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Property damage from landlords faulty pump

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tellmetrue

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? MD

Hello All, I just moved about a month ago in to a single family home that my family and I are renting and I havnt even completely finished unpacking yet, so I had boxes full of clothing and shoes in the fully finished basement which I am using as a large bedroom. It rained pretty bad here one night last week and when I went to go down stairs to bed I was shocked to find the whole basement floor completely covered, having been flooded with rain water, it covered the laundry room and the full bathroom completely as well, The watermark left indicates that the water was 8 or 9 inches high. So many of my clothes and shoes were destroyed, my wooden platform bed is destroyed and my 52" screen TV no longer works from all of the water (Go Figure)!! I called the landlord immediately and he sent his handyman to come and see why the sump pump failed. No answer of course but he managed to get it going again and at least the water was going down so I was basically trying to get everything to dry out the next day and all was looking great, but wouldnt you know it, it rains the day after and once again my big bedroom is now a baby pool for my 2 year old. This time the water is higher and the sump pump aint pumpin! My landlord has yet to come and see the damage caused and assured me that he would have someone come and see why the sump pump isnt working but no one has come. He actually called me today to see if anyone had came by but made no mention of replacing anything lost. All of this happened saturday and monday of last week and still no repairs. I am probably still in shock because I havnt had a chance to get renters insurance yet, and I basically just lost about $8000 in clothes, shoes, my bed the tv, and other things I have yet to identify. the bottom of the bathroom door is moldy now and of course I cant stay down there because it smells like pure mildew no matter how many times I mop and clean up. My question is, is he responsible for any of my damaged property or is he just responsible for the repairs to the sump pump and basement? I also forgot to mention that the water was so high that the hot water heater pilot light must have gotten extinguished and was so wet it wouldnt relight even though it's an automatic. We waited 3 or 4 days for the handyman to come back and get the hot water going again. I guess my question is, is he responsible for any of my damaged property? or am I just out of luck? I did nothing to cause the sump pump to fail and I think its crazy that he didnt know about the flooding before.
 
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