Our rental property has major water leaks that our landlord denies. Our HRUBS (water and sewage) bill has exceeded $2000.00 for 8 months of service. The previous tenant’s bill also exceeded $2000.00 so I am sure the landlord was aware prior to renting to us. He refuses to locate the leaks and repair them leaving us responsible to pay for his negligence. He also was aware of the plumbing issues (pipes run to smaller pipes causing constant backup in sinks and sewage overflow out of the grinder onto the driveway) but did not warn us. He only protected himself in the lease by stating the tenant is responsible for normal plumbing maintenance knowing very well that the plumbing issues were not normal. There are many other issues, do you think I can sue for negligence?
NORMAL PLUMBING ISSUES MIGHT BE A LEAKY PIPE UNDER THE SINK , A CLOGGED DRAIN THAT IS FIXED WITH DRANO TYPE PRODUCTS BUT THE PROBLEMS YOU ARE DESCRIBING SEEM TO SURPASS THE LEASE AGREEMENT OF NORMAL PLUMBING ISSUES SO I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND CONTACTING A LAWYER TO RECOVER ANY EXCESS FUNDS THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO PUT OUT DUE TO THE MAJOR PLUMBING ISSUES
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You’ll have to document the problems first. Try calling the city building dept and request an inspection.
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I think that you need to first move out, if your lease is up, and then seek and attorneys advice.
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call your housing authorities. they can help you out. report him to them. i never knew of anyone paying for the water bill. usually that is covered by the landlord because it’s small. in your case, just start by reporting him and take it from there. also, yes, get the building inspectors out there. he will have to fix problems or be fined. slumlord is not cool
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NORMAL PLUMBING ISSUES MIGHT BE A LEAKY PIPE UNDER THE SINK , A CLOGGED DRAIN THAT IS FIXED WITH DRANO TYPE PRODUCTS BUT THE PROBLEMS YOU ARE DESCRIBING SEEM TO SURPASS THE LEASE AGREEMENT OF NORMAL PLUMBING ISSUES SO I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND CONTACTING A LAWYER TO RECOVER ANY EXCESS FUNDS THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO PUT OUT DUE TO THE MAJOR PLUMBING ISSUES
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you have several choices;
a; sue for fraud–in small claims
b; you are not responsible for normal plumbing issues; the LL is
thus, find a plumber who is licensed; and get his bid for
repairing whatever you feel is wrong. IF you like his
bid, hire him and pay it. [it is totally acceptance to
put his fee or most of his fee into escrow since your
situation relates to the billing system of water flow. IF his
work solves the problem, escrow will release your paid fee. If it
does not, he gets nothing.
I*F you go this route, you then [after he is paid] make a copy
of the paid invoice and in the following month, when
rent is due, pay rent minus the amount you paid for
REMEDIATION. if he evicts you for doing this, you can win
3x that in a court action for A SUIT FOR RETRIBUTION.
available to guide you further
[you could find a replacement tenant in a sandwich lease
but that just pawns the problem off onto others]
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RE broker
Contact an independent pipe inspector. Such as Hydro Physics of Erie in Erie, PA. Lot of information and movies on his website:
http://www.hydrophysicserie.com/
You may not live in Erie but you could probably locate the service once you know it exists.
He will run a camera through the lines in question and make a movie of the procedure. You get a DVD movie to take to court. If your plumbing in not up to code, and it sounds like it’s not, the movie will prove it.
Your lawyer could take it from there or just seeing the movie might help your landlord become more reasonable.
Cities have issues about leaking clean water into sewer line. It turns it into wastewater which then must be processed by the city sanitation plant.
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First, we send our high resolution color camera system through the pipe. As we push the camera through, we are viewing in "real time" the condition of the pipe via our video monitor. All information is recorded on VCD (Video Compact Disc) or VHS videotape at the time of the inspection for future reference. http://www.hydrophysicserie.com/