Thread: No water, questionable repair practices

I rent an apartment within a large, older house (there's one other rental residence in the building, along with a hair salon) in rural NH. It's owned by a local man and wife, who also own a seemingly defunct home improvement business (their 'shop', also in the house where I rent, is always empty and they don't pursue that business right now, to my knowledge). I mention this only because it seems fishy to me how the husband always tries to come fix items I report for repair, but he's made it clear he has no contractor's license.

The first point I should make is that I have had problems with the water supply/pressure since moving in. If the neighbors are washing their hands, I can't take a shower. Had to buy a special low water pressure showerhead, have called the owners several times - they send out a plumber, things improve for a while, then start to get worse again. Sometimes the water will come shooting out of the faucets, making the worst racket. To an amatuer, I will say it sounds like there's air in the pipes, causing the flow to sputter. We're on a private well and septic tank.

The second point is that it's winter in NH, the temperature is registering at 7 degreed Fahrenheit, -11 with the wind chill.

Tonight I came home from work and attempted to start a load of laundry. After the washer was slowly filling with water for a minute or two I began to hear an ominous sounding and unfamiliar noise from the washer. The water was sputtering and barely coming out, and appeared brownish orange. I immediately turned it off, and went to my bathroom to test the water there. Same situation - spluttering like there was air in the lines, then brownish water with particles in it, and eventually no water coming out of the faucets at all. I checked with the neighbors in the other apartment and they had the same problem, so we called the owners to report the problem (this was around approximately 6:30 - 7 pm).

Around 8:30, I heard a loud sound from somewhere outside of my home, kind of a roaring noise. I figured a plumber was repairing whatever broke and didn't pay it much mind immediately. Soon the neigbors were knocking on my door and as I walked out of my bedroom and through the living room to greet them, I smelled an odor which reminded me of a mix of kerosene heaters and exhaust fumes. The neighbors said the odor was even worse in their house, and that in years prior (I only moved in a few months ago) the owners brought some portable mega heater powered by kerosene to thaw out some pipes during winter.

The fumes quickly overpowered me to the point of feeling nauseated, so the neighbor lady and I went to go find whomever was working on this and let them know. We made our way toward the sound via an outside cellar door (I do not have access to the basement of the residence, period) and saw a light so we went in. Sure enough, there was the male landlord, by the well pump, with a huge heater that looked like a jet engine. The smell was even worse down there. I said to him that my apartment was filling with the exhaust smell from the heater. He said, 'I opened the window' and gestured to a small window that was maybe 10"x10". I asked if we could leave the cellar door propped open to increase ventilation and he waved me away saying yes. He turned his attention away from me and ignored me after that.

After wedging something in front of the cellar door, my neighbor and I came back into my apartment, where my daughter greeted us at the door saying she felt like throwing up. My neighbor and her niece were both suffering with headaches at this point and I was feeling a little woozy, but attributed it to being worked up over what the heck was going on.

My neighbor mentioned that she thought legally the landlords/owners should have to pay for us to stay in a hotel, given these conditions. I've never been in a situation like this (no water, harmful fumes in my house) and am new to NH and unfamiliar with the law, so I told her we should find it in writing online to confirm our rights as renters, then see about going to stay in a hotel if the owner didn't turn off the heater in the basement. I was able to determine by viewing the basement that this heater was set up and running almost directly underneath my living room area.

I started to search for renters rights and landlord obligations info in NH online, but soon was losing focus and unable to think or even type right. I wasn't able to make sense of the search results or comprehend what my kids were saying to me. The neighbors came back and said their apartment was getting even thicker with the smell and they were worried for their 5 year old son. We decided to go down and speak to the owner again.

This time, he gave us a few more words - he HAD to thaw this out, all the lines are frozen (which he later seemed to contradict by saying we should go open our faucets to build water pressure, but knowing nothing about water supply or frozen pipes or wells I cannot be sure). I said to him very clearly, 'It's making us sick. My daughter is dizzy and I'm feeling like puking.' He told me to go open my windows and went back to whatever he was doing.

Did I mention it's 7 degrees?

So I came upstairs even more determined to find some info which would tell me I could go rent a room for the night and just deduct it from my rent payment on 2/1. I shouldn't have to pay to stay in a place where my kids and I won't die from breathing poisonous gas, I thought. While I attempted to operate my computer, my breath was steam because the room was so frigid after only minutes of having the windows open. I had no idea who or what agency to even call for help in a situation like this because it's after regular business hours, and nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I didn't feel it was safe to keep my kids here for the night because of how we were all feeling.

I decided to call the female owner/landlord, hoping she might be more reasonable and open to advising me as to what the heck was going on or what I could do. Sadly, I was mistaken. She did start off by saying that her husband came over here straight from work and didn't have his cell phone, so she had no idea what was going on or what to tell me. Then she, too, advised me to just open my windows and air it out. When I replied it was too cold for that to be an option for more than 5 minutes, she suggested we 'bundle up'. When I responded I didn't think that was an option, she said I should just go stay the night somewhere else. Since I have no family or friends in the area, I told her that wasn't possible. She then said my kids and I could come sit at her house to 'wait it out' but for all she knew, her husband might have to run the heater for 5 or 6 hours because 'he HAS to thaw it out'.

I ended my call with her, because she was of no help and was only making me angry with her dismissive attitude and because while speaking to her the loud heater-noise stopped. The husband owner came to my door and stated he was stopping the heater because of our complaints, but that because he couldn't work on it, we wouldn't have any water until the morning. He said he'd send a plumber out to look at things. The owner then said the plumber was likely to have to use the same kind of heater, and if we didn't want to be in the house while the heater was in use (he was insinuating about the fumes but wouldn't say it right out) that we might want to 'go for coffee' or something to be out of the house. When I asked him how long that might be, he shrugged and said there was no way to know.

What rights, if any, do I have in this situation as it pertains to the immediate well-being of me, my kids and our two housecats? If I don't feel safe sleeping here and take my children to a hotel, can I withhold that expense from my next rent payment? I will essentially be displaced for an undetermined amount of time tomorrow and have no family or friends in this state. I certainly do not want to go hang out at the home of my landlord, who has now insulted me with her shoddy treatment of my concerns and who is, to be frank, kind of an odd duck to start with.

Do I have any recourse here, or do I just have to suck it up and go browse at the mall for 6 - 8 hours? What about in regards to no running water - doesn't the landlord have an obligation to provide running water, and what can I do if there isn't any (water, that is)?

Oh, also - if my laundry is damaged from sitting in rusty or dirty water for a day or so, is that loss an expense I can demand they pay?

Thanks in advance for sticking with me through the whole story, and any legitimate advice you could give me.

you just have to suck it up and go browse at the mall for 6 - 8 hours.

Any time your unit is not considered "habitable" (not having water would fall under this), you are entitled to having your rent pro-rated for the days you were without water.

It sounds like you may have to take this one to court.

You would not be able to ask for anything for the damages withstood by your clothes. That is something that would be covered by Renter's Insurance.