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Landlord Refuses To Fix A Leak, Gets A $8,000 Bill To Repair The Damage That The Water Did To Other Apartments
Usually people want to have their own home, but many of them have to rent as they can’t afford to buy property. While surely there are things that are very annoying and stressful that homeowners have to deal with, it is still not as bad as dealing with landlords.
Landlords are known to be cheap and not care about their tenants, such as CatheterZetaJones, a redditor that had to live with a leaking bathtub faucet that her landlord didn’t want to fix. But the story has a rewarding ending because the homeowner was taught a lesson that people who buy cheap buy twice.
More info: Reddit
RELATED:
A tenant got her revenge of seeing her landlord furious for ignoring her complaint about a leaking faucet
Image credits: osseous (not the actual photo)
The story was posted on a subreddit called Regular Revenge, where it’s not that much of an elaborate revenge scheme, but not too petty either, so just a regular one. The story may contain instant karma instead of a planned revenge story. The subreddit was created at the end of 2015 and has amassed over 50k members.
The story posted by CatheterZetaJones is the one with the most upvotes and has quite a significant difference from the second one, so it is a story worth reading.
The Original Poster (OP) begins with saying that her landlord isn’t malicious, but is not the brightest crayon in the box and is lazy. The landlord is the owner of a suite in a condo tower where each unit is individually owned.
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
After contacting him a few times, he finally answered her text and refused to fix the leaking bathtub faucet that had progressed into a stream
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
According to the American Apartment Owners Association, one of the most common complaints received from tenants are repair problems and the OP had the same exact complaint. She noticed that her bathtub faucet was leaking. Like any responsible tenant, she contacted her landlord to report the issue.
The landlord ignored the email, so when the leak started to get bigger, CatheterZetaJones emailed her landlord again. She suggested that she could call someone herself and save the landlord some hassle and he wouldn’t need to do anything, just to expect a smaller amount when she paid the rent.
Somehow the landlord still ignored the complaint, and it was important for the OP to get an answer in writing, especially about the part of being reimbursed the cost of the repair, but the OP had to send a text message because the leak had turned into a stream of hot water.
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
The tenant wasn’t planning on doing something either
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
She finally got an answer, but he wasn’t planning on checking how serious the problem was nor taking care of it. The OP felt she had done everything she could and the leak getting worse was not her responsibility.
After two weeks, CatheterZetaJones got a call from the condo board asking for her permission to get into her apartment as there was a leak coming from her suite and it was damaging several areas one floor below.
Obviously, the OP gave permission and a plumber came to her house to fix the leak. The condo board also called various other people to come and fix the damage the water had done in other suites.
But then the condo board called asking if they could enter her suite because there was a leak that was damaging the rooms on the floor below
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
The bill for all the repairs went to the OP’s landlord who was furious he needed to pay $8,000 but was shown it was his own mistake
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
But the satisfying part is that this whole bill of $8,000 that the condo board received for the repairs was for the landlord to pay. He finally contacted CatheterZetaJones but was in a tantrum asking why he had such a big amount to pay.
Triumphant, the OP forwarded him the emails in which he told her that he wouldn’t be fixing the leak. After that, the landlord didn’t have anything to say.
According to Rentec Direct, a property management software based in the US, tenants have the responsibility of reporting any issues that occur on the property and the owner’s responsibility is to react to those reports and to fix the issues as soon as possible. If the issue affects the health or safety of the tenant, they may be within their rights to not pay for rent until the issue is fixed.
Image credits: u/CatheterZetaJones
Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for CatheterZetaJones to get her leak fixed, but it undoubtedly caused quite some stress. People in the comments thought that this incident taught the landlord a lesson and were glad that the OP had a happy ending.
What were your thoughts after reading this story? Do you have any similar experiences with landlords not executing their responsibilities? Share them with us in the comments!
Other redditors though that the landlord received what was coming for him and others shared their own experiences
What do you think ?
buttonpusher 2 years ago
Know of a case where LL was tighter than a ducks a**e and wouldn't get anything fixed properly. There were problems with the pipes. He was being awkward as usual. Tenant went away for 2 days, came back and the house was destroyed. The pipes had froze, ruptured, thawed, ceiling collapsed and the place was flooded. She just grabbed her belongings and noped out. Landlord was left seriously out of pocket for that. The place was pretty much gutted and had to be rebuilt. Only has himself to blame.
SewingStaffy 2 years ago
I don't know how to feel about this. In my tenancy agreement (UK), it says I'll do minor work. I've repaired many leaking taps to stop bigger issues.
kathryn stretton 2 years ago
But if it's a job needs a professional, like a plumber, and the problem is not your fault, the landlord must take care of his own property. Btw, I upvoted you because you may be right, depending on the circumstances. (U.K. too).
Load More Replies...
Jimmi Weed-jones 2 years ago
the most common move landlords make to trick a tenant into breaking a lease.
buttonpusher 2 years ago
Know of a case where LL was tighter than a ducks a**e and wouldn't get anything fixed properly. There were problems with the pipes. He was being awkward as usual. Tenant went away for 2 days, came back and the house was destroyed. The pipes had froze, ruptured, thawed, ceiling collapsed and the place was flooded. She just grabbed her belongings and noped out. Landlord was left seriously out of pocket for that. The place was pretty much gutted and had to be rebuilt. Only has himself to blame.
SewingStaffy 2 years ago
I don't know how to feel about this. In my tenancy agreement (UK), it says I'll do minor work. I've repaired many leaking taps to stop bigger issues.
kathryn stretton 2 years ago
But if it's a job needs a professional, like a plumber, and the problem is not your fault, the landlord must take care of his own property. Btw, I upvoted you because you may be right, depending on the circumstances. (U.K. too).
Load More Replies... Jimmi Weed-jones 2 years ago
the most common move landlords make to trick a tenant into breaking a lease.
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