My wife and I recently had a flood in our lower level apartment. It was cold and the sprinkler system line burst and water poured from our ceiling all over our stuff. We worked to save a lot of our stuff for hours but a lot of the electronics and furniture was ruined. This happened on a Thursday night and so on Friday morning we both stayed home from work to salvage what we could. Our apartment complex had us stay at a hotel for 3 days while they cleaned up the water. We have renters insurance but have a $1000 deductible. The complex had explained this isn't the 1st time this has happened and its not big deal. They paid for our hotel room but have paid nothing else. Our insurance said they do not cover lost wages. Is our apartment complex responsible for our $1000 deductible or any lost wages because of our clean up effort? We live in Indiana and feel that because this has happened multiple times before in this same complex they have some negligence for not remedying the situation the 1st few times it happened. What should we do?

You need a good lawyer to review your lease and give you some guidance in dealing with the landlord and the insurance company.

Yes, consult attorneys, most will give you a free consult and if they feel they can help, will probably take it on contingency. Do you have proof that this happened previously?

You might also consider bumping up your renter's insurance to cover lost wages etc.

Where were the pipes that burst ? In the common area ? What attempts were done to stop it from happening again ?

Have you asked the apartment complex to pay for the additional costs.

If you can prove this has happenede mant times you likely have a good case to sue them for negligance in properly repairing the pipe. Pipes mus not pass through any area of a structure where tempertures can freeze them. I would suspect there may be a code violation in here to. You can ask the local building inspector is they pulled a permit and if they are outside code, that strengthens your case.