I need help, long post (serious thread.) My apartment was destroyed.

[Sonikku]

My fear about insurance is something gets damaged, and still kind-of sort-of works, on borrowed time, but could still be listed as fully functional as an assessor.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I talked to the adjuster already and voiced my concern about the electronics working after the fact. He didn't seem to care - he just said pile whatever I have up for him to check out.

I am not trying to commit fraud at all. I just want my stuff looking and working as they did before this happened.

I would just tally everything up. If you don't think they'll replace the item, just insist on damages.

You might actually get an adjuster that would rather avoid the logistics of winning a long battle when it would be cheaper and easier for them to just pay you out a little more than they have to.

When I was in Joplin a few days after the Tornado, I talked with several insurance agents and they said they were pumping up their claim values by 10-15% so that the homeowners would settle more quickly. The insurance company was willing to pay out more than normal so they didn't have to deal with 300 individual home owners suing them over line item arguments.

 

[Number1]

Don't do anything until you talk to your insurance adjuster. Most of the advises you,re getting in this thread are from clueless idiots.

 

[dmcowen674]

Sorry this happened.

Had a similar flood in apartment in Elgin. Ice jam let loose and our apartment was where all the water wanted to go.

Anyway all depends on the Insurance Company and the Adjuster.

If you don't like what the Adjuster comes up with there is always small claims court. Depending on your state small claims court could go up to as high as $6,000 or higher.

I don't think an Attorney is a viable option because of the Attorney costs most likely would be higher than your cost of damages.

 

[Mark R]

I'd let your insurance deal with liability and not fret about it. In general, water leaks are usually "nobody's fault" and therefore the liability falls on the items' owner's insurance (not the landlord's insurer, if different). However, as there may have been negligence on the part of the LL's contractor, this may change things and your insurer may choose to pursue the contractor's public liability insurer. Best leave this to the insurance comapny's lawyers rather than try to get involved, beyond giving them the facts.

As regards your clothes, it may be worth just getting them professionally cleaned (especially if the apartment is wrecked and you can't use your own washing machine). Keep the bill for the insurer.

As regards furniture, when I had a similar issue, the insurance adjuster just said to get some quotes for professional cleaning. Why not call some professional upholstery cleaning companies and ask for a quote, then you have something to show the loss adjuster (but don't show the quotation first, wait to see what the adjuster says about replacement).

With regards to the electronics, many portable devices have water ingress detectors, for warranty purposes. I'd mention this to the loss adjuster and ask whether you could have the devices examined by a repair shop to check for triggering of the water detectors.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Don't do anything until you talk to your insurance adjuster. Most of the advises you,re getting in this thread are from clueless idiots.

Wait until AFTER they see things in order to start worrying. BRILLIANT WATSON

 

[DrPizza]

We had a similar situation many years ago. As your laptops work, it's hard to say what they'll do. However, the adjuster insisted that any electrical items that got wet (our washer and dryer in particular in this case) be unplugged, removed from the house, and replaced. "Fire hazard" I believe he called it. So, even though you've suffered zero damage to your electronics - nothing more than washing them off with a wet cloth - it's possible the adjuster will compensate you for them.

 

[amdhunter]

Can my landlord sue me for using renters insurance? They have sent me a certified letter this morning that I'll pick up later.

I know they are extremely pissed at me because I called about the apartment status and they are angry as hell. I know my insurance adjuster called them about the apartment and asked about drying the walls and whatnot.

The adjuster will be with me this afternoon. But now I am worried that if I use them - I'll get sued by my landlord for using insurance for my losses.

 

[Brainonska511]

Can my landlord sue me for using renters insurance? They have sent me a certified letter this morning that I'll pick up later.

On what grounds could he sue you for using renter's insurance? The renter's insurance usually only covers your stuff and your liability (eg: you flood your apartment and it needs repairing or you damaged your neighbor's things).

Some landlords actually require tenants to carry renter's insurance, because the LL's insurance will not cover the tenant's stuff.

Don't be bullied by your LL. It's on him (and his insurance) and your insurance to make you whole from the LL's screw up.

 

[slag]

Can my landlord sue me for using renters insurance? They have sent me a certified letter this morning that I'll pick up later.

