Water leaked from broken pipes in laundry room and ruined my mattress. Is the apartment responsible?

Question

My mattress was not on a bed frame so it was on the floor, which is how it got ruined. The floor in the laundry room (right next to my apartment) had a huge pool of water when I went in to do laundry, but the machines were working fine (aka that's how I did my laundry). When I told the office workers my mattress was ruined and I required a replacement they said "oh well someone cut the washer lines so it was their destruction of property and not our fault." Except that couldn't be it because the washers were functional (all two of them in the laundry room). When a repair person came in to take a look at my bedroom floor yesterday, he told me nothing about any criminal activity, and said that a certain pipe had simply been dislocated and had been spilling water onto the floor and just needed to be fixed. Never mentioned any cut lines, and the washing machines haven't been worked on or replaced since I saw him yesterday. Basically, the stories are changing based on who I talk to, and when I look in the lease, it says they aren't responsible "unless such damage is the proximate cause of the negligence or unlawful act of the Landlord, its agents or employees." I had spoken to them about a loss of hot water last Thursday as well, which I was told today was because of this malfunction in the laundry room. So clearly it was a maintenance issue the apartment managers are responsible for that caused the flooding that ruined my mattress. Are they responsible for replacing my mattress?

Answer 1

Just write a letter, one certified and reqular and tell them either pay for the replacement or you'll file a claim in Small Claims Court. Give them 30 days to respond and make 2 copies of the letter for your files. If they do not respond, then take them to court and bring the 2 letters with you.

Answer 2

YOU are responsible for any damages to your belongings. The landlord is only responsible for repairs to the building or landlord-owner owned equipment. Your belief that the landlord is responsible because he failed to maintain pipes or something in the laundry is farfetched and illogical. It makes no sense to repair something before it breaks and he would have no way of knowing when it is going to break anyway. It is a totally unrealistic expectation to expect that he would have known in advance that something would break in the future, at just that time. Accusing him of negligence is ridiculous. Regardless, he is never responsible for your belongings under any conditions and in any circumstances. If you want them covered, you buy renter's insurance. The bottom line is if you want a new mattress, you have to pay for it yourself.

Answer 3

you should have had insurance. go to a lawyer and pay $200 to find out if you can sue.

Answer 4

There may be evidence that the problem you reported was handled negligently, leading to your loss. All you need is proof that they didn't use reasonable care under the circumstances, EVEN IF WAS CRIMINAL ACT OF A THIRD PARTY, which resulted in damage to your property. The only thing different from having renters' insurance is that the insurance company already has investigators and attorneys for suing the landlord -- you have to hire your own. It will cost you more than a replacement mattress, unless someone else is ordered to pay. In my state, attempting to thwart your lawsuit by lying about the leak could be an "unfair and deceptive business practice" for which you would sue for TRIPLE damages and for your attorneys' fees.

Answer 5

no the landlord is not responsible for your property in his rental, your renter's insurance does that

and leaving the mattress on the floor was a very bad decision by you, it would not have been damaged if it was not on the floor

Answer 6

yes, take them to court. If you have renters ins. make a claim and let them deal with the bldg.

Answer 7

Claim on your insurance and the insurance company will investigate

Answer 8

The apartment is responsible. Put your request in writing so that it is documented. Then ask them for the police report so that you can properly get reimbursed by your insurance company (even if you don't have renters' insurance like you should). If they think it was vandalism they need a police report b/c there was damage.



Given the fact they have a laundry room next to a bedroom with no added water sealing protection they are in the wrong again. Have they repaired the wall between the rooms? Expect mold problems soon.



Contact a local news 'We're on your side' type of segment.



BTW - 'aka' means 'also known as' and makes no sense in your context.

Answer 9

No, the apartment is not responsible. A leaking water pipe is NOT due to lack of maintenance. (What are they supposed to do to find a pipe which will leak in the future?) Sadly, such situations do occur, and that is why renter's insurance is made available.

Answer 10

Unless they were negligent in some way (I.E., you repeatedly notified them of water stains on the wall and they disregarded you) they are not liable.

Answer 11

Yes the landlord is responsible. I expect he is claiming on his building insurance (assuming he has some) so he should add the cost of your mattress to the claim. So write/email asap asking for recompense for the mattress. If he doesn't play ball start a claim in the small claims court. Advise him of your intention as it may concentrate his mind.

Answer 12

No they are not responsible for your mattress. The repair man not saying anything about deliberate damage or confirming their storing is not proof and means nothing. No repair man should EVER tell tenants the cause of a problem. They should never be discussing anything with the tenant other than common pleasantries.



"So clearly it was a maintenance issue the apartment managers are responsible for that caused the flooding" NO NOT clearly. You have no proof of negligence or that they did anything to cause the pipe to break. Lack of hot water is no indication at all that there would be a problem with the water line to or from the washer. There is absolutely no obvious correlation between the 2. They had absolutely no way of knowing that the 2 were connected until the plumber got there.



"If a pipe leaks on Friday (when the giant pool of water was there) and it isn't fixed by Wednesday (when I went in again to follow up about my ruined mattress) that is negligence. " Bullsheit, no it is not. Plumbers do not come the minute they are called, they rarely come the same day and sure as hell don't on weekends unless you pay out the wazoo for it. Taking a few days fora plumber to get there & fix it is NOT negligence! It is a fact of life in the real world.... try joining it.



Yes this sucks. But guess what?! SHEIT happens & someone is NOT always responsible or liable.

Answer 13

The tenant is responsible for his own property and should purchase renter's insurance for these situations.

Answer 14

The repair person said "certain pipe had simply been dislocated and had been spilling water onto the floor and just needed to be fixed."

- How do you think it got dislocated? Someone either physically moved the washer causing the pipe to become dislocated or someone physically dislocated the pipe (unless you had a major natural disaster lately).



But it does not matter... the landlord is not responsible for your personal belongings "unless such damage is the proximate cause of the negligence or unlawful act of the Landlord, its agents or employees."

= this means unless they actually did or didn't do something they aren't responsible for your belongings. Examples:

a) if the maintenance man purposely disconnected the pipes and you know this happen = then the landlord would be responsible.

b) if they were aware the pipes were leaking and did not correct them, then they would be responsible (if the pipes were leaking and no one told them, they would not be)



It would not be any different if you had renters insurance. Renters insurance comes with a deductible of $500 - $1000 depending on the policy you purchase. Sears has 25 name brand queen size mattress in stock for under $500...





Add' info in response to your comment to Ace:

a) did you or anyone else notify them that the washer was leaking on Friday. If not, how do you know they knew about it (per your comments, I guess you did)

b) maybe they did know. maybe they had someone fix it. maybe that person made an error when fixing it. that is still not the complex' fault unless the complex knows that the repair person purposely didn't fix it correctly and have it re-repaired.



On a side note, I know it sucks that you have to deal with this. Unfortunately, stuff happens periodically and we all have to deal with crap like this sometimes.

Answer 15

It's your responsibility. no one is forcing you to live there and no one ruined your mattress except you. It's your fault for putting the mattress there and your fault for not noticing. No one is stopping you from fixing the plumbing yourself. Stop trying to blame other people. Yes, it is the landlord who should be taking care of the place but this is stupid. You're upset over a mattress getting ruined! A mattress? How much did the mattress even cost? $500? $6000? Just be more careful and be grateful you have somewhere to live.

Answer 16

they should be insured for this kind of stuff - if they dont protect their machinery you cant be at fault.