Property Management Company

skinny90

Hi All,

I hope this is the right place post this.

I came home from a weekend away only to find my apartment was flooded due to a leak from a burst pipe above our apartment.

We also noticed that someone had broken into our apartment and left a note stating that they were here, left our bin over one of the leaks.

I rang the property management company right away only to be diverted to some guy who could only say he would take my number and get the company to call me on Monday. He said to ring my landlord as they will already be notified.

I spoke to my Landlady, she was not notified.

After speaking with the property management company here is a brief summery of what happened.

We left our apartment on Friday evening, no leaks/sign of leaks/water was present.

Sometime Friday Night our neighbors below our apartment reported their apartment leaking.

An emergency plumber came and initially thought our apartment was at fault. Apparently they could hear water gushing from our apartment. They broke into the apartment and left a note saying that they were here and we had a leak from above(apparently burst pipe)
We were not notified and neither was my landlady. I come home on Sunday evening to be greeted by all of this, the leaks were still coming through and in multiple areas with bins over-spilling.They left the apartment with the water contained in one bin but we have multiple leaks some of which have submerged power sockets in other areas.
One leak is coming through a fire alarm which is hard wired to the mains.
they have turned off the central heating for the building so that water coming in is reduced however we are still flooded and water is still coming in.
I spoke to the manager in charge of the leak. She could not more unhelpful. "Sure look its water, what do you want me to do".."i am not a plumber" were the kind of responses I got from her Apparently a pipe has corroded and in her words it will not be replaced and she is awaiting two plumbers to come up with another solution. The fact it wont be replaced means that I will be moving out.

I accept that these things can happen however on Friday someone broke into my apartment unauthorized only to contain water seeping down below us. That person then left Friday and did not fix nor attempt to fix the rootcause which is the pipe above us. so we still have water coming to apartment.

At no stage was my landlady nor was I contacted.

The result of this is now that we need to move out and look for a new place with no notice. This will further result in a lot of costs as Galway accommodation is crazy expensive with very little choice.

In terms of damages to belongings. I am wary of my TV being soaked, we plugged out the TV however when we got back the whole area was submerged, sockets and all were soaked from above so its likely TV is gone. Apart from that and a few rugs, towels I think we are ok.

I understand from a contract point of view my contract is with my Landlady
I spoke to my landlady who has been more than apologetic. Deposit and all that craic will not be a problem.

however does the property management company not have duty of care here?
They have broken into our apartment, they did not contact us and the issue is still ongoing. They have not stopped nor are they even trying to stop the water coming in.

The manager has already stated that this could take weeks if not months and even with all that they will not be replacing the eroded pipe.

Sorry for the long post

Any advice will be welcomed

Skinny

amcalester

I'd forget about the management company, your issue is with the apartment that flooded yours. Find out who the owner is, if they have insurance and put in a claim.

If the owner doesn't have insurance ask how he/she intends paying you for the damage.

skinny90

Hey,
So far, I have been told that the issue is due to a corroded heating pipe. The whole building uses a shared central heating system. Will this still fall down to the owner of the above apartment or to property management company who is responsible for building maintenance?

Thanks

Skinny

L1011

Shared elements of an apartment block are owned by the owners management company (a managing agent may be in place but they do not own the facilities). Your landlady is a member of the OMC. She needs to be involved in the handling of any claims

There will be block insurance but the excess is likely to be beyond making a claim worthwhile. You really need renters contents insurance wherever you are renting for personal item damage.

dudara

Moved to Accommodation & Property

dudara

skinny90

L1011 wrote: »

Shared elements of an apartment block are owned by the owners management company (a managing agent may be in place but they do not own the facilities). Your landlady is a member of the OMC. She needs to be involved in the handling of any claims

There will be block insurance but the excess is likely to be beyond making a claim worthwhile. You really need renters contents insurance wherever you are renting for personal item damage.

Ok but is it standard practice to send a plumber in and have that plumber break into someone's house without notifying me or my landlady and simply put a bucket under a leak and leave the apartment on a Friday only for me to walk in Sunday evening with a mess infront of me and water everywhere?

Lantus

The management company insure their building and only that so your belongings will only be covered by your own insurance.

Your landlords insurance may cover alternative accomodation. If they have any.

As for the door it's not ideal but the company have a right of access at any time to resolve these issues so can enter units without the owners permission if justified which in this instance it was.

By the sounds they are a little lax about it though. I would move on as quick as possible and be lucky that at least you can. A lot of people living there have to stay and an insurance claim will severely increase their premium and annual fees. If one pipe is corroded.....

And several months to resolve puts you very near Xmas soaking wet, damp and with no heating. Lovely.

skinny90

Thanks your right. what I'm annoyed with the most is that they broke in here only to leave it with leak still coming through and then not have anyone contacted or notified.

Lantus

Lots of factors may contribute. Size of system. Valve positions. Ease of access of pipe work. By the sounds the pipe may be hard to access as pipes are cheap so to say replacement is not an option is odd without further explanation.

skinny90

Lantus wrote: »

Lots of factors may contribute. Size of system. Valve positions. Ease of access of pipe work. By the sounds the pipe may be hard to access as pipes are cheap so to say replacement is not an option is odd without further explanation.

