Flooded my building
Me and my wife live on the 4th(top) floor of a pre-war building in Astoria. Last week we accidentally left the water in the tub running and the water flooded the whole bathroom. The water went down to 3 apartments below through cracks in tiles in the floor and radiator hole. The water damaged the…
Me and my wife live on the 4th(top) floor of a pre-war building in Astoria. Last week we accidentally left the water in the tub running and the water flooded the whole bathroom. The water went down to 3 apartments below through cracks in tiles in the floor and radiator hole. The water damaged the bathroom walls in 3 apartments below us.
Now, we acknowledge that this is our mistake and we would like to work this with our landlord and we are willing to pay for the damages. Last Monday, the landlord brought a contractor that she knew and he looked at the buildings and gave us an estimate. However, this contractor didn’t speak a word of English with us and had to communicate through the landlord in Greek.
Then the landlord told us that we can have a contractor of our own but that person needs to have a license and insurance, and wants all paperwork to be proper. We had a few people see the damages and by far the landlord’s contractor was the cheapest so we decided to go with him.
I asked my landlord if the contractor speaks any English at all and she said he does a little. So I tried to give him a call. He can barely speaks some English but when I wanted to talk to him about a payment plan, he said that I should talk to my landlord about that because she is the “boss”. I tried to explain to him that she is not the boss, I am, since I’m the one who is going to be paying for this damage but he just told me to talk to the landlord and hung up.
The day after the guy looked at our building my landlord gave a written estimate from the guy with the breakdown which doesn’t have any details except for how much each apartment would cost. When we wanted a detailed estimate, our landlord got mad at us and said that she doesn’t want to deal with this anymore and just wants us to get it fixed. She does have a really bad temper.
On the header of the “estimate” paper, there was the banner of the Greek guy’s contractor “company”. I tried the call the work number(So I could talk to somebody who might speak better English) and it went on a voicemail which sounded like just a home number(the voicemail said “we’re not at home”) and I searched for the address in Google Maps and it shows a house, rather than a store.
What should I do? I do believe that the landlord must be getting some money through insurance and I’m afraid that they’re just going to take our money and put it in their pockets. Legally do I really have to find someone that has a license and insurance? What are my options here.
PS. The apartment is rent stabilized and the tub didn’t have an overflow drain (if that makes any difference.)
I would rather let my landlord repair the building at their own expense and try to come after me later if they can. Which they probably cant since it was not intentional, all be it stupid.
One lesson I have learned after years in working with insurance companies is that stupidity is most certainly covered.
Also remember, the contractor is at the direction of the landlord who owns the property. If you are paying, it is always easier to spend someone elses money…That is why the insurance company should be involved. They will make sure the cost is limited to what is necessary to reapir the damage back to the original condition, not any little extra’s or upgrades the landlord may wish to throw in that you will never know about.
Agree with newsouthsloper – landlords have insurance for stuff that happens in their buildings.
If you aren’t rent controlled or stabilized, and thus your landlord could respond by not renewing your lease, and you want to stay, then you may want to pay for the damages to keep nice with your landlord and not have to move. If you have renter’s insurance, you could put in a claim – but I think you don’t. You should have it – it is cheap. Not necessarily for damage you do like this, but to protect your own stuff, if you have much of anything.
But paying for the repair doesn’t give you control of the building. I think your landlord was very generous to allow you choice in contractors – I wouldn’t. (And while I often don’t find myself siding with landlords, I do have sympathy for yours here – who leaves a bathtub faucet running when they aren’t in the room?)
The contractor is right – the owner of the building is who he is ultimately responsible to, not you, regardless of how you and your landlord agree as to who is going to pay for this. Why should the contractor talk about a payment plan with you? If I were the contractor, I’d want payment when the work was completed (that’s generally how they work), and if you want to arrange a payment plan, I’d tell you to have your landlord pay and arrange to pay over time to your landlord. That’s essentially what the contractor told you. So do it.
also do you have renter’s insurance? they should be paying for this.
what do you mean be payment plan? do you want to pay this over time? i don’t think any small / medium type contractors let you do that you’ll have to pay this is a lump sum (maybe 50% upfront, and the rest upon completion) but assuming this is a small fix, you won’t be able to pay this over a couple of months.
Why are you paying for this? This should be an insurance claim for your landlord.
I would say go for it especially since you’ve had other estimates that are higher. Like landl0rd pointed out, you dont have to worry about quality of the work and any problems thereafter since you’re going w/the landlord’s chosen or preferred contractor. Could she try to pocket the money and go through insurance? It’s possible but highly unlikely.
My concern is why doesn’t this guy want to deal with me about a payment plan and wants me to talk to the landlord about it? I’m the one who is paying for the repairs. Should I settle a payment plan with my landlord maybe?
the landlord is offering to you the cheapest solution and, even more importantly, you don’t have to worry about the quality of the work since he picked the contractor.
Unless you are looking for a way not to pay why would you not take such offer?
Just get another contractor to come over, give you an estimate and breakdown if it makes you feel better. It sounds like the landlord has had a good experience with this person, but you probably want to get a sense of what you are paying for. The only thing is you don’t know these other contractors — she does know and trust this one in her building. Try to work with her; she is probably upset that you damaged the building and she has to deal with this.