Water Damage in my Apartment.

That Dave Fella

Just a little background information regarding where I am and what's been done so far.

I'm living in Ireland in an apartment complex. We recently had a few weeks of awful weather. This weather has caused some damage to the apartment building and in regards to my current apartment it's caused water damage to the roof.

We had the maintenance guy around and he checked our apartment out and the 1 above us for any burst pipes but there aren't any in that area of roof/floor. They claim that it's rain water damage because of the walkways to/from the apartments. The walkways are made up of slabs and they have spaces in between them. So when we were getting lots of rain water got into and underneath the slabs and froze, which seems to have cracked something allowing water into my apartment. We got really heavy rain which is what caused this water damage.

I wasn't here when it started but my housemate turned off the power at our fusebox to prevent any electrical damage and it hasn't and won't be turned back on until the water is gone.

The water hasn't stopped dripping from the roof and I was looking at it earlier and all the water is kinda just sitting there in the plaster, when I poked it water came out.

The maintenance guy came around again yesterday and I asked what happens with the letting agency and he says not to worry, they've files for all the individual apartments listing any damage which was caused by stuff like this.

My question is, should I email the letting agency and inform them that the roof has been damaged due to rain water leaking into the building and that we'd like to have it repaired?

I'm not really fussed because I'm moving out in a month and my current housemate is either going to stay and renew the lease with someone else or leave. If he replaces me that's great cause I get my deposit off whoever is moving in and I don't have to contact our landlord.

tl;dr

My roof has water damage and the maintenance company say not to worry as they'll put it in their files, should I let the letting agency know anyway?

SwashbucklerXX

Yes. Better safe than sorry! You don't lose or risk anything by getting in touch with the letting agency, so it can only help you.

That Dave Fella

So I let my landlord know of the damage so my ass is covered.

Is there any way to stop the ceiling from leaking? It's been leaking for 4 days now and hasn't stopped. I'm going to be going down to the maintenance guys tomorrow and asking them if they can fix it.

bowen

Withhold rent.

If maintenance won't help you write a nice but stern letter informing them you'll be calling your own roofer/whatever to repair the damage and deducting it from the rent if it's not repair by the end/middle of the week. That'll get them rolling. And I'm surprised they haven't fixed it yet, that can lead to huge repair costs for them down the road.

Evil_Reaver

bowen wrote: »

Withhold rent.

If maintenance won't help you write a nice but stern letter informing them you'll be calling your own roofer/whatever to repair the damage and deducting it from the rent if it's not repair by the end/middle of the week. That'll get them rolling. And I'm surprised they haven't fixed it yet, that can lead to huge repair costs for them down the road.

Renting rules/laws might be different overseas, so this may not be the best option.

bowen

Indeed. I'd imagine most countries would have similar rules or laws though.

That Dave Fella

Thing is my lease is up at the end of February so they'd wanna get it fixed as soon as possible if they want new people to move in.

I've emailed the landlord and haven't gotten a response yet and I couldn't find the maintenance guy so I gotta get a hold of my housemate and see how he found them. It hasn't stopped leaking and seems like it's getting worse.

bowen

They may be waiting until you move out. That seems like what they're doing (they may need to tear the ceiling out or something).

That Dave Fella

That's entirely possible. I've no idea where the maintenance guys are in this place. My housemate got them around the other night when it first started. Once he gets back from the UK we can get it sorted.

Szechuanosaurus

Yeah, the plaster board will all need to be striped out, ciculation heaters will need to be put in and run 24/7 for a few weeks to dry out the walls, joists etc. and then everything will need replastered and redecorated. They should fix the existing leak asap though, because that will just be increasing and compounding the damage. I mean, that should've been done immediately.

It is possible to live in a flat undergoing water damage repairs, we had to but then we were the owners. It's not nice - plaster dust gets everywhere when the boards come down and the heaters are noisy as hell - so it might make sense that they will just wait til you've moved saying as it's so soon rather than having to relocate you or something.

That Dave Fella

Well it's still leaking. Once I get a hold of the maintenance company I'll see what they say and if they can't fix it I'm probably just going to move out early.

This isn't comfortable living conditions so would I have a leg to stand on if I leave with a month remaining in my lease and requesting my deposit back?

We can't use part of the power cause the water is dripping in through a lighting fixture so 4 rooms are without power. The 2 bedrooms and my ensuite and my flatmates bathroom.

bowen

That's pretty unlivable. Where do you live?

That Dave Fella

Living in Ireland at the moment.

I've checked out sites like www.threshold.ie but can't find much information regarding terminating a lease because of living conditions.

I couldn't get through to them on the phone either.