411on911sitch
New Member
I recently signed a lease in August for a 12 month period. 9 days ago (10.31.08) the water heater in the upstairs apartment malfunctioned and hot water was pouring down from the ceiling into our bedroom and bathroom, the upstairs tenants were not home. Not sure what to do at the exact moment we packed up what we could, called and left a voice mail on our landlords phone and stayed on a friends floor. 11.01.08 I called the landlord again leaving another voice message on his phone. I returned to the property to find the hot water still pouring out of the ceiling for over 24 hours, after three failed attempts at contacting my landlord I contacted a contracter to go up to the upstairs apartment to shut off the water, he told me that the upstairs floor would need to be replaced and our ceiling and walls would need to be gutted and replaced, he estimated the time to be at least 3 weeks of repairs. After that I contacted the local fire dept who came in shut off the breaker to the water heater upstairs, came and inspected our bedroom and bathroom and told us that we can not stay in the room because of pieces of the ceiling might fall down. They cut off the electric to our kitchen, bedroom and bathroom and placed danger signs on the upstairs breaker, and our breaker in our apartment. Our landlord finally got back to us on Sunday 11.2.08 at 2pm, I advised him then of the severity of the situation. He said that he went up to the upstairs apartment, and knocked on our door but we werent there, and said he left a note, he wanted to make arrangements to meet at my apartment on 11.3.08 at 10am. I advised him that we were unable to meet at that time due to our work schedule and could only arrange a meeting after 4:30pm, he then became aggitated because 4:30pm was not a convenient time for him he asked me where I was at the time, I told him that we were currently at a friends house due to the conditions of the apartment and the fire department advising us not to be in that area due to the ceiling could fall on us, he then decided that he would show up early on Monday 11.3.08 to evaluate the damages. I then returned to the apartment to find no note, and no evidence that he was there. On Tuesday 11.4.08 I drove by the apartment around 5pm after not hearing from him since 11.2.08 and noticed him there taking the old water heater out of the upstairs apartment. I called him and asked him if he had seen the damages in our apartment, he said no, had not been in there yet. I told him that we had no where to stay again, he finally said that there was an unfurnished apartment with electricity that we could go in and we could meet at 4:30pm on Wednesday to get the keys. 4:30pm on Wednesday 11.5.08 came and went with no meeting or contact or him seeing the damages to the apartment. With multiple failed attempts at trying to contact him from 11.5.08 until 11.7.08 we were finally able to contact him on 11.8.08, he demanded rent from us because of the costs of fixing the apartment, I told him we were going to put the rent in escrow. He became very angry and threatened me that I shouldn't do something I know nothing about and that he has done this hundreds of times I ended the conversation. 11.9.08 (today) I called him and left a message stating that we would like to settle this issue out of court and that we like to end the lease because we do not have the time nor money or energy to wait for the property to be suitable to live in when at this time he still has not come to evaluate or start working on the property. Mold has already started to grow, the smell is unbearable. He sent a text message back that stated if we break the lease that we need to pay two months worth of rent, and if we did not pay he would serve us papers at our places of employment. He said that it will only take 8 days to fix the apartment and he will provide housing for us until its finished. He still has not provided us housing. We are still homeless.
My question is wasn't the lease already broken at the time of the incident, due to the fact that he could not and has not provided us suitable housing? We are trying to move into another place but are afraid to sign another lease because we don't want to be stuck paying both rents. Secondly, what exactly is the time frame that we are to give him to make suitable repairs, he is telling me 8 days and a contractor is telling me 21? It has been 9 days and he hasn't even checked on the property yet. I don't believe that is suitable at all. Third, does he have any right to request his rent payment from us?
I'm so tired, frustrated and broke from all the hotels and extra expenses that we've had to endure. Thank you for your help.
My question is wasn't the lease already broken at the time of the incident, due to the fact that he could not and has not provided us suitable housing? We are trying to move into another place but are afraid to sign another lease because we don't want to be stuck paying both rents. Secondly, what exactly is the time frame that we are to give him to make suitable repairs, he is telling me 8 days and a contractor is telling me 21? It has been 9 days and he hasn't even checked on the property yet. I don't believe that is suitable at all. Third, does he have any right to request his rent payment from us?
I'm so tired, frustrated and broke from all the hotels and extra expenses that we've had to endure. Thank you for your help.
