Negligence?

[Kjup2]

What is the name of your state? NY


My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: NY

I bought my first two properties two years ago in Rochester NY. Last year I switched car insurance companies and forgot to add back my umbrella policy. A meter was broken into at one property and RG Electric demanded a whole new coded meter that was out of stock for 6-7weeks. My general insurance denied my claim because it wasn’t over my deductible at least the part that wasn’t the city code issue, which wasn’t covered. I didn’t realize the power was off in one apt for an entire month after that until RG E turned all four units off a month after the tampering (past Thursday). I got the families to friends and hotels when they didn’t have them, but it looks like it may be possible I am negligent for not offering a hotel to the first family who have a small baby, even though I was told by the PM she said she was fine staying w friends. I have the normal clauses in our rental agreement and with my property manager, but from what I am reading I could still be liable for PM not verbally offering habitable housing. Any insights?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? NY


My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: NY

I bought my first two properties two years ago in Rochester NY. Last year I switched car insurance companies and forgot to add back my umbrella policy. A meter was broken into at one property and RG Electric demanded a whole new coded meter that was out of stock for 6-7weeks. My general insurance denied my claim because it wasn’t over my deductible at least the part that wasn’t the city code issue, which wasn’t covered. I didn’t realize the power was off in one apt for an entire month after that until RG E turned all four units off a month after the tampering (past Thursday). I got the families to friends and hotels when they didn’t have them, but it looks like it may be possible I am negligent for not offering a hotel to the first family who have a small baby, even though I was told by the PM she said she was fine staying w friends. I have the normal clauses in our rental agreement and with my property manager, but from what I am reading I could still be liable for PM not verbally offering habitable housing. Any insights?

Why didn’t you know power was off in one apartment for a month? Was this apartment occupied?

Did you misspeak when you spoke of “car” insurance?

If your tenants did not request alternative housing and/or you offered alternative housing while the meter was being replaced, I don’t see how you could be held liable. A lot depends on the contents of your lease agreements.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

When you wrote "I bought my first two properties two years ago", it implies that you have purchased more properties in the meantime. It really sounds like you need to talk to an attorney about structuring your holdings.

Your exposure for failing to offer alternative housing seems pretty low. Probably a few months rent. That may seem high at the moment, but a great exposure is when a deck collapses and half a dozen medical school interns are paralyzed.

Properly structured holdings would likely have each property owned by a separate entity (corp, LLC, etc), so when the interns sue and your insurance is exhausted, they cannot come after YOUR assets, they could only come after the LLC or corporation.

A single umbrella policy would imply that all of your holdings are covered by one policy, and owned by one entity.

For this particular issue, you should ask your PM if he or she has errors and omissions insurance that will cover his or her omission.

 

[FarmerJ]

It would be interesting to know if that unit had a tenant living in it and why they didn't contact you them self after a few days (or call city inspections to have a inspector call you to find out why it was taking so long. AS to re housing the tenants can you tell us if your city or county or states laws require you to re house ? BTW has RGE told you why they didn't suggest you have a electrician come out to install something temporary ? ( so you know you could have temporarily paid the electric of a neighboring unit while waiting for the new meter and had a electrician connect the unit with out power temporarily to that other box or even if you had house meter for lights and a boiler it could have temporarily been used to give that other unit power. AS to your property manager not telling you about the one who didn't have power all that time , id suggest you replace the PM. If your state and local laws do not obligate you then consider offering a months rent to the one who was with out the longest. AS to the property I suggest you screw a sign to the wall in a interior common area that says ` If for any reason other than non payment or severe weather your electricity , natural gas or water stops working Id like it if you would call me ( after you go get a magic jack or a net talk or another low cost Voip ) Leave a message , I will check it daily. Your free to also include telling them they can call the same number for repair related messages

 

[Zigner]

In Civil Law, <remainder of plagiarized text removed>

What does that have to do with anything in this thread?

Your post was reported for plagiarism.