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Should I try to mitigate with my apartment or just pay and sue them.

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ibrooda

New member
For starters, this is in texas. but it will help that I've added laws and sections myself. They are trying to make us pay $490 for damages / cleaning etc... Well there are a number of things I feel we can sue for. I had two questions. Am I correct about the laws and stuff? and second Should I try to provide them with this information and the potential lawsuit which could cost them thousands and see if they can zero the account balance and not have to worry about court or should I just pay it and sue them?

Here is what I have compiled.

Sections are referring to LANDLORD AND TENANT CHAPTER 92. RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES SUBCHAPTER B.

Notice to fix the dishwasher was made on 12/18/2018 this request was not replied to by 12/23/2018 This is in violation of Sec. 92.053. In addition to being in violation of the Sec 92.053 since the dishwasher wasn't fixed in a timely manner our dishes had sat in there until they finally came and fix it once my mom gave Matt a not so nice call. Once it was fixed we took out all the dishes which had been covered in garbage disposal waste because it was backing up into dishwasher and tried to clean them to see they were covered in mold. This along with the mold growing in the bathroom that was from the next point are an extreme health hazard and we are lucky to not have gotten extremely ill from this.

The repair was not completed until 02/22/2019 which is in violation of Sec. 92.056 and Sec. 92.052.

Written notices were not provided for the toilet flooding as we made emergency calls and each time the maintenance people came we were told “just let the fans run and dry it out and you're good” or something along those lines. Them not properly cleaning it and fixing the problem lead to the build up of mold as provided in the pictures which are dated 01/15/19. Even though written notices were not given due to the nature of this problem this is in violation of Sec. 92.056 and Sec. 92.052. Because of negligence by apartment staff and failure to fix this issue it led to destruction of around $150 in towels, clothes, and books.

Addressing the lease agreement regarding the repairs 31.1 Of the lease agreement states “The time, manner, method and means of performing maintenance and repairs, including whether or which vendors to use, are within our sole discretion”. This is an illegal clause that violates Sec. 92.056 which states the repairs must be made in “reasonable time” which is typically 7 days but depends on the severity of the issue. (3 months for a dishwasher repair is NOT “reasonable time”)
If legal action was to be taken for these violations. Under 92.0563 if the court rules in favor of the plaintiff the defendant would be subject to penalty of one month's rent plus $500 ($1,360); judgment against the landlord for the amount of the tenant's actual damages ($150); court costs ($101) and attorney's fees (?). This would amount to $1,611 not including attorney fees.

This case could easily cost your company over $2000 if the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. If the final account balance could be zeroed out we will not proceed with legal action. However if we are forced to pay these ridiculous charges at ridiculous rates then we will need to take legal action to make up those losses, and in our favor we would recoup triple insane fees we were forced to pay which in all reality cost your company less than $300 to fix.


any help is appreciated.
 
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quincy

Senior Member
All of this happened in January of last year? Could you replace the other X-ed out dates with real dates? Thanks.

You can try to negotiate with your landlord. Your landlord could still sue you, though. If a complaint is filed against you, you could countersue.
 

ibrooda

New member
All of this happened in January of last year? Could you replace the other X-ed out dates with real dates? Thanks.

You can try to negotiate with your landlord. Your landlord could still sue you, though. If a complaint is filed against you, you could countersue.
What would they Sue us for? I was thinking I could confront them with what I've posted above and try to see if they will just zero out the account charges ($490) and I won't take them to court for $1600
 

quincy

Senior Member
What would they Sue us for? I was thinking I could confront them with what I've posted above and try to see if they will just zero out the account charges ($490) and I won't take them to court for $1600
They could/would sue you for “damages/cleaning etc.”

Whether your threat to sue (or countersue) will work to eliminate the $490 they say you owe is anyone’s guess.
 

ibrooda

New member
They could/would sue you for “damages/cleaning etc.”

Whether your threat to sue (or countersue) will work to eliminate the $490 they say you owe is anyone’s guess.
Yeah, I was planning on paying this and taking them to court for the violations of statute if they won't negotiate on it. I was mainly wondering how strong my case is?.

I have email documentation of us contacting them in December and also email confirmation of them completing it in February, and no communication between.
As for the toilet we never emailed because it was always emergency maintenance call as it usually happened at like 3am or on the weekends. But we do have pictures from multiple times when it happened and personal property it has destroyed.
Then there is the illegal clause..
 

quincy

Senior Member
I just read over your original post again and noticed a few things that work against you. I will assume you never thought to have rental insurance which would have covered any losses you suffered.

