Legality of Landlord Requiring Tenant Pay Insurance Deductible (Boston)

[iskandar]

I'm a renter in the Boston area. Recently, a heating pipe in the apartment burst and the floor of one of the rooms was damaged.

The current theory as to how the pipe burst was that a draft from the built in air conditioning unit created an area that was colder than the surrounding apartment, causing the pipe to freeze. I was living in the apartment at the time and I was aware that there was a draft.
The lease does not contain any stipulations regarding a minimum temperature the thermostat must be kept at, or anything regarding the air conditioner unit. There is a clause indicating that the tenant will need to pay for damage they cause to the apartment.
At one point, someone (I believe one of the plumbers who came to fix the burst pipe) suggested that I might have turned the heat off due to the ambient warmth of the apartment complex, and I offered that explanation to the LL. I'm not entirely certain if this is what actually happened, but he has latched onto it and is using it as a justification to demand that I pay the insurance deductible on getting the floor repaired*. When I suggested that we move the conversation to email, so that there would be a record of everything said, he became angry and threatened me with legal action**. I was ultimately able to convince him to meet in person to go over the insurance details and the costs involved in repairing the floor.

I am not unwilling to pay, however I don't want to be strong-armed into an unfair agreement. Is my LL in his rights to demand that I pay the deductible?



*I think. In our first conversation, he stated that the insurance company would not be fully covering the repairs of the floor and that I would be making up the difference. In a follow up conversation, he indicated that he wanted the deductible. In neither conversation has he indicated a specific amount, claiming that he did not know the amount

**At no point in that conversation did I say that I did or did not intend to pay, only that I wanted the conversation in a form that would leave a paper trail

 

[LdiJ]

I'm a renter in the Boston area. Recently, a heating pipe in the apartment burst and the floor of one of the rooms was damaged.

The current theory as to how the pipe burst was that a draft from the built in air conditioning unit created an area that was colder than the surrounding apartment, causing the pipe to freeze. I was living in the apartment at the time and I was aware that there was a draft.
The lease does not contain any stipulations regarding a minimum temperature the thermostat must be kept at, or anything regarding the air conditioner unit. There is a clause indicating that the tenant will need to pay for damage they cause to the apartment.
At one point, someone (I believe one of the plumbers who came to fix the burst pipe) suggested that I might have turned the heat off due to the ambient warmth of the apartment complex, and I offered that explanation to the LL. I'm not entirely certain if this is what actually happened, but he has latched onto it and is using it as a justification to demand that I pay the insurance deductible on getting the floor repaired*. When I suggested that we move the conversation to email, so that there would be a record of everything said, he became angry and threatened me with legal action**. I was ultimately able to convince him to meet in person to go over the insurance details and the costs involved in repairing the floor.

I am not unwilling to pay, however I don't want to be strong-armed into an unfair agreement. Is my LL in his rights to demand that I pay the deductible?



*I think. In our first conversation, he stated that the insurance company would not be fully covering the repairs of the floor and that I would be making up the difference. In a follow up conversation, he indicated that he wanted the deductible. In neither conversation has he indicated a specific amount, claiming that he did not know the amount

**At no point in that conversation did I say that I did or did not intend to pay, only that I wanted the conversation in a form that would leave a paper trail

If you kept the heat extra low, then you would be responsible for the pipe freezing. If you kept the heat at normal temperatures, then you would not be responsible.

 

[Zigner]

If you kept the heat extra low, then you would be responsible for the pipe freezing. If you kept the heat at normal temperatures, then you would not be responsible.

What is "extra low"? I assume that, if the OP was living in the unit, then he kept it above freezing...

 

[LdiJ]

What is "extra low"? I assume that, if the OP was living in the unit, then he kept it above freezing...

If he, for example, turned the heat off or down to 50 or something because he was at work for the day, or out of town for the weekend (etc), and the pipe was on an outside wall and froze because there wasn't enough heat on the inside to compensate for the outside wall, then he caused the pipe to burst.

 

[Zigner]

If he, for example, turned the heat off or down to 50 or something because he was at work for the day, or out of town for the weekend (etc), and the pipe was on an outside wall and froze because there wasn't enough heat on the inside to compensate for the outside wall, then he caused the pipe to burst.

