Landlord can fix this one

iahawkeye83 · 2026-08-04T17:05:47+00:00

With several heavy rainstorms we’ve been having lately I’ve got a bucket on the kitchen table as there is water leaking into the house and there is now water getting into the basement (not enough to need to install a sump pump but I’ve been using a shop vac to clean it up) one of my customers at work is a roofer and he says that it could be either clogged gutters or a leak around the solar panels. Like I said, I’ll vacuum up the water in the basement, I’ll empty the bucket but I’m not installing a new roof or cleaning the gutters. And I’m not calling code enforcement or taking him to court because that’s called non-renewal of your lease.

broknsymetry

Astyanax more rent so you could stay in the house where it’s leaking in the kitchen and flooding the basement that you won’t be able to bail out when it rains anymore! Not that!

He should charge more rent after installing an indoor swimming pool.

iahawkeye83

Update, he had the solar company come out to see if the solar panels were causing the leak. The found the source of the leak. It’s a cracked flange around the sewer vent. They offered to fix it for $250 (I told them I’m not authorized to authorize the work) so he is going to have a roofer come out and complete the repair.

A sewer pipe flange can probably be picked up for less than $30 at HD but nothing is going to get me up on that roof. Falling off of a three story roof would put me closer to mom and grandma which I’m not ready for that stage yet. I have some life left to live in me. I only do work on the house I can do safely, and that is within my tools and abilities. I also work safely. I don’t touch gas except for the propane tank on my grill (it can level a multilevel strip club which it did here a few years ago when a gas company contractor pierced a gas line), electrical I turn off power and check with a multimeter to make sure it’s off before working. Plumbing I shut off the water.

grand_total

dave With a wet basement, in my experience you’ve basically got 2 choices:

Unfortunately there are many more possibilities, for example cracked basement walls and tie rod holes filled with regular cement rather than hydraulic cement to quote just two possibilities.

broknsymetry

iahawkeye83 offered to fix it for $250

Find someone willing to go up and throw some Flex Seal on it for $50.

InternetJeff

broknsymetry Flex Seal

A handyman in a can!

Saratoga66

broknsymetry Then when it leaks and does damage the landlord can sue him for damages. This is not his problem to fix, its the landlords. The OP should not do anything to repair.

broknsymetry

Saratoga66 the landlord can sue him for damages.

iahawkeye83 he is going to have a roofer come out and complete the repair.

I was referring to the landlord, sorry for the confusion.

iahawkeye83

broknsymetry
Saratoga66 the landlord can sue him for damages.

iahawkeye83 he is going to have a roofer come out and complete the repair.

I was referring to the landlord, sorry for the confusion.

That would be the landlord of my childhood home, she did everything as cheaply as possible. Tried repairing a floor furnace that had been in a flood, every time the HVAC guy would go in the crawl space to fix it (including on Christmas Day) it would fire for a couple of days and then fail. She finally had to replace it and used an unlicensed “handyman” to replace the floor furnace with another floor furnace. And yes that was messing with gas lines. Some landlords cut corners and do things that don’t comply with code. It was technically illegal in the jurisdiction for an unlicensed handyman to replace a furnace without a permit but she pulled some “strings” to make it compliant.

Bobcat00

A landlord like this would not get away with this for long here in New Jersey. We don’t tolerate scum lords.

Donoreo

The landlord where my daughters live to go to school is not happy with some of the other tenants. The house has a bat problem. They had exterminators in at least once to remove and seal, but bats returned. So another tenant filed a complaint with the Landlord and Tenant Board of Ontario. They all got an email after that asking to talk to them first. Well, they had, several times, bats were still there.

egeezer

Donoreo The house has a bat problem.

Were they perchance in their belfry?

Donoreo

egeezer Were they perchance in their belfry?

No, but it is mostly an old house. I say mostly because they live in the old part of the house, they have the front door, and then second and third floors. EDIT: missed part. The back of the “house” has a new two floor addtion with more units.

Somewhat-Reticent

iahawkeye83 “strings”

or inspection?

Donoreo

Bats hang in thin spaces like inside wall cavities. Droppings ensue.

broknsymetry

egeezer Were they perchance in their belfry?

iahawkeye83

Somewhat-Reticent or inspection?

She called around to different HVAC contractors to see if they would pull a permit AFTER the furnace was installed and she actually found a guy who was willing to risk his license and his liability to put his name on a permit so she could check the box that the work had a permit. Probably charged her a few hundred bucks to do so as well. I’m not sure if he came out to look at the work because my witness to this ordeal (my mom) is unfortunately in the cemetery. I was in 4th grade when this all happened.

Here in Springfield, Mass an envelope stuffed with a few bills will make the inspector go away. That’s why this town is rampant with slumlords and run down properties. Cheaper to pay off inspectors than to actually bring your stuff up to code or use licensed contractors. The town is more focused on vacant run down commercial properties in prime real estate like the old Vibra hospital which has become a nuisance and a public safety hazard as teens from the nearby high schools have been setting fires there and breaking windows. But some of us just want livable spaces and if the landlord doesn’t fix it we will. Been through that many times. But not at the expense of getting myself killed or blowing up the house.

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