Renting Home: Horrible Plumbing, Can I Get Out 1/4 Into The Month?
I’ve been renting a basement suite for about 9 months now. Since the start, whenever the clothes washer drains water (three times a cycle) the kitchen sink backs up, almost to the top. The landlord knows about this, had someone inspect, but they have to bust up the flooring down here to fix the pipes, so she’s waiting until we leave. Just the other day it finally flooded, twice in one load (because I bailed water the third time into a large roughneck container). Now the water seems to be rising higher and draining slower… I want out of this place! It’s not fair that I should have to babysit the kitchen sink, making sure it doesn’t overflow. What if we weren’t home and the people upstairs did laundry!? Is there anything that I can do to get myself out while keeping my money (damage deposit and portion of rent)?!??! Help!
Tagged with: Home • Horrible • Into • Month • Plumbing • Renting
Filed under: Articles-Home Repair
Well, now that it’s actually flooding, give your landlord another call. Maybe NOW they’ll fix it. if they won’t, you should be able to get out of your lease, depending on the laws of your state. Google landlord tenant laws and your state to find out what the laws are there. That way you’ll at least know the laws and will be able to use that in your plan to move. If the sink is draining slower, it sounds to me like it’s probably clogging up, probably from the lint and such that the washer is draining into the pipes. Health laws in most states say that rentals must be liveable, and from the sounds of it, your home is quickly getting to the point where it’s not. Good luck
Call the health inspector and explain the problem. It is a code violation to have water backing up into a sink. I don’t even want to think about all the health issues that could arise. The landlord has to fix that or he can’t rent the place out.
i would say you can definatley get out of this. i know someone who rented a house and ended up finding mold coming through the bedroom walls. she called the health inspector and got out of it pretty quickly.
If you’re on a month by month arrangement, why don’t you just leave? Give notice at the beginning of the month and be gone by the end. No reason why you shouldn’t get your damage deposit back if you haven’t caused any damage. If you’re on a lease, I think I would talk to the landlord and explain that you think this is a health hazard(you can say you spoke with a health inspector without naming names, and do speak with one so you have the right ammunition), and that you would like to leave before the lease is up because of it, and in view of this health hazard and the fact that she needs the place vacant in order to fix it, perhaps it would suit everyone best if you just moved out with no penalty as soon as you find another place, and everybody’s happy. It doesn’t hurt to ask. You could also point out that if the sink overflows while you’re not there to babysit it, your belongings may be damaged. Your landlord might consider that losing a month or two of rent is cheaper and easier than dealing with paying for your stuff or dealing with an insurance company. As a landlord, I would think this reasonable and wouldn’t hold a tenant to a lease if the place needed major repairs.