All Forum Posts by: Alexandria Dobbins

From what is sounds like the water stays in the system unless the heat on. But i just found that out after the fact. But i am not 100% sure. They haven't given me much information.

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We are the first to live in our unit and have done things the same way for the last three years. Water didn't used to pool above our unit but the building has settled and changed things. I have had rust in my vents every year and reported it to management as well as cracks in our walls that that haven't fixed. Our apartment even when we run ac is never below 66°. We run our ac because otherwise our apartment can get to be 80°. That is why we have never had to run the heat. I don't think it is well insulated because they have left the panel off and there is no sign of insulation and without the panel our apartment has been freezing cold. Our heater runs off of our water heater, something called an aquatherm system, so water is still circulated through it. When the pile burst we hadn't run our ac for a couple weeks so that is why I don't understand how they can blame that. We have been home the entire time and our apartment has been between 70° and 73°

Originally posted by @Bill S.:

@Alexandria Dobbins It's pretty straight forward, irrespective of specific lease language, that if you cause a problem in a unit that causes damage you are liable. If a pipe burst then it's likely because it froze. If it froze above your unit and you did not have the heat on, then it seems pretty logical to me that you were the cause of that. If that were not the case, it would have frozen every year for the past 100 plus years. Ice on the roof has nothing to do with it. It is also highly unlikely that the pipe would have frozen anyway (if you had the heat on) because there would have been a history of burst pipes in your unit.

Not sure why someone would run an AC in the winter. I can understand it being too hot in your unit as boiler heat systems are notorious for having imbalanced heating when they are not properly operated. But there are appropriate ways of handling that issue (written notices to property manager) that don't involve running the AC. If your unit is so hot, I find it impossible to freeze a pipe it would seem that we are not getting the full picture.

I hope you have renters insurance. If so, turn it over to them and hope they cover it.

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we currently live in an apartment and we had a pipe burst with our aquatherm system. The pipe is in our ceiling and we live on the fifth floor. Our apartment is saying we are liable for damages because we don't use heat often and we sometimes use our ac in the winter (never when it is freezing temps). Can they really hold us liable for damage to the property? I don't see how they can dictate when we can use our utilities. Our apartment gets so hot from the surrounding units there is no need to use our heat ever. I also know that water pools above our unit and then freezes at night. That seems more feasible as to why it froze. Any advice would be much appreciated.

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All Forum Posts by: Alexandria Dobbins

Alexandria Dobbins has started 1 posts and replied 3 times.

Post: Am I liable for a pipe burst

Post: Am I liable for a pipe burst

Post: Am I liable for a pipe burst