This is an old building with one central heating system for the whole building. No single apartment has its own boiler.

Lantus

skinny90 wrote:

Thanks your right. what I'm annoyed with the most is that they broke in here only to leave it with leak still coming through and then not have anyone contacted or notified.

You would need the landlords phone number or email and ideally yours. Did they have this info? Generally the omc only tends to have the address to write to.

Although they should have telephones but it can be very hard to get as a lot of landlords and tenants can be very reluctant to give this info out.

If they had your number they should of rung I agree.

skinny90

Hi guys
Sorry to bump this up and for the long post
So property management insurance came in to inspect the property the following week. Apparently they are not paying out.
So Basically In September the weekend of the flooding. Our apartment was broken In by some random plumber and all that was done was a bucket was placed under one area, a note left on the door and for us to walk into and deal with on Sunday when we got back. There was multiple of areas where water was coming down.
Granted that is out of our control however it still happened and it set the stones of what was to come.
In September we were told by the landlady that we were not to worry about that month’s rent. While we had major issues with the apartment that we were left to clean up ourselves, we could not get in contact with The landlady about that nor October’s rent, phone was off. She failed to inform us of her number changing. We were left completely to fend for ourselves and deal with the state of the apartment. Fast forward to December while I’m away on holidays I finally get a call asking about rent. I stated that I was not willing to the pay the full rent amount based on the last 2 months. Back and forth we go, we finally come to an agreement that we will discuss all of this when we arrive back from the states. In the mean time she will send someone in to have a look an repair. From what I have gathered she painted over the walls which I had to scrubbed the mold off. When she inspected it in September she said the wall would have to be plastered due to the water in there and now that has changed. Furthermore even tho we had agreed to let us on our holidays we were bombarded with calls demanding that we pay the rent by last Friday even tho we agreed to meet next week in person. We have mentioned several times now that we are both on holidays in America, yet keep getting calls and texts about rent even after deciding we would talk about it in person when we’re all back in Galway.
It is completely unreasonable to be calling us and demanding all this money due when we were left out of the loop for months, not one single phone call or text was made from September till last week. The conditions are the apartment were horrendous. We quite frankly, we are upset with everyone’s lack of concern for us, even though we all had a wonderful relationship. We have never bothered anyone and paid has been always paid on time with little or no issues I want to reiterate we are both very reasonable and easygoing. We have said it it Landlady last week that rent needs to be paid. We just want a justified rate for both October and November. Even by the sounds of what was done as a repair sounds dodge. However Im belivever in karma and all that,I get that October and November needs to be paid but am I right in thinking that it should be at a justified rate. Or should I have to pay in full. Like hypothetically if I tried to move out in September after the flooding they would still be out of pocket due to her being uncontactable.
I would appreciate any advice and sorry for the long rant
Skinny

whippet

it sounds like a total mess .. however - it is very clear that tenants never have the right to withhold rent. If rent is due you must pay it or you will fall in to arrears and may be a cause for the landlord to instigate termination of the tenancy if they were so disposed

skinny90

The whole situation is a mess. We weren’t holding the rent we simply needed communication on when this would be resolved. Like with zero communication What you do in the same situation?

Graham

skinny90 wrote: »

The whole situation is a mess. We weren’t holding the rent we simply needed communication on when this would be resolved. Like with zero communication What you do in the same situation?

It must be incredibly frustrating but you need to be aware that witholding rent can see you on the wrong-side of a termination notice very quickly.

skinny90

So where does the tenant stand on? Continue to pay rent whilst we have to deal with this all on going. We have made very clear that we are willing to pay the rent. We have plenty of justifiable reasons why we want a reduced rate for October and November.

Graham

skinny90 wrote: »

So where does the tenant stand on? Continue to pay rent whilst we have to deal with this all on going.

Legally speaking, that’s exactly what you should be doing.

It’s not particularly fair but it’s the only thing guaranteed not to end up on the unpleasant end of a termination notice.

That doesn’t mean you do nothing. Check out your rights with the RTB and the minimum standard for rented accommodation. Lodge disputes/complaints as appropriate.

skinny90

Graham wrote: »

Legally speaking, that’s exactly what you should be doing.

It’s not particularly fair but it’s the only thing guaranteed not to end up on the unpleasant end of a termination notice.

That doesn’t mean you do nothing. Check out your rights with the RTB and the minimum standard for rented accommodation. Lodge disputes/complaints as appropriate.

Thanks. Also Is there anything that could be done to have someone inspect the repair or is that RTB. When it happened literally water was coming through multiple areas down ontop of sockets and a fire alarm which was hard wired to the building. Since then all they done is pained over the plastered where it was withering and they but plastic blocking thing over one of the sockets making it redundant. The other socket which was lower was definitely exposed but not as much tho it is not blocked and I don’t want to test it either. The fire alarm remains disconnected and another one is pulled from the kitchen area where one was. A battery one has been installed instead.
Skinny