Submitted by Charming-Biscottiii t3_zwr1is in personalfinance
On Christmas morning I opened up my BluRam cam app to check on my apartment/kitties since I’m currently 600 miles away back home for the holidays and won’t be returning until next Monday. To my horror, I saw water spewing down from my ceiling in 4 different spots and my entire apartment in 4 inches of water.
Every surface was covered in water and everything I own. I called the leasing office multiple times, attempting to reach someone, but obviously nobody was answering since it was Christmas. I was able to leave a message with emergency maintenance, who called me back immediately and said he was aware of the situation and both the kitties were safe in my room, which had no active water flow in it and was seemingly dry.
Here we are, 3 days later, and my apartment is still completely under water (aside from my bedroom). My apartment building didn’t even reach out to me until last night, 2 days after the pipe burst, and essentially said they’re trying to figure out what to do as 17 units were affected.
Today I had one of my friends run over and take my kitties to a safe location since the last check in was yesterday morning and I had to arrange a safe space as my roommate now couldn’t come home. Mt friend had to literally chisel the mat off the ground in order to get to the spare key because the water had seeped out of my apartment overnight and caused the mat to freeze to the cement ground. It’s currently negative degree temperatures where I live, I should add.
She sent me videos of the damage and essentially everything I own is ruined and destroyed. Everything is moist and wet and gross and unable to be salvaged. Clothes, furniture, bedding, etc. I do have renters insurance, but I feel like I shouldn’t have to pay the $500 deductible for this?
My apartment is also not livable by any means. The carpets, drywall, flooring, hardwood, appliances, plumbing, electricity, i mean EVERYTHING needs replaced. The leasing company (who I have only spoke with once) couldn’t even give me an answer on if I can move into a new unit that’s available or where I can go when I have to return next week. They just kept stating I should be able to live in my place by Monday, but the videos show such severe damage I know it’ll take months to repair.
I don’t know where to start with this and the lack of communication/empathy from our leasing office is driving me insane. A hotel isn’t possible because I have 2 kitties and my dog and work from home. But the amount of money it’s going to cost to hire a moving company + the time off work I’m going to have to take to move is going to crush me.
I also just had ACL surgery a few months again and am currently working to pay those bills off as well. I’m mostly just crushed because a majority of the keepsakes I have from my dad (who passed away years ago when I was 18) have been destroyed and can’t be saved. Any and all advice welcome.
Edit: I wasn’t sure if I would be responsible to pay the deductible since it was a pipe from my above neighbor’s apartment, not mine. I wasn’t sure if their renter’s insurance would cover my deductible or not. I also did not just leave my cats to fend for themselves- my coworker who lives in the building next time mine checked on them every night for me and my roommate left on christmas eve and was supposed to come back the day after christmas.