What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CALIFORNIA
We live in a big apartment complex on the bottom floor. Our neighbor had a fire upstairs and the sprinkler system flooded both our units.
Management had the contractors in our unit immediately assess the damage, and told us we would have to leave for a couple of days as they did the repairs (new insulation, new carpet and patching the walls back up). The head manager told us that it will take 2 days for the repairs to complete and that they will compensate us for only ONE night at a hotel (up to $120) and $30 worth of meals for that day. Anything else would have to be covered through our neighbor's renters insurance.
At first we tried to switch units just to make things easier (I am 37 weeks pregnant) but he told us that all of their one bedroom units are occupied and had nothing available for immediate move in. He assured us that the damage was very minor and it shouldn't take more than 48 hours and that they would work as fast as they could, especially considering my condition.
So before we packed some of our belongings we contacted OUR renters insurance company and found out that we had not been covered for the past two months because of no payment. When we told the building manager about this, he told us that HER insurance is liable for the damage so we don't have to worry about it. The contractors who were going to start working on the repairs had us sign a waiver form saying that they are going to move some of our furniture and cover it but they are not liable if they damage any of our belongings. Since we were hesitant to sign the waiver, the manager told us that thye are a trusted company that is contracted through them and that theyve been working with them for years with no problems. We signed the waiver and left.
The following day, we checked out of our hotel and called management to get an update. He then told us that it is actually going to take a week for all the repairs to be done but they are replacing everything and painting and everything will be good as new. I was really concerned because he told us we are only getting compensated for one night at the hotel so since we didn't know if we were going to get compensated for any other nights (through our neighbors insurance) we did not want to pay another $120 a night for the next 6 days so we stayed with family sleeping on the floor and buying food every day which was a HUGE burden on us already, especially being pregnant. Since we were not covered through our renters insurance at the time, we have nothing to take care of these immediate costs or represent us to communicate with management or her insurance company.
We returned to our apartment to pick up more clothes twice throughout the week. Only SOME of our furniture is covered, our hallway desk area had dust, spackle and dirt on our belongings and our coffee table was not covered and seemed to have been used as some kind of tool bench. Our bedroom had NOTHING covered and also had a ton of dust on our bed, linens.. all of our brand new baby things like the crib, blankets, and swing. Our tv was face down on top of our bed. I made sure to take lots of pictures of this. This obviously stressed me out because we had signed the waiver form trusting that company to handle our belongings with care which it did not seem like they were doing.
So today would have been the day we were able to come back home. We called the office in the morning and several times throughout the day only to get a response from the manager at 5:30 PM telling us that our apartment is still not ready and wont be until tomorrow evening. He said they are finishing the floors and he is having a cleaning company clean everything and THEN he can TRY to get someone to help my boyfriend move our furniture back to its place. Tomorrow will be the 9th day we have been out of our apartment and I'm not confident that they will do a good enough job cleaning everything, especially BEFORE they plan on moving our stuff back in its place.
I understand that if we were covered through our own renters insurance it would have been MUCH easier, but the whole fire was not caused by us and he told us himself that our neighbors insurance is liable. I just feel like we were victims here and we have to go back to our apartment and deal with all this cleaning, moving things around and possibly some of our belongings RUINED (i'm hoping not) and thats that?? Luckily we had people take us in for 8 days but what if we had no where to go?? This is clearly a HUGE burden and I feel like we should be compensated or at least taken better care of. Unfortunately I don't know what were entitled to but I don't want to just go back home tomorrow and make it seem like everythings ok when it caused us a HUGE incovenience to us when none of this was our fault.
So what I'm trying to figure out is should I discuss this with the management, or her insurance company?? What are we entitled to?? What if some of our belongings are ruined? Since our insurance company can't help us, I really don't know what to do or say, or even who to talk to. please help me out!! thanks..
We live in a big apartment complex on the bottom floor. Our neighbor had a fire upstairs and the sprinkler system flooded both our units.
Management had the contractors in our unit immediately assess the damage, and told us we would have to leave for a couple of days as they did the repairs (new insulation, new carpet and patching the walls back up). The head manager told us that it will take 2 days for the repairs to complete and that they will compensate us for only ONE night at a hotel (up to $120) and $30 worth of meals for that day. Anything else would have to be covered through our neighbor's renters insurance.
At first we tried to switch units just to make things easier (I am 37 weeks pregnant) but he told us that all of their one bedroom units are occupied and had nothing available for immediate move in. He assured us that the damage was very minor and it shouldn't take more than 48 hours and that they would work as fast as they could, especially considering my condition.
So before we packed some of our belongings we contacted OUR renters insurance company and found out that we had not been covered for the past two months because of no payment. When we told the building manager about this, he told us that HER insurance is liable for the damage so we don't have to worry about it. The contractors who were going to start working on the repairs had us sign a waiver form saying that they are going to move some of our furniture and cover it but they are not liable if they damage any of our belongings. Since we were hesitant to sign the waiver, the manager told us that thye are a trusted company that is contracted through them and that theyve been working with them for years with no problems. We signed the waiver and left.
The following day, we checked out of our hotel and called management to get an update. He then told us that it is actually going to take a week for all the repairs to be done but they are replacing everything and painting and everything will be good as new. I was really concerned because he told us we are only getting compensated for one night at the hotel so since we didn't know if we were going to get compensated for any other nights (through our neighbors insurance) we did not want to pay another $120 a night for the next 6 days so we stayed with family sleeping on the floor and buying food every day which was a HUGE burden on us already, especially being pregnant. Since we were not covered through our renters insurance at the time, we have nothing to take care of these immediate costs or represent us to communicate with management or her insurance company.
We returned to our apartment to pick up more clothes twice throughout the week. Only SOME of our furniture is covered, our hallway desk area had dust, spackle and dirt on our belongings and our coffee table was not covered and seemed to have been used as some kind of tool bench. Our bedroom had NOTHING covered and also had a ton of dust on our bed, linens.. all of our brand new baby things like the crib, blankets, and swing. Our tv was face down on top of our bed. I made sure to take lots of pictures of this. This obviously stressed me out because we had signed the waiver form trusting that company to handle our belongings with care which it did not seem like they were doing.
So today would have been the day we were able to come back home. We called the office in the morning and several times throughout the day only to get a response from the manager at 5:30 PM telling us that our apartment is still not ready and wont be until tomorrow evening. He said they are finishing the floors and he is having a cleaning company clean everything and THEN he can TRY to get someone to help my boyfriend move our furniture back to its place. Tomorrow will be the 9th day we have been out of our apartment and I'm not confident that they will do a good enough job cleaning everything, especially BEFORE they plan on moving our stuff back in its place.
I understand that if we were covered through our own renters insurance it would have been MUCH easier, but the whole fire was not caused by us and he told us himself that our neighbors insurance is liable. I just feel like we were victims here and we have to go back to our apartment and deal with all this cleaning, moving things around and possibly some of our belongings RUINED (i'm hoping not) and thats that?? Luckily we had people take us in for 8 days but what if we had no where to go?? This is clearly a HUGE burden and I feel like we should be compensated or at least taken better care of. Unfortunately I don't know what were entitled to but I don't want to just go back home tomorrow and make it seem like everythings ok when it caused us a HUGE incovenience to us when none of this was our fault.
So what I'm trying to figure out is should I discuss this with the management, or her insurance company?? What are we entitled to?? What if some of our belongings are ruined? Since our insurance company can't help us, I really don't know what to do or say, or even who to talk to. please help me out!! thanks..