I know they are extremely pissed at me because I called about the apartment status and they are angry as hell. I know my insurance adjuster called them about the apartment and asked about drying the walls and whatnot.

The adjuster will be with me this afternoon. But now I am worried that if I use them - I'll get sued by my landlord for using insurance for my losses.

Yes, anyone can sue for anything. Is it baseless and will it get thrown out? Sure, but anyone can sue for anything (with some government entities being the exception)

 

[sm625]

You should be able to claim pretty much everything as damaged. Definitely the sofas, and you should be able to get a flat dollar amount for the clothes. You should come out ahead.

 

[amdhunter]

You should be able to claim pretty much everything as damaged. Definitely the sofas, and you should be able to get a flat dollar amount for the clothes. You should come out ahead.

The landlord is being extremely nasty and I have a certified letter in the mail waiting for me in the post office. I am trying to get out of work to go pick it up before the adjuster comes today.

 

[Brainonska511]

The landlord is being extremely nasty and I have a certified letter in the mail waiting for me in the post office. I am trying to get out of work to go pick it up before the adjuster comes today.

Why does it matter if your LL is being nasty? He fucked up. Your insurance should cover you. And if you're not made whole by your insurance, you could probably go after him and his insurance for the difference.

 

[piasabird]

Get a mold inspection. If there is mold, you need to really vacate your apartment for a while and have it dried out, scrubbed and repainted. If mold is bad you may need to get rid of all the carpets and possibly gut all the drywall.

I think you are well within your rights to pay to have all your clothes, and bedding cleaned, and if there is furniture or mattresses that got wet maybe they need to be replaced. I think this might also be a good time to have all the rugs replaced and the walls dried out and painted with mold resistant paint.

Tell the landlord if he doesnt help you, you will call the health department and have his apartment condemned and consider moving out. Usually after a flood all kinds of health conditions could bother you and the apartment needs to be gutted.

 

[WackyDan]

The landlord is being extremely nasty and I have a certified letter in the mail waiting for me in the post office. I am trying to get out of work to go pick it up before the adjuster comes today.

Don't understand why he would be? Not your fault what happened.

 

[cabri]

The landlord is being extremely nasty and I have a certified letter in the mail waiting for me in the post office. I am trying to get out of work to go pick it up before the adjuster comes today.

You do not know what is in the letter.

You have every right to have renters insurance.

His letter hay be spelling out your options regarding water damage/inconvienence from his point.

His has to document everything from his side for any insurance of his.

 

[piasabird]

I live along the Mississippi river and often all the furniture and rugs need to be discarded after a flood. Sometimes it is also advisable to get rid of all the drywall up to a certain height if the walls were damaged and got wet. They have equipment designed to dry out buildings after a flood, but that requires the apartment to be cleaned out first. If this was just a water supply line and the water was all removed quickly maybe there would be less damaged. However, if the floor was covered with water for more than an hour or so, then a linoleum floor and rugs should be replaced and waterlogged drywall should be removed.

You could also call the health department and maybe a building inspector. However, they could condemn the building saying it is uninhabitable until it passes inspection.

 

[Zargon]

where the pics at??

this sounds awful man, just awful.

Hopefulyl you get a good adjuster, and they go after the landlord

 

[Strk]

And rightfully so. Your laptop might be working, but I don't want a fucking laptop that smells like someone's toilet water that they took 2000 shits in. I would fry that shit for a replacement, there is no way I would let anything suffice other than a replacement if my laptop smelled like shit. Compensating me $50 isn't going to make the smell go away.

Not too familiar with how plumbing works are you? The water that flooded was clean, drinkable water. However, it could have leached a lot of dirty and grime going from the floor above and onto his stuff, but still, unless someone wasn't potty trained, there should be zero shits found.

We had a similar situation many years ago. As your laptops work, it's hard to say what they'll do. However, the adjuster insisted that any electrical items that got wet (our washer and dryer in particular in this case) be unplugged, removed from the house, and replaced. "Fire hazard" I believe he called it. So, even though you've suffered zero damage to your electronics - nothing more than washing them off with a wet cloth - it's possible the adjuster will compensate you for them.

