House hit by drunk driver!!!

By MHall

Last wednesday our house was hit by a drunk driver at 4am. He hit the electric and meter boxes on the side of the house causing us to lose power. The driver has no insurance, and neither does my landlord on the house. He told us that he was going to give us 40 dollars a day for the 3 of us to get a hotel room. The cheapest hotel we could find was 60 a night. We lost all of our food in the refridgerator. And the landlord still hasnt started reimbursing us for the money we are spending on the hotel. It is now wednesday a week later and we are still in a hotel and the house hasn’t even began being worked on. The landlord is now stating that we have a clause in our lease about fire and casualty stating that if the house becomes unlivable that he can cancel the lease at anytime. We were not informed that this could happen. we thought casualty reffered to death. Our lease is up in 2 weeks and we graduate college and move home. Can we take him to court? If so how would we go about doing this to get back what we have spent….

Edited on: Saturday, September 25th, 2010 11:23 am

5 Responses to “House hit by drunk driver!!!”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Richard

April 21st, 2010 1:32 pm

Sounds like you’ve been through a bit of a crisis with this landlord.  Not to be rude, but your landlord’s stupidity shouldn’t be your fault or obligation.  If he fails to insure the property, then he is still financially responsible.  
How do you think your landlord would respond to you if you told him that you didn’t have enough money to pay the rent due to loss of employment, etc?  — EXACTLY!  He would immediately evict you.
Your landlord is the type that gives all of us good landlords a bad name.  I’m sorry you are dealing with this.  I would suggest that all of the tenants that were affected by the drunk driver file separate complaints with the RPA.  There is power in numbers!  By filing a complaint you should be able to get reimbursed for money owed to you by the landlord.  I would avoid court.  Only consider that as a last resort since it can be costly and take forever.


Renter

April 21st, 2010 1:40 pm

I had to file a complaint against my landlord.  I was about ready to take him to court over a deposit dispute, but then a friend told me that she had filed a complaint and was happy with the process.  So, based on her words, I filed a complaint.  We’ll see what happens, but I can say that I’m sure my landlord will back peddle once the RPA contacts him.  
Thanks RPA.   Sure a lot better than going to court!!
 


Sarah

April 21st, 2010 2:30 pm

I just wanted to add to this post.  I’ve been through the complaint process.  My case was just finalized today.  The worst part of the whole thing was waiting for the landlord to respond to my complaint.  But even that wasn’t very long.  I’m more than satified with the way my landlord complaint turned out.  I’m not smart enough to do the court thing, so I couldn’t comment on that.  For me, the complaint option was a success. 
Hope that helps you if you are wondering about what to expect.  Good Luck!


Renter (above)

April 21st, 2010 2:35 pm

Thanks Sarah, I appreciate the confirmation.  Hey I was wondering– I just filed my complaint today.   It says that it is pending assignement.  How long does it take before it gets assigned to an agent?  (I know, I’m way impatient!!  Just curious)
I look forward to your response. :)


Sarah

April 21st, 2010 3:06 pm

Hi Renter (above)  — so personable!  j/k
Sure, I can tell you how long it took for my case to be assigned to an agent.  I filed my complaint at around 7:30pm ish and then by the next afternoon it had been assigned to an RPA Agent.  Once the Agent was assigned the case moved fast.  The same day my agent had reviewed the case and prepared the required paperwork. 
I did “Rush” my case.  Not sure if you did that??  If you rush your case its guaranteed to be assigned to the next available agent, no more than 1 business day.  I can’t remember how long they said it would take for normal (non-rushed) processing but I think it was like a 5 business days or something.
I hope that helps.
Sarah


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