I don't agree. If a setting of 50° allows a pipe to burst, then there is a design flaw.

 

[iskandar]

I was living in the apartment at the time (the pipe burst while I was at work), and hadn't adjusted the thermostat recently. I don't know what the thermostat was actually set to when the pipe burst, but the apartment was not noticeably cold.
Just to clarify, pipe was in the room.

 

[FarmerJ]

My ancient farmhouse has a root cellar and fairly large opening into the crawlspace that is under the kitchen, the root cellar has my still broken boiler in it so it is not heated, I have in the living room electric heat and one other room upstairs has electric heat. so there are no heated sidewalls from another heated space or a downstairs unit with heat rising and the water lines in my root cellar have not frozen ( only in the un heated crawlspace area and more often when there was air coming in thru cracks that I had not sealed) SO where im going with this is that if there are conditions there that you did not create such as drafty areas and areas where cold can not only get in but get in far enough to cause a pipe to freeze then this is not your fault If you did not turn the heat off or lower than 38 (which is the lowest some conservation model thermostats go to ) then I would say that this leak was not your fault and to tell your LL to go ahead and take you to court and prove to the court ( in the time being take pics of what you can like say thin streamers moving near window trims if windows are drafty (say on windy day) or pics of the lack of weatherstrip on windows and last any area you can see ice crystals formed from cold air coming into heated space. ( a ideal pic would be one of the area taken by something that can record heat loss )

 

[single317dad]

When I was working new construction (doing home automation, mostly working beside the plumbers, HVAC, and alarm system guys), common knowledge passed around was that the "magic number" in new construction homes was 50F. At or above 50F, there was a good chance your pipes in outside walls wouldn't freeze; below 50F, the risks got much higher. I was sternly instructed to set low limits for thermostats and automatic HVAC systems to 50F. Keep in mind these were new construction (mostly McMansion and vinyl village type) homes, which are far better insulated than an old apartment building.

This would also be partly dependent on the outside temperature as well. 50 inside with an outdoor temp of 29 wouldn't freeze in 10 years; 50 inside with an outdoor temp of -20 is a whole different story.

 

[justalayman]

if you didn't die from hypothermia overnight I would suggest this was not your fault.

but to explore it a bit more: what was the ambient temp outside when this happened?

what do you normally have the thermostat set at?


do you normally lower the setting when leaving the apartment? If so, to what setting?

 

[FarmerJ]

In 94 in Minneapolis Mn when I bought the 4plex when I moved in the east side of the building was empty. It had a very very ancient thermostat that I think had 60 as the lowest numbered temperature but went a lot higher and hinted in the lower section with a darker area 72 to 82 was comfort zone so I changed it to a newer Tstat with a low mark of a couple lines below 45 and then I took my time re renting that side of the building and anyway I kept it at 45 degree, the structure had been built in 1910, it had been insulated after a fire ( the one where tenant who was taken to court for non pay walked out the back door with gas can and tossed a match) the west side of the building was set 72-74 degrees and had no problems with frozen pipes most of December all of January and February. So anywho OP if you kept the heat set to a reasonable temperature then do what you can to defend your self if the LL takes you to court , he will have to satisfy the court to win.

 

[iskandar]

if you didn't die from hypothermia overnight I would suggest this was not your fault.

but to explore it a bit more: what was the ambient temp outside when this happened?

what do you normally have the thermostat set at?


do you normally lower the setting when leaving the apartment? If so, to what setting?

I don't actually recall touching the thermostat all winter (or since moving into the apartment last april). I don't know what temperature it was set to.
As for temp outside, it was in the 10s-20s that week.

 

[justalayman]

that is quite odd; for one to be so comfortable in their apartment during the neat of summer and the cold of winter and never feeling the need to see what the ol' stat is set at.


but if there is truth to the statement and you actually did live in the apartment, then I do not see how it could be your fault.

 

[STEPHAN]

I don't actually recall touching the thermostat all winter (or since moving into the apartment last april).

If you never touched it, why do you not look at it and tell us what it is set to? ;-)