When we moved into our duplex we noticed water damage and asked the maintenance man where it came from - he said the upstairs toilet had issues years ago but was fine now. The first week we lived here the same maintenance guy replaced the flooring in the upstairs bathroom, meaning he had to take out the toilet and re-install it. That was in February. This last weekend the seal broke on the toilet - flooding the upstairs bathroom and draining (raining really) into the living room downstairs below it. It is major. The ceiling in our living room may collapse at any moment, the mold is already getting bad, it ruined the carpet upstairs and down, the paneling is bowed and buckling and several of our personal items were ruined as well. Funny enough - the bathroom looks to be in fine shape, although I am terrified to see the sub-flooring. After insurance adjusters and landlord came to look at everything, our landlord sent the maintenance man to repair the toilet and the ceiling. He said that he was told he could not do anything other than plaster over the ceiling and re-spray for fear of the entire upstairs collapsing. Is that legal? Shouldn't they make certain the ceiling is not still wet (yesterday the insurance adjuster said it WAS) before just doing a half-a@@ fix. What about the mold? I have a 3 year old son and I don't like any of this. My husband is a floor installer and was going to contract out from the landlord to install new flooring but we are not certain she will even compensate us? We are living in these conditions and we tried desperately to salvage all that we could when the mess happened. Even after calling the landlord within 15 minutes of the disaster, it took her 4 days to even get anyone over to look at it. The smell is awful and we have been waiting in limbo. What are my rights? What can I do? No child should be living in these conditions and all she is concerned about is that she gets her rent and doesn't have to pay out her deductible.

Hello K:

You have the right to have a "habitable" unit. It's difficult to say whether your unit fits that criteria.

It sounds like your landlord is SLOW, but NOT inattentive.. How they fix THEIR unit, as long as it doesn't interfere with your quality of life, is THEIR business.

If the unit is UN-inhabitable, then you're going to have to move, because UN-inhabitable means nobody could live there. If some of the ROOMS are UN-inhabitable, that's a different matter...

So, I need specific information about your unit, and what the landlord is DOING about it, and/or what YOU'VE done to complain about it.

excon

If the landlord has had work done that you feel may have just been a band aid, then call the building department and report it so an inspection can be done.

Then be prepared to move when your lease is up because the landlord is unlikely to renew it.

If you would prefer to move, tell the landlord that. Tell him you will expect him to pay for your moving expenses since he didn't properly repair the damage.