Is a landlord responsible for taking care of basement flooding?

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Is a landlord responsible for taking care of basement flooding?

We rent a house. Recently we had a tropical storm and our basement flooded. There was a lot of water, which we cleaned up ourselves. We borrowed a shop vac and cleaned it as good as possible. I advised my landlord of this, all he told me to let him know if it happens again. Today, it happened again, it is now getting moldy. I called the landlord and asked if it was possible for him to get us a shopvac because this keeps happening or for someone to come out to fix the problem. He said he will look into it but does not think he has to buy a shopvac for us. What can we do?

Asked on September 6, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Maryland

Answers:

FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

If your landlord has been advised of a problem of the unit you rent stemming from water intrusion issues with the result of potential mold resulting and has done nothing to rectify the situation, you need to write the landlord a letter advsing him or her of the need to resolve the problem by a certain date and if not done, you will make the repairs and deduct the costs of such from next month's rental check.

Keep a copy of this letter for future reference.

Another tactic would be to call your local health inspector's office or building inspector's office and request an inspection of the rental. If the unit is cited, your landlord will be required to make the neccesary clean up of the property.

Good luck.

 


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