That's a nightmare alright. You've already called your emergency line and tried the maintence. No answer about what else to tell you, except start looking for a new place as soon as you can. No matter that you have renter's insurance, I'd try to get the landlord to pay for your damages. I hope you've documented previous leaks with pictures and who/when you spoke to people. If not, be sure to do it this time. You could take them to small claims court if you can show the damage. Here in Florida an insurance company will drop you in a hurry for any reason and many companies have pulled out of the state altogether. I don't understand how their bathroom is above your bedroom. Most apartments build all the baths atop one another to save $$$ tying it altogether. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Sat late night is not always the best time to get ahold of any maintenence people. As a landlord I've had heat/ plumbing emergencies late on weekends. Typically its the 4th -7th call before I get someone to call me back quickly. Hopefully this was fixed today.

When maintenance finally called it was Sunday at 5pm. He said ' Oh, it was the broken water pipe above. We'll fix it first thing Monday and show you where to cut off the water in the basement so that next time you can cut it off.' What makes me mad was that he KNEW about the broken water heater BEFORE it flooded my place. Never was I informed about these conditions and why were they not immediately fixed. This morning I spoke with the landlady and told her I called everyone and went to the maintenance man's apartment. Then she informed me that the building management had FIRED the maintenance guy so there was no longer anyone on the premises to handle emgerencies. She said I should have called the fire department so that the incident was documented. Then she told me the building management is threatening to FIRE her too because she cares too much about the tenant's rights. She ordered me to go back to my apartment to take pictures, call the board of health and raise my voice to anyone.

I just want to be removed and relocated to a better apartment in the building because this unit has too many water problems. Everyone time they claim to fix the problem it returns. The place is a mess. The walls have all turned brown and cracked and smells of old water and mold. I'm calling the health department and requesting an inspector. I need to write a letter of intent and maybe call my lawyer. I hate this so much. The landlady said the building has 3 vacant apartment open but that the management doesn't want to repair and clean the units. But that if I raise hell I could be moved into one immediately - and that I should request that I be moved at my current rent rate and not the increase rent value of these other bigger units. What do you guys think of this situation? I need help!!!

Document what the landlady is saying.

Call your attorney, ask about placing your future rent in escrow. This way the rent isn't late the courts pay out your rent. Some may go back to you due to living problems, some may go to contractors and some may go to your landlord.

I disagree with calling the fire department.

I got the call that maintenance has decided it's NOT a big deal. They'll just repaint the place. How is that possible? It literally rained in the place for 3 hours straight. The damage to the walls looks extreme to me. I'm sure the constant leaking from the past year and this most recent incident has caused major damage to the insides of the ceiling and walls. I'm afraid what will happen the next time.

This sounds like a job for one of those "investigative journalists" on your local news channel.

Make sure you get the wall/ apartment checked for mold and other health problems that could have happened due to the water.

The plumbing really could be fixed for good but its you that has to feel comfortable.

Last winter I had a unit that had heat problems.

1st call, sent out boiler licensed man and he replaced her zone valve

2nd call 2 weeks later early Sat morning, I went over and noticed pump was seized up, licenesed mechanic replaced Monday morning due to 2.5x weekend cost. All tenants were OK with my decision since it wasn't that cold and I provided each unit with a nice space heater

3rd call 3 days later no heat, pump installed was a "new" model that eliminated an expensive part that was wrecked, "new" model was not a large enough pump to circulate hot water through building, pump was replaced with larger model at no cost to me. Mechanic issued apolagies to all units.

4th call 2 weeks later call early sunday morning, went over and there was no pilot light, called mechanic to get fixed due to weather being much colder, replaced thermo cuppling and it was fixed

5th call 18 hours later no heat again, its now 1am and tenants didn't call untill 6 am. Mechanic went back over to find gas valve was bad and the thermo cuppling might not have been the problem. New one worked for a short time due to less energy required to make the new cupler work.

Get a letter Monday from an upset tenant... Totally understand as she has lost heat 5 times in a little over a month. She wants me to replace the boiler. I explained that the boiler has never been the problem and should last another 25-50 years. Really almost ever part that can go bad has gone bad! Now that almost everything has been replaced I've had no problems. I know I looked bad, comapany servicing boiler looked bad, but really they only made one mistake with the pump.

When the tenants called I also knew what was probably bad each time due my little knowledge of boilers. It didn't mean I knew about the problem previously. The boiler guy has worked on my boilers since 2001 and I had only this one problem. Very knowlegable and honest. Still use him and have had great luck since.

Just want you to have an open mind that the plumbing may be fixed but you should get more information so you comfortable.

Please check out mold issues as that could be a huge problem to your future. Even if its ok now it should be re-checked later. Home inspectors now have cameras that can detect mold in walls without intrusive testing.

Best of luck!

Hi guys,

The housing inspector came in today and wrote up a report. He says he doesn't think the damage is a result of a broken water heater. He claimed they'd have to go into the ceiling to find the source of the water problem. Anyway, he said he'd send the notice to the owner and they'd have 30 to 45 days to correct all problems, which include replacing the sheetrock in the walls and the ceiling, plastering and painting. As well as repairing the damage done to the floors. So what am I suppose to do in the meantime? My place is a one bedroom studio, so that leaves me with only the small living area to sleep, eat and everything else. The owner definitely won't pay for a hotel stay until the repairs are done. And I couldn't possibly remain in the place while the repairs are being done because the apartment is so small that my stuff would have to be removed first. As a matter of fact, I think I'll refuse anyone from coming into the apartment until my stuff and I are relocated before any repairs are made. Is that possible? I need more advice. What should my next steps be? I thank you guys for all your help.

You better call an attorney. Many states have free landlord tenant advice/ hotlines. If you refuse someone to fix the problem it could hurt your chances in court.

I'm guessing you should pay your March rent into a court escrow and move into temporary housing. You'd have to sue your landlord and your rent in escrow will most likely go back to you for your temporary housing and lack of not being able to live in your unit.

Call an attorney first! Also ask the attorney about retailiation. In my county if a tenant calls building and saftey landlords can not retailiate by raising rent, not re-newing the lease and its harder to evict. I'd bet your landlord isn't going to be very excited about this and may want you out. You also said the landlady is more about tenant rights than the owners. Perhaps she will give you temp housing in another unit in the building.

Best of luck!

According to Truth in Renting I cannot refuse to let anyone into the unit to make the repairs. Not that I would have to anyway, since there is no maintenance team currently for the building. I was informed by the landlady maintenance quit this week and there is still no super in the building. I will pay my March rent as usual and I will do my best to avoid suing anyone. I do not want to go to court or anything. I just want out of the unit and into another. I sent a letter to the owner requesting relocation and in the meantime will wait for a response before taking the next step. I'll keep you posted. Thanks.