Who is responsible for these repairs?

[draftladyb]

Can anyone help me here? I live in Washington state (not DC). My phone line started blitzing out, and then stopped working. When we reported this to our rental manager (at an apartment complex), we were told that we would have to have the phone company repair it. We did so, and then took the bill down to our office. They took a copy and said they would take care of the cost ($85.00). They never did, and it is only recently that we are going to have our phone shut off if we don't pay it, so we are going to pay it. Now our office says that WE are responsible for the cost, even though the work that had to be done was done to the jack and to the wiring in the walls. When we contacted the phone company, we were told that the job was DEFINITELY an inside job (inside the walls), and that we should not have to pay the cost, that out landlords should.

Can anyone offer me any advice here? It is not stated in our lease that we are responsible for any repairs, excepting repairs to damage that WE caused. This was not caused by us, it was caused by faulty wiring and a faulty jack. The only thing even close to this in our lease states "Residents shall, in addition to the rent, pay for all public utilities charged against the Apartment except for water, sewer and garbage collection, which shall be paid by the landlord."

Thank you in advance for your time, a reply by email that a reply was posted would be much appreciated as well. Thank you,

Alecia J Rivas
[email protected]

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Alecia J Rivas in "Real life"
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[Roger R]

Call up the real estate board and ask what the standard practice is -- most landlords in my state (not Wash) don't pay as phone service was not a mandatory service in 1900.