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Septic Issues and my LandLord
Crowleston
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been renting a house for a while now and about a month after I moved in the Septic tank started having trouble. (It was filling to the top with Pads and Tampons) We called our landlord and got it pumped, at her cost as my roomates (all female) do not flush those products and there is no way we could have filled that thing up in a month even if they did. It ended up getting pumped 3 times for seemingly the same issue until the excavating company finally came to the conclusion that there was trouble with the leach field. Our landlord told us she was pricing options and would have it fixed over the summer, which is now last summer, and still today no fix. I've called her to ask what's up and she gave me a story about how she's in the process of selling another property of hers to pay for the fix. Apparently because it's such an old tank and we have about 4 big oak trees on the lot it's going to cost upwards of 10k.
We have it scheduled to be pumped every three weeks, and we can call to have it pumped when we feel it needs it. (All at no cost to us.) Even though it's pretty well maintained, we occasionally have to limit when we can do laundry, who can take a shower and when, and when we can do the dishes. It also occasionally smells, however we've recieved no complaints from any neighbors. My question is, what can I do to make this fix happen now? We pay a lot in rent and I feel like we aren't getting our rents worth as we have a large backyard that we can't use due to sewage flooding, and as stated we can't do anything water related without checking to see if it's alright. Isn't part of my rent for a large (would be) nice backyard? A friend suggested an anoymous call to health and safety so they'll force her to do it, but I'm worried that could make it so I now have nowhere to live. Any Advice?
tl;dr: Septic tank is busted and landlord is dragging her heals on the expensive fix. What should I do?
We have it scheduled to be pumped every three weeks, and we can call to have it pumped when we feel it needs it. (All at no cost to us.) Even though it's pretty well maintained, we occasionally have to limit when we can do laundry, who can take a shower and when, and when we can do the dishes. It also occasionally smells, however we've recieved no complaints from any neighbors. My question is, what can I do to make this fix happen now? We pay a lot in rent and I feel like we aren't getting our rents worth as we have a large backyard that we can't use due to sewage flooding, and as stated we can't do anything water related without checking to see if it's alright. Isn't part of my rent for a large (would be) nice backyard? A friend suggested an anoymous call to health and safety so they'll force her to do it, but I'm worried that could make it so I now have nowhere to live. Any Advice?
tl;dr: Septic tank is busted and landlord is dragging her heals on the expensive fix. What should I do?
useless but necessary objects of society.
Crowleston on
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She's remedying the situation, just not in a way that's to your liking. She's doing her best to ensure that it doesn't affect the habitability of your house, and until it does you probably don't have much of a recourse legally.
FYI--replacing a septic tank and leech field is a long and disruptive process. The current situation may well be better than having your entire yard excavated with heavy machinery. Not to mention the fact that you will be left with a dirt covered lot that your landlord may or may not reseed/sod in a timely manner. And even they you'll have to wait for grass to grow back in.
At this point it's going to take her a bit of time, but her getting it pumped when you need it is pretty good of her.
You're just going to have to wait.
THANKS!
edit: I am such a dope for not going through these tenants rights earlier in my life. There's a lot in here that I should have documented that I currently don't, so thank you Usagi.
If you want to rent the place again after this lease, there is pretty much nothing you can do. If that is at a premium, there is nothing you can do to expedite the issue.
Consider how much longer you have on your lease and whether you believe it will be fixed before the renewal. If you want to keep the place, continue to put personal pressure on the landlord. If not, you have numerous options. MA is an extremely tenant-friendly state. The easiest option is to call the health inspector. You need not do it anonymously, nor will an anonymous complaint fool your landlord. Tenants evicted in MA within a certain time period after notifying the inspectors can recover not insignificant damages. It was six months when I last checked this past summer.
You have other options (including reducing your rent payments without the consent of your landlord) of course but unless you have a lot of time on your hands and like reading the MA general code (I know I did, but I'm a weirdo) you are best served consulting an attorney over the matter. You may want to search the code on the phrase "Loss of enjoyment" if you're looking for options.
I was going to point this out, but I think someone at the house just doesn't want to fess up, because the only way for those to get in there is another house is hooked into it.
Bottom line: when dealing with a landlord, assume you are dealing with the scum of the earth and you will not go wrong. Get everything in writing, and keep copies. Anything you might even conceivably need to be able to prove YOU said later, send with a sign-on-delivery confirmation (and keep copies).
If the situation is unlivable (or makes living there a severe inconvenience) you are able to pay rent into an escrow account that the LL can't touch until he fixes stuff. However you have to inform him/her and give 60 days, as well as a bunch of other stuff. it sounds like a huge pain.