Flooding in apartment- holding us liable for pipe burst
My roommate and I live in a leased apartment. Due to a water pipe burst couple weeks ago, the entire apartment got flooded with damage to all my personal property and several other units in the building. The lease office holds us liable since the water pipe froze and burst in our unit. They blame a big window being left open while we were away for a week. It is not true. All the windows were closed and all appliances unplugged before we left our apartment. The building is very old and we are not responsible for any equipment failure or damages. We have renters insurance with a liability of 300k. Adjustors are in the process of assessing damages. Our landlord states that the building damage could approximate a million$ and we would be responsible for costs exceeding 300k. My concerns are:
1) If damages exceed 300k and if they falsely prove us liable, we are in no situation to pay. Does their insurance kick in? How do we fight it?
2) We continue to pay rent, but the apartment is uninhabitable. Neither the landlord (lease office) nor our insurance will provide us temp relocation and currently we do not have a place to live. Do we approach a higher authority?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.