Our Flooded Apartment

[mari1985]

Hello. My name is Mary. I currently live in a rhode island foreclosed, bank owned apartment. I pay my rent on time every month to a property management group that works with the bank that owns it. I live with one other roommate. We have been tenants in the building for 6 years and have been through many different landlords until finally the apartment building was foreclosed. The property management group has been in control of the building for 6 months. Today the empty apartment above us' pipes burst due to the cold weather and the lack of heat to the vacant apartments above us. The whole half of our apartment was flooded ruining many of my belongings and killing our pet fish. A plumber came by appraised the situation and called the property management rep, that handles are building, and told him that the building's main water pipes were blown due to the cold and that the building was unlivable. I soon after got a call from our property management rep telling us that we needed to move out the same day and that he would try and get us back half of this months rent (january). We dont' have any money for a security deposit elsewhere and this flood came as a total shock to us, obviously. I feel that it is unfair that he is offering no retribution for my damaged property nor reinbursement of last months rent or security deposit. In my opinion this is due to the neglect that was paid to the building. Is this wrong? What are we entitled to in a situation like this one? We have no place to go and are not finanacially prepared for this situation. Please Help! Many Thanks, Mary

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

I'm sorry that you're going through this. This is yet another incident that stresses the importance of tenants carrying renters insurance. Such insurance would cover the damages to your property and is often quite inexpensive (sometimes as little as $15 a month).

It is unlikely these pipes bursting have anything to do with neglect to the building. When weather is very cold water pipes are at risk for bursting. It would be nice if management could reimburse your rent for the entire month of January but it is a bank owned property and property management will likely need to speak with a number of folks to get anything approved.

Are there other units owned by this same bank that perhaps you can move into?

Gail