RicodJour wrote:
wrote:
Thanks, Abe, that's what I was looking for, some real world actual
experience, as opposed to "it's your own fault, what do u expect,
yaddda yaddda yaddda.
Why are you assuming my advice on the utility company reaction isn't
actual experience?
And it was the tenant's fault. When you're made aware of a potentially
damaging situation, and you ignore it, you've bought the situation.
Now obviously the landlord and utility companies won't know that you
explicitly warned the tenant about the water heater, but you and the
tenant do. Now it shifts from a question of home repair into the area
of ethics.
You're looking at a couple or three hundred bucks in utility bills.
And you and/or the tenant is looking for a way to slide out of this one
for free.
No, I'm more interested in who is legally responsible. I see small
claims cases regularly where a water or sewer pipe breaks, damages
tenants property and the landlord winds up having to pay. This seems
very similar.
As for who knows what, first, all I gave was my opinion. There is
nothing to say that my opinion or advice was right. I'm no plumber or
home inspector. It's also clear the landlord knew how old the water
heater was, because she has owned it the whole time.
Abe's situation was completely different. It was a hidden condition
where a rock pierced a buried water line. Ask Abe if he would have
ignored an ancient water heater after he had been warned about its
inevitable demise.
Personally, I'd be thanking the landlord for having a sump pump that
was in place and working.
Why should the landlord be thanked for having a working sump pump,
which the basement requires to begin with to keep it dry?
R