I got a slightly concerned called from The Tenant. (BTW, he DID paint the door black. And I hate to admit it, but it looks kinda cool.)
"DH, this is Tenant."
"Oh, hey Tenant, what's up?"
"My son just called me, there's 3-4 inches of water in the basement. I'm heading home now, I think the hot water heater let go."
"OMG. I'll come over.'
"Nah, don't worry about, I'll call you around noon to let you know how things are, I don't want you missing work."
"Ok, that's fine, keep me posted."
30mins later.......
"DH, it's Tenant again. It's not the water heater! This is sewage back up! It's black and nasty and it SMELLS. All my stuff is ruined!!!"
"OMG!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I know! What should I do!!!!???? All my stuff is ruined!!!!!"
"Um, call the City and see if there's anything they can do. Maybe a pipe let go."
"Do you want me to call Roto Rooter? God, all my stuff is ruined!!!"
"Oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
"I can't afford them. All my stuff is trashed!"
"Ok, you call the city I'll call Roto Rooter. I am so sorry Tenant! Thank god your kid was home!"
"Yeah, no kidding, but still all my stuff....."
By this point, yours truly was having a panic attack and meltdown. I called F. "SERIOUS ISSUE Call me IMMEDIATELY!!!!
Long story short, some IDIOT flushed a DOZEN latex gloves down the toilet which combined with tree roots, blocked the sewage pipes and caused the waste water to flood back up into the basement. In case you missed that, DO NOT FLUSH LATEX DOWN THE TOILET!!!!
$300 dollars later, the pipes are clear and F and I left the Tenant with our carpet cleaner to clean the carpeted stairs and his area rug with the advice to use bleach and disinfectant to clean the floors, walls and his stuff. And his feet! He was down there in flip flops!!!
Stress anyone!?!?! I have plenty to share.
And I kinda feel bad, because being new to this whole land lord thing, I don't know what is expected of me. Should I have stayed and helped clean up? (if the roles were reversed I would have been screaming for that) Or even paid someone to do it? We did spend all day there with him. Even bought pizza. I just don't know. What are the rules? Guidelines?
I never wanted to be a landlord!
2 comments:
Thats Horrible! I think you did all that you could. There is a reason why there is renters insurance. If he is smart he would have it to replace his stuff.
Personally, if I were a tenant, I would either want the landlord to call a professional to come in to clean, or be reimbursed if I decided to call one. I mean, if it is as much gross flooding as I am imagining. And like brooke said, hopefully he had renters insurance.
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