Sewage Leak & Landlord Compensation- What would you do?

Question

I have a friend who is renting an older but  nice single family home for  $1650  a month.  She has been there only three weeks when a major plumbing issue came up.  Raw sewage started overflowing out of the toilets, sink, bathtub and all over the floor.  The Owner/Landlord was apologetic.  He hired a contractor and crew who tore-up and trenched a channel in the garage concrete  to access the pipes,  trenched the front lawn, and tore up the kitchen floor and wall.  This went on for 3 weeks!  The contractor also used 5 new white bath towels to clean-up additional sewage in the bathroom without permission while gone at work.  During this time, she wasn't able to use or park in the garage, use the kitchen to cook ( she ate out for 3 weeks except for some microwave dishes) since there was no water in the kitchen and it smelled really bad, and there were a bunch of construction guys coming in and out, and the place was just a mess from different crews leaving junk behind after the day was over.  She even lent the plumber a hand holding clamps under the sink/toilet one evening because his guy left. --- My friend was patient and after all was done, the Landlord  only offered her a $25 Walmart gift card and a couple towels to replace the ones soaked in feces.  He apologized saying things were tight and  has other house issues to deal with at his permanent residence --- Does this seem Fair?  The person she is renting from also works in the same office as her. What would you do? Should he have given her a discount on that months rent? Or help out with the food costs of not having a kitchen to cook in? What is the  procedure in cases like this?   It's just upsetting.    Thank you

Mike Baker · Answer

your friend needs to find another place to live. The landlord is obviously more concerned about his bottom line. Guys like that are what "slum lords" are made of.

Jennifer T. · Answer

I am so sorry to hear about that!  How awful.  And yeah, her landlord is horrible and gives us all a bad name.  The fact that he chooses to overextend himself and not have appropriate cash reserves should not be her problem.

I think, at a minimum, he should give her back 50% of the rent for those three weeks PLUS reimburse her for the towels.

Diane Schray · Answer

I own rental property and that is absolutely criminal!  Rents should be prorated for the loss of quiet use and enjoyment of the property.

Pat L. · Answer

The city caused our basement to backup...$24,000 in damages & the tenants were accommodated in a motel for a couple of weeks.

We recently had the parents of a college educated daughter apply to have her move into one of our recently rehabbed vacancies. (The daughter works two jobs 1 mile from our apartment). Apparently the basement apartment she & the live-in, unemployed boyfriend moved into has sewage bubbling up through the kitchen sink whenever anyone above flushes. Not only was the smell tough to take but the boyfriend refused to move so they are still there?????

Lynn McGeein · Answer

It depends on the state and local landlord tenant laws and what remedy a tenant can ask for an uninhabitable unit.  I think the tenant should detail in writing what the extra expenses were and ask the landlord for a rent rebate to cover them, but she was in a better position to negotiate during the repair process than now that it's done.

Peter MacKercher · Answer

Well, that's an awful situation to be put through. The landlord didn't do a good job handling it, as we all agree. Losing the use of the kitchen and having raw sewage in the apartment arguably makes it uninhabitable, so I think the tenant would have been right to have gotten a hotel room and charged the landlord for that while the apartment was getting fixed. That didn't happen, so there's nothing to be done about that now.

As others have said I'd also suggest that she leaves and finds somewhere else to live considering the landlord's lack of concern about her. Things might be fine moving forward but if any other difficult situation comes up again she'll know what she can expect, and that isn't much.

Brian G. · Answer

I would give a significant reduction in rent, at least 50% but probably not charging anything for the 3 weeks the work went on due to the nature of the problem.   That's disgusting!

JD Martin · Answer

If I had to have that much work undertaken at a house a tenant was living at, over that period of time, I would waive/refund the rent for that month.

Russ Draper · Answer

I'd have given them 50% off, replacing good tenants is hard work and expensive.   Especially since they just moved in, they might be able to demand rent back depending on the state.

Sewage Leak & Landlord Compensation- What would you do?

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