This is pretty much it. You don't know if the water actually affected anything, but you do know it got into the laptops. That is how I would leave it. Ignore those trying to convince you to do insurance fraud. As long as you documented everything when it happened, it's all you can do, which I believe you said you got loads of pictures of everything.

 

[Humpy]

OP seems a little faint-hearted and worrisome TBH.

This is the kind of stuff that happens on Earth all the time. You shall overcome.

 

[amdhunter]

Spoke to the adjuster - after taking into consideration depreciated costs and my deductible, I came out losing by a little bit. I hope they can retreive my deductible from the rental company.

My landlord has made arrangements to start fixing my apartment this Monday.

I am not happy but what can you do? I can replace stuff and send receipts if it comes out to be more than I thought. As for the furniture, I can get a professional company to restore it, and if that doesn't work, get new cushions and submit receipts.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

I'm not a lawyer, so don't take anything I say as fact, but it sounds like you have some issues that the landlord needs to rectify.

The first thing I would do is make a complete and comprehensive list of the damages. take pictures and have receipts ready from anything that cost more than $100.

They have an obligation to repair the damages, replace the item or compensate you for the value if that can't do the anything else.

I think you are also entitled to something for lost of habitability, but it's probably not a lot if it was only 3 days.

If you are using your own insurance then they will likely subrogate to the landlord to pickup their costs which is what is making your LL so uptight. He should have insurance for this type of thing, but he will still be out of pocket for deductible.

By they way, include you deductible in your claim. You should not be out of pocket anything for what you are going through.

As for the computers, I would guess that your PC has a water sensor somewhere buried inside of the unit. If the sensor is tripped (colored pink), then the unit has sustained water damage and will likely not be covered under the mfg warranty anymore. In either case, it's damaged and they have an obligation to fix it, replace it or compensate you.

If the landlord takes offense to all of this, that's really too bad. You are the injured party here and you did nothing more than pay your rent and live in the apartment. If your LL decides to do something stupid like evict you or raise your rent or something else that you feel is retaliation, you should see an attorney. There are a ton of protections for renters and they would end up on the wrong side of that suit.

Good luck with everything...and document, document, document. Keep a log of conversations, expenses, damages anything that you were effected by during the event. It may come in handy later.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

Spoke to the adjuster - after taking into consideration depreciated costs and my deductible, I came out losing by a little bit. I hope they can retreive my deductible from the rental company.

My landlord has made arrangements to start fixing my apartment this Monday.

I am not happy but what can you do? I can replace stuff and send receipts if it comes out to be more than I thought. As for the furniture, I can get a professional company to restore it, and if that doesn't work, get new cushions and submit receipts.

When you say, "I came out losing a bit", what does that mean? they should have covered everything! If the sofa is soaked, get it fixed in the best way you can to bring it back up the condition it was in before the accident. same with everything else.

You are right in that you probably have further claims that need to be brought directly to the LL or APT owner's insurance. basically it should work like this.

sofa if soaked, and probably moldy now. take it to a professional repair place or have them come look at it and get an estimate to fix it. If they say it will cost $500 to fix it like new, then that's your claim. if renters insurance paid you $200 for the depreciated value or whatever, that's fine, you claim to the LL is diminished to $300. Their obligation is NOT to give you estimated depreciated value of something. Their obligation is to bring the item back to the condition it was in before the accident. I may be wrong here, but I would fight like hell to make sure you get your stuff back to the way it was.

 

[futurefields]

wow did the ceiling collapse on you?

 

[Mark R]

When you say, "I came out losing a bit", what does that mean? they should have covered everything! If the sofa is soaked, get it fixed in the best way you can to bring it back up the condition it was in before the accident. same with everything else.

It probably means deductions from the payout due to age of the items (insurance often won't pay out full price for items which wear out, unless brand new - they'll estimate how much life was left, and pay the proportion), and also the deductible.

For example, I had to claim on my insurance because the apartment upstairs had a water leak which wrecked my carpet. The insurance company said that because the carpet was 5 years old, and had an estimated life of 10 years, they would only pay 50% of the replacement cost.