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Legal case questions for a serious water problem

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Legal case questions for a serious water problem

Postby bathroomtriedtokillme » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:28 pm

Hi,

Brief Description
I'm a tenant at Flushing and we've been suffered by water problems in our bathroom for 3 years. The pipe is broken and water leaks from the ceiling every a couple of month. Indeed, they already renovated my bathroom for 3 times. In this week, water start leaking again and after 24 hours, the huge amount of cement fell on the sink right after I left the place. I could be seriously injured or dead.

http://drop.io/bathroomproblem1

What I'm looking for
- I would like to know if this is a case to sue the management company. Am I totally wrong? or can I go for it?
- If I can sue them, I would like to know how much I can get and what's the success rate of similar cases? I know it's totally depend on each case but if someone can tell me a similar story, it's helpful information for me.
- What is the actual total cost for it?
- If I'm taking legal action, what should I prepare for it?
- Should I group up with other floor families? One of families already left.

Please see below for more detail information.

Background Information
- The plumbing problem happens from the 6th floor to 3rd floor.
- I'm confident that the management is aware of this problem for long time. (Everytime they gives me different excuses anyway)
- Since last year, I start taking pictures. I've been sending pictures for last 2 times and I have copies in my inbox with the email log.
- When I asked them for some compensation, they rejected. I asked 30% of annual payment which is around $6000. I also told them it's ok if they can remove payment for next 4 month. I'm not looking for ridicules amount of money, but something helps me to move to next apartment.
- The reasons why I asked the compensation is:
1. Physical Damage (e.g. medicine cabinet)
2. Mental Damage (I was almost killed and stressful smell)
3. Wasted my vacation time to clean things
4. Unusable Bathroom time, I needed to go outside
- I'm not sure about total number of leaking, but it is more than 10 times in 3 years.

What I did so far
- I asked super to fix the bathroom
- I called management & send email with pictures
- I checked building inspection records (I could not find any plumbing related violation)
- I checked legal cases. This management company already got sued 2 times in this year. I'm not sure why.
-This company manages more than 100 buildings.
- I called the Housing Court and I got an Attorney's contact
- The manager of this building is also vice president of the company. So I guess I'm talking to a person who has enough authority in the organization.


If you can kindly teach me the information, I really appreciate it. Any type of comments are welcome too.
bathroomtriedtokillme
 
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Leak

Postby Emeraldstar » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:18 am

Hi All
I would search for an attorney to answer the legal aspects re: sue. There are many who advertise on this site.
You can call 311 to get an inspection done to know for sure if it's a broken pipe or is it apts above you flooding their bathroom:
do they use washers improperly installed?
are their shower/tub tiles broken?
is their grout/caukling in need of repair?
All of the above are the LL's obligation to remove/repair and the inspector can enforce the law. They can also inspect apts above though your going to have to push them to do so. Leave the bathroom exactly as the day the drop took place. BTW the pics are good.
A broken pipe needs repair first or your going to go around in the same circle with another patch job as you know.
Make sure your home & follow the inspector everywhere during inspection & do not let the inspector & management be together without you there. The inspection is for your benefit not the LL's.
Emeraldstar
 
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Postby concord » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:00 pm

TALKING TO THE MANAGEMENT - HA HA

Your first step is to call 311. Make a complaint and get the complaint number. If nothing happens call again and request that an inspection be scheduled for a time when you can be at home. They may reject your request and tell you that they will just send an inspector out at their convenience. If nothing happens in another ten days call 311 again and demand a scheduled inspection on a day when you can be at home. (They can get away with being uncooperative once or twice but after two failed attempts to gain access they will finally schedule at your convenience. That’s how it worked for me anyway.)

If an inspector observes a problem and he issues a violation you shall be sent a notice in the mail. If the landlord does not fix the problem within two weeks, call 311 again. Explain everything and request that they send their own plumbers to make the repair. They won’t jump for you at the snap of your fingers but with persistence on your part they shall eventually order the landlord to fix the problem or they will send in their own plumber and they will bill the landlord later.

I have taken all of these steps and achieved my goal. It is a lengthy process and you must be very persistent.

Your dreams of getting money from the landlord are actually illusions. If that cement block had broken your arm then maybe an injury lawyer would take your case. As far as pain and suffering…well you haven’t officially been suffering because you didn’t take all of the steps that I described above. You just sent a few emails and maybe spoke to your superintendent on occasion but the problem wasn’t really that serious – that’s what the landlord is going to say.

You must go through all of the miserable bureaucracy recommended above in order to prove that you really have a serious problem. Then, if you’re lucky, some of the money you are dreaming of may come your way.

(You could try going to court though that is time-consuming, potentially expensive and, without an inspection report from HPD to prove that your complaint is legitimate the court may not be so supportive. Nobody is dying to help you with this stuff. You must do all of the legwork yourself as described in the first two paragraphs. If you keep “talking” to the building management or its VP the chances are that, they will continue “smooth-talking” back to you while nothing gets done.)
concord
 
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What's going on so far... and my lease contract

Postby bathroomtriedtokillme » Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:36 pm

Thanks, Emeraldstar and concord,

I really appreciate your detail instructions & advice.