First: A dishwasher is not a necessity. You could have hand washed all dishes instead of letting them sit in a non-functioning dishwasher.

Second: How did books and clothes get damaged with a toilet overflow? Typically a toilet overflow requires mopping up the overflow, fixing the cause of the toilet overflow, then cleaning the area thoroughly. Any towels or clothes that got wet should have been washed.
 

ibrooda

New member
I just read over your original post again and noticed a few things that work against you. I will assume you never thought to have rental insurance which would have covered any losses you suffered.

First: A dishwasher is not a necessity. You could have hand washed all dishes instead of letting them sit in a non-functioning dishwasher.

Second: How did books and clothes get damaged with a toilet overflow? Typically a toilet overflow requires mopping up the overflow, fixing the cause of the toilet overflow, then cleaning the area thoroughly. Any towels or clothes that got wet should have been washed.
The dishwasher is an amenity which we pay for and wasn't working for 1/4 of the lease, the dishes couldn't get done because the reason the dishwasher broke is because the garbage disposal broke. So the sink would back up if you ran the water for like 5 minutes and it took hours to drain. It made it really difficult to do the dishes we were using to eat, forget an entire dishwasher full of garbage disposal waste covered dishes (when we ran the dishwasher it stopped working half way through, we opened it up to see the dishwasher was running the backed up garbage disposal water through it)

and the plumbing was XXXXX. You could not turn off the water, legit twisting it for 30 minutes would've done nothing. Because of this it would run from whenever it started flooding to whenever we woke up and found it (like it would start flooding even if you didn't flush the toilet) And it wasn't like a clogged toilet. It was flooding from the top of the toilet because the inside of the toilet was duck taped together (so that means it was like that before we moved in). We pointed out the problem was the internals orally and every time they brought us an industrial fan (which ran off our electric bill) and had us run it for 8 hours which was also a big inconvenience. They never brought in a wet vac or attempted to fix the toilet.

it destroyed our items because it soaked the carpet in like a 7 foot radius of the bathroom and made it into the closet where there was clothes and books. Our unit didn't have a washing machine, our office had a laundry mat which used a laundry card. And this happened on the weekend the time it destroyed the items so we couldn't add money on the card to do the laundry.
And I don't think renters insurance is needed to recoup those damages, because it happened due to negligence of the apartment staff.
 

quincy

Senior Member
The dishwasher is an amenity which we pay for and wasn't working for 1/4 of the lease, the dishes couldn't get done because the reason the dishwasher broke is because the garbage disposal broke. So the sink would back up if you ran the water for like 5 minutes and it took hours to drain. It made it really difficult to do the dishes we were using to eat, forget an entire dishwasher full of garbage disposal waste covered dishes (when we ran the dishwasher it stopped working half way through, we opened it up to see the dishwasher was running the backed up garbage disposal water through it)

and the plumbing was XXXXX. You could not turn off the water, legit twisting it for 30 minutes would've done nothing. Because of this it would run from whenever it started flooding to whenever we woke up and found it (like it would start flooding even if you didn't flush the toilet) And it wasn't like a clogged toilet. It was flooding from the top of the toilet because the inside of the toilet was duck taped together (so that means it was like that before we moved in). We pointed out the problem was the internals orally and every time they brought us an industrial fan (which ran off our electric bill) and had us run it for 8 hours which was also a big inconvenience. They never brought in a wet vac or attempted to fix the toilet.

it destroyed our items because it soaked the carpet in like a 7 foot radius of the bathroom and made it into the closet where there was clothes and books. Our unit didn't have a washing machine, our office had a laundry mat which used a laundry card. And this happened on the weekend the time it destroyed the items so we couldn't add money on the card to do the laundry.
And I don't think renters insurance is needed to recoup those damages, because it happened due to negligence of the apartment staff.
Okay. Your additional details make your claims more reasonable.

Sure. Present your arguments to the landlord and see what happens. It can’t hurt. If sued, use your arguments in a countersuit and see what happens.

Good luck.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
Yeah, I was planning on paying this and taking them to court
Nope. Once you pay, you're done. It's called a settlement. Settlements are binding.

If you aren't willing to sue, just pay and get it over with. If you are willing to sue, don't threaten, just do it.

My response to threats of a lawsuit by tenants has always been "Make sure you spell my name right." Guess what, never got sued by a tenant.
 

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