unhappytenant
Jun 14, 2009, 10:39 PM
We just had an apartment fire. The power was out upstairs, and my roommate went into the basement to flip the breaker to see if he could get it to come back on. He went outside to call the landlord and tell him about it, I looked and saw smoke coming down the stairs. We called 911, they put the fire out. The inspector said to our faces that the building is NOT up to code, and it was faulty wiring that caused the fire. It started in our spare bedroom, and caught the bed on fire. There was nothing plugged into the outlet that the fire started from. Well we went to get the fire report and it was said to be an electrical fire, no mention of the building not being up to code. The fire chief said (miraculously) that it was up to code, and not due for inspection till 2011. Why would the fire inspector have told us that then. I'm wondering if we can sue because of negligence on his part. I am in no way sue happy, and I would sue only for damages caused to our things. No we didn't have insurance, dumb I know, I don't need to hear that right now, thanks. I just need advice on what we can do. Our entire upstairs is gone, either burned or smoke damaged. To top it off, he is being a real jerk to us, telling us to get our stuff out. We overheard him tell his wife after he FINALLY answered the phone and came over that "he just wants us out". He has not been a good landlord in the years that we've been there. No snow removal, no lawn cutting, we did all that. No maintenance whatsoever. He is cheap, which is why I believe that the building is not up to code. The inspector said the box was a 60 amp box and it should have been a 100. Do we have a case here?