About 311

I understand that 311 is the first step. I actually called after I got response here. When I talked to operator, I was told that you can not file the case if it's not "on-going". Is that true? Leaking is over but I know it will happen again. I'll try to call again to get another operator for inspection and I'll present during inspection with a check list from your advices.


Talking to the management office

Yeah, just like concord wrote, talking to management is totally waste of my time. They might not even discount for a penny even if my arm is broken or something. Those guys do not listen to me at all. They do not even offer apology. I totally understand that you told me it's a dream. Their attitude is almost like "We manage more than 100 buildings and water problems are everywhere. Why are you complaining?".


Last weekend, I asked my Attorney to send a letter to the LL & management to inspect & fix pipes but I don't know how seriously they take the lawyer's letter so I'll do both 311 again and my lawyer process at the same time now.



About the Contract


Here is another question.

My lease contract continue until next year and it's nightmare. Is there any way to terminate my contract? When I looked at my contract, there was no item for "closing" or "termination" condition of the contract. Then, I found an item says "If LL agree, you can modify the contract".

ok, I called management and I asked to talk to LL. Because they force all tenants to communicate through them. And the manager never try to get me touch with LL.

"Oh, I know this LL, he will never agree to terminate the lease"

I'm asking 3rd time via email today. This guy just try to slow me down for everything now.

I was explained that the water problems were fixed in last December then right after I signed the contract, leaking happened twice in this year. The manager said that I need to find someone who can continue my contract. However, it's difficult because none of my friends do not take over my apartment (of course); therefore I have to sacrifice somebody in Craigs' list, then I need to lie why I'm leaving my apartment.



Again, I greatly appreciate your advices they are very practical and I'll take actions based on them. I'm glad to know that someone on my side. More comments & advices are welcome on this topic!
bathroomtriedtokillme
 
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Suggestion

Postby Emeraldstar » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:06 pm

Hi All
When you call 311 explain to the operator that you believe that the LL is avoiding a larger repair by not addressing the problem of a possiable broken pipe. It is an ongoing problem because there has been a number of repairs and the problem keeps resurfacing. Say it seems impossiable it's just careless above tenants because it happens again quickly after a patch job is done.
Being a tenant does not mean your a plummer so a little lack of knowledge could get an inspector but don't tell 311 I told you to say it :lol: Good Luck :wink:
Emeraldstar
 
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Postby concord » Sat Apr 04, 2009 11:09 am

WATER PIPE PROBLEMS – YOU NEED PROOF (HPD)

You can not file a complaint unless something observable is wrong at the time. Your assertion that it will become a problem again is not enough to warrant an inspection. However, if there is a dangerous structural problem that is observable (such as a crack in a water-pipe that is ready to burst and to flood your apartment) you can probably get an inspection. If you know that there is a leak or a structural problem somewhere else in the building and that it can potentially affect your apartment then you should be able to get an inspection for that also. Don’t bring them in if you merely suspect it – you must know it for certain and be able to present an actual problem visually.

[The inspector can not force anybody to grant him access to any area. If the superintendent is not present then the inspector will simply be unable to gain access to a restricted area that you want him to see. However, if you are adamant about it the inspector can note in his report that a particular area (such as the boiler room) was not accessible for an inspection and the landlord can even be fined for this violation. In your case, the apartments above you would need to be inspected also. If your neighbors are uncooperative and they don’t grant the inspector access then it would need to be noted in his report at the time of the inspection. You would have to place a follow-up call to 311 and alert them to this incident. Then an order would go out to make the upstairs apartments accessible for an inspection on a later date. This is the bureaucracy you must go thru.)

When an inspector arrives he must be able to observe and point out something that is wrong for him to note in his report. He can not suspect that something will go wrong without evidence to base it upon.

If there is an observable problem with the pipes in the floors above you then you should make arrangements with those tenants to grant access to an inspector when he arrives for your complaint. However, you should also inform those tenants that eventually they may be ordered to grant access to a plumber (on a day that is convenient for those tenants) who would need to make repairs.


ATTORNEYS AND LETTERS

You don’t need an attorney to prepare and to mail a letter for you. What matters is the substance of the letter and not who the preparer is. I got HPD to order my landlord to replace our building boiler (a sizable expense) and I didn’t pay a penny to any attorney.

An attorney won’t necessarily intimidate your landlord. Your landlord will wait until your attorney has taken all of the necessary steps that, you could have taken yourself, before the landlord does anything. So, you are wasting your money. Being persistent will absolve your need for an attorney for this non-complicated issue.
concord
 
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Communication

Postby Emeraldstar » Sat Apr 04, 2009 6:29 pm

Hi All
Concord has a very good point about talking to your upstairs neighbors. If the hole in the pics is still there have you tried to get the neighbors to run their water to see if leaking happens? It seems to me if in 24 hours based on your post of 3/20, water caused that kind of damage something is there to observe?
Emeraldstar
 
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