Can my landlord charge rent if we were not able to live in the house?

By Carol

My family and I rent a house from a private owner; she is a licensed Real Este agent also. We recently had a water pipe burst and had severe water damage. The fire department advised us we could not stay in the house and needed to find another place to stay until the house could be repaired. We do have renters insurance, so they paid for us to stay in a hotel for 2 weeks. Do I owe rent for the 2 weeks we were not in the house? I also want to know, during the 2 weeks the house was being repaired a restoration company came in to dry out the carpets and the walls. They set up several industrial sized fans and ran them 24 hours a day for 5 days straight. I since received my electric bill and it was $175.00 for the 5 days they were in the house. They also set the heat at the highest setting which costs us 1/4 tank of oil equaling $316.00. Our renter’s insurance policy has a $500.00 deductible. So with these charges and the time I missed from work and the water bill which has not come in yet we are out about $2000.00. I have emailed the landlord several times about receiving a credit for next month’s rent due to all these expenses, and when she replied, she did not acknowledge these questions she just gave me update to when the work was scheduled to be done. I finally asked why she was not answering my questions and she said she was on vacation. My family and I were extremely inconvenienced and did not know when we were going to be able to go back to what we called home. Her response was things happen but you still are responsible for paying your bills. From what I understand she will get reimbursed from her insurance for the rent while we were in the hotel. My insurance company advised me that I could not claim the cost of the oil, electric and water bill because those expenses would be covered under the property damage portion of the claim and I needed to talk to my landlord. Which I have gotten nowhere with. I need this money to purchase more oil and to pay our electric bill. I am also not going to receive a full paycheck. I had to take 2 days off when this happen, I will only receive pay for one day and the other is unpaid, but I was trying to save my personal days and vacation so I could take off on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas since the daycare our youngest attends is closed. Now that will not be possible.The landlord does not seem to care at all about this situation. She was not inconvenienced at all. She never even came to see the damage to the house. She will probably end up with extra money after her insurance company pays for the claim, but we are out at least $2000.00. Can I deduct the 2 weeks were not here for the rent, and the oil and electric bill? Can I deduct the $500.00 deductible for the inconvenience and for the time I spent cleaning up when we were able to move back in? I spent $60.00 on cleaning supplies and 2 days cleaning the house after the repairs were completed. There was dirt and dust from all the sanding that was done and since my 2yr old has asthma I didn’t want him inhaling dust and dirt. I had to drive 30 miles extra every day to drop the kids off at school and daycare; we had to get up at 5 am just so I could make it to work on time. Having a 2 year old in a hotel for 2 weeks was not easy; he had no toys since we could not get into the house. We had to go buy him some inexpensive puzzles and coloring books to keep him entertained. Then to make the situation even worse we were getting hit with a hurricane so all 4 of us and our cat were stuck in the hotel for almost 3 days. Please can someone please give me some advice? We really need this money to survive but I don’t want to be evicted or taken to court and lose. Since she is real Este agent I am sure she knows all the tricks and how to get around her responsibilities. HELP PLEASE

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