Times are tough as is, with all the economic and political madness going on, but we also have the cold winter to deal with on top of it all. And one unfortunate family in Minnesota got the short end of the stick with the freezing weather when their home suffered a “catastrophic waterpipe failure.” Posting a video of the incident on r/Renters, the husband explained how he woke up to what looked like a “fire hydrant” blasting a stream into the house, flooding the floor with six inches of water.
Fortunately, the man and wife made it out safely with their dogs, and firefighters arrived at the scene to stop the flooding. Staying with family in town, the couple then had to make visits to their home after the water gradually cleared, salvaging any items they could. And while their landlord promises that their apartment will eventually become habitable again, the husband finds that hard to believe. “The problem is when we went in, it’s so warm and humid in there, and it’s really starting to smell heavily like mildew,” he explains. “To me, the place is trashed. ”
The Minnesota renter continues, “We’re devastated, and have mentally written the apartment off as a total loss.” “We’ll save what we can, but we don’t think there’s anyway we will be able to go back safely,” he concludes. Unfortunately, they don’t have renters’ insurance to restore any of their lost property, so this flooding incident is going to set them back by an awful lot. Many people in the comment section share their condolences, but in terms of options, there isn’t much to suggest.
For starters, one commenter claims the landlord does owe the family any rent paid during which the place was flooded and uninhabitable, as well as their damage deposit. As for anything else, there are charities like the Salvation Army to give a helping hand. Still, besides support from family and friends, the family’s home is done for, and they’ll need to build everything back up.
As to whether the landlord should do anything else besides the bare minimum of repairs and whatnot, he’s not liable for any property damage, “short of being able to prove that this failure occurred due to negligence,” remarks a Redditor. Hopefully, fate will be kinder to this Minnesota family so they can rebuild their lives to normal.
