Reply to Renter in house with burst pipe/ flooding

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[quote=Anonymous]You don't mention where you are.  If in DC, I just went through a similar issue with my landlord, consulted DC office of tenant advocate, a lawyer, etc.

The good thing is that he is at least getting the repairs done promptly.  But you are well within your right to abate rent of the portion of the house you consider unusable, and the above suggestion of an escrow account for that portion of rent along with certified letter is exactly the way to go.

In addition, I'd include in the letter, and in the abatement, reimbursement for any PTO you need to take to facilitate things (being reasonable: he is doing the repairs, so you have an incentive to facilitate them).  If you have a high hourly wage, that's his fault for not being present or having a property manager.

Finally, if he doesn't move on some of the repairs, or is negligent in fully remediating things, you can also abate rent and get those repairs done using abated funds.  Again, be very clear in documenting this.  For example, mold inspection/testing should  definitely be done following any the repairs to make sure things are OK and mold remediated if present, along, with, perhaps, HVAC duct cleaning if mold is present.

I was livid with the situation our landlord put us in due ot his negligence and in theory he was liable for significant sums if we went after him.  Unfortunately, the stakes are rarely high enough to make it worth pursuing.  However, the big takeaway from my legal consults was that you can use the law to take matters into your own hands and put it on the landlord to go after your escrow account, which a judge will never allow.[/quote]

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