would be pulling that up. That happens every time a plumber comes out. You can't tell me that everytime this happens it's from toilet paper. I know better than to flush wipes or paper towels the toilet. I'm not a child nor was I raised in a barn. They had called Roto-Rooter out this time as well because the plumber said the snake he had wasn't long enough. Upon arrival the Roto-Rooter plumber started asking the plumber questions about the piping and how many apartments were connected to my pipes, The plumber who kept accusing me couldn't answer him and became very defensive and told them that he no longer needed their services that he fixed it himself. When I spoke with the Roto-Rooter plumber, whom has been plumbing for 40 years, he told me that there wasn't proper filtration from the outside and that he believed there were several apartments linked to mine and that the problem had to do with the pipes.

    I wrote a letter to their corporate office explaining the whole situation and they just forwarded it to the manager here. She responded with a sad list of badly misinformed facts. She said I never left messages, that all of the plumbers said it was feminine products, and there was one item in the letter, some sort of conversation she stated we had about section 8 and school loans, which wasn't me. It's not the first time they thought they had a conversation with me and it turned out to be someone else. Now she wants to come after me for all of their plumbing expenses.

    This place is a nightmare, I know they are in the wrong, I know I didn't do anything or put anything in that toilet that shouldn't have been. I mean it started before I even moved in. I feel like I'm stuck in a horror movie, a room with no windows or doors.

    point blank, I need to terminate my lease. Any suggestions?


    Thank you!
    -Erica M

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Major Sewage Problems

    If this is new construction there should be plans or schematics available somewhere that show how the plumbing interconnects. It would seem odd for something flushed down somebody else's toilet to block only your sewer line. If this was new construction, however, the problem may have started before you moved in - I've seen construction workers flush the darndest things down toilets.

    If I am to understand, you had a serious plumbing problem that is now fixed, and the problem related to the flushing of paper towels (by somebody) so it's not actually a defect in the unit. And even though it's now fixed you want to move out because... I'm not sure. I don't personally see that you've stated any grounds for escaping your lease.

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