Apartment flooded - Elmgrove will not give discounted rent

Submitted by thenightispink t3_11a6yp1 in ManchesterNH

So my apartment flooded this month. We couldn't use our second bedroom due to a wet carpet and then ultimate carpet replacement 9 days after the flood. We couldn't use our livingroom for two weeks due to painting and mudding/sanding, etc. We lease through Elmgrove Companies. They will not give us discounted rent. I need to know if I am in the right here fighting this. This photo is from our lease, am I interpreting this right? -that they will only charge us for habitable areas of the apartment?

https://preview.redd.it/k01ob4kstzja1.jpg?width=929&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=945d4e0efe08a5899956f6e970829f994093592d

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Star_Harvester t1_j9q67cq wrote

It's hard to know for sure without seeing the whole agreement, but this clause does seem to say you can ask for a reduced cost. You'd need to show that the flooding was unavoidably out of your control -- not something you caused or enabled (not saying you did this, just being clear).

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thenightispink OP t1_j9qhas7 wrote

Thanks. Yeah we would need to talk to a lawyer to see how in the right we are - legally.

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cuddlefish2063 t1_j9qssxy wrote

603 Legal Aid might be able to help depending on your financial situation.

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DeuceClimaxx t1_j9qanzs wrote

Having had experience with Elm Grove, good luck. They don’t give a flying fuck about you. That being said:

Your lease will also likely have a clause to have insurance. What I’ve personally seen is they make you get insured and tell you to make it easier that they recommend “X” and they will just add in every month to your rent. You should be obtaining insurance independently from the landlord, their employees or anyone associated with them.

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thenightispink OP t1_j9qgyi0 wrote

So there is no clause to have insurance in our lease, oddly enough. We have contacted a lawyer though just get a consultation at least about everything. They must be in breach of contract.

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TiredCr0codile t1_j9rn63y wrote

You should have insurance if you don't. Renters is usually cheap.

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thenightispink OP t1_j9s0k48 wrote

Thanks I hadn’t put that together after losing a grand worth of stuff actually

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Few-Afternoon-6276 t1_j9s9jvu wrote

I wish this comment could be bigger..those guys are db ….Cheshire cats

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DeuceClimaxx t1_j9tbcd7 wrote

I will never be able to explain to people my disgust in that company… Absolute trash

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TiredCr0codile t1_j9rmm4e wrote

They'd just terminate your lease before adjusting. Contract says either party has the right.

Calculate the SF unusable divide by total and multiply that by daily rent amount then deduct from total rent depending how many days you were under construction

How did the flood happen? A neighbor?

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thenightispink OP t1_j9u5vtm wrote

We didn't have heat for 30 hours during the day that it was -10 to -40 throughout NH. It stopped working at 2 in the morning. I was asleep and woken up because I got cold. Got up to check the heat and it was off. The next morning I put in a maintenance request and emailed out property manager. No one came and they didn't respond with anything. The next morning on Sunday our apartment flooded. Water froze then expanded and a cap blew off the end of the pipe. We were told by the pipe fitter company that the pipes were installed wrong initially and that they used the wrong adhesive for the cap.

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TiredCr0codile t1_j9uogqp wrote

That's all on them. Even if the cap was fine, the pipe would have burst probably

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