Thread: How much time do Apt. Complexes have to fix water damage

My apartment In Texas is upstairs and downstairs I have lived here for over 3 years. The upstairs toilet was flushed in the middle of the night and while we were slepping it continued to run. My cat woke me up and I went to kick him outside when my feet were wet before I got to my bedroom door. This is the second time this year this has happened with this same toilet only this time we were sleeping and the water ran for hours. My daughters room had only one small corner that was not drenched and shortly after waking up my ceiling fell in in my living room.

I called the apartment complex but becaue it was sunday no one really responded until Monday so I switched my schedule at work and Me and my family wet vac'd with three vaccums for 5 hours and cleared all my the small stuff out of my living room and took everything off of the floor in my daughters room, but how long does my apt. complex have to fix it? The ceiling tile that fell had mold on it from previous water issues I am assuming because you could tell when I moved in that the ceiling had water damage that had been painted over. the on-site apt. Manager called me Sunday afternoon and said they were going to fix the single sheetrock and paint it over again. However I sent an e-mail to the management company due to the mold that was on the sheetrock that fell I wanted to be sure that it was fixed right and the mold was taken care of. Now they are talking about having my ceiling removed all together and redoing the entire ceiling. I was told I had to clear my living room out so they could do it.

I have had my daughter staying at my parents house and I cleared everything out of my living room except the large furniture which I have been told I can move over to an empty apartment while the ceiling is being repaired, which was supossed to start yesterday, but no one has shown up yet and my apartment stinks and they have not addressed my childs room at all.

You want to document as much as possible with as many photographs as possible.

The big thing here is whether or not this problem was a result of "gross negligence" on the part of the landlord. It doesn't sound like it from your post which would ultimately mean the damage to any of your PERSONAL belongings would have to be handled by you. This is what renter's insurance is for.

If it could be construed as gross negligence on the part of the landlord, then they would be respsonsible for reimbursing you the necessary amounts for your personal things.

As for the repair of the unit itself, it is in the landlord's best interest to take care of the damage as soon as possible so that your apartment isn't considered "uninhabitable". If it could be construed that way, they landlord would have to pay to put you up while it was being fixed AND you would not owe rent for the days you couldn't live there.

And the only way to really prove this (to a judge if it came to that) would be with photos. Otherwise, it becomes your word against his.

Check the terms of your rental lease agreement to see what damages to your unit you may be responsible for.