chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 26, 2019 9:00:03 GMT -5
civilly, yes. as the property owner, you have a responsibility to secure your property in a way that mitigates the risk to other people and property. this guy didn't do that. I don't think criminal responsibility is appropriate b/c the landlord himself didn't vandalize the place. Interesting thought. I appreciate the consistency, though I kind of wonder what your reaction would be if "civilly responsible" ended up being a lot bigger than a little water damage (i.e. someone dies or is seriously injured) and whether the person posting is in a specific position would impact things. It's awfully difficult for me to imagine a woman posting that a former significant other that she broke up with entered her home without permission using either a key or an unlocked door/window, committed some horrible crimes, and in the process really hurt some other folks (a new significant other, kids sleeping over with her child, etc)...and I came on here suggesting that the woman should be held civilly responsible for someone else's death/injury because she failed to secure her property. It's hard not to imagine a lot of "you're just blaming the victim" talk coming from suggesting she needed to do things to keep someone from illegally entering her property lest she be held responsible. That's why I see it as a pretty dangerous precedent to hold anyone civilly responsible because "you didn't try hard enough to protect yourself from having a crime committed against you". okay, now I'm on a laptop. responding to the 2nd paragraph of the quote here. honestly, if she broke up with someone of a mind to come back and do something like that, I would think she was crazy for not changing the locks or better securing the property to prevent that happening. and that's not victim blaming, that's just common sense. as far as liability for whatever ex-asshat would commit, I would think that the joint civil liability idea would apply - if she knew he still had a key and she didn't change the locks. does that make sense? as I said, I'm not a lawyer, but I think that's how it would fall. similar to someone taking a car they had access to, with or without permission, and causing damage. the vehicle owner is also liable if the pockets of the criminal aren't deep enough to cover damages.
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seriousthistime
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Post by seriousthistime on Apr 26, 2019 9:09:47 GMT -5
Ava, all of this is food for thought regarding your talk of moving elsewhere and renting out your townhouse.
Does this change your mind about being a landlord?
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Apr 26, 2019 9:35:03 GMT -5
This isn't weather dependent though. We're not talking I don't want to pay to heat a vacant house, so I don't want pipes to freeze so I'm winterizing the house. I understand that, and in this case, my colleagues would have turned off the utilities if they weren't putting new tenants in immediately. sorry if that wasn't clear by my post. I can't imagine doing that between every tenant on an active property. Then you can't even use the bathroom when you're working on the place, or clean the kitchen. The lawns here would die and you'd spend a fortune trying to get them restarted every time.
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chapeau
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Post by chapeau on Apr 26, 2019 10:31:41 GMT -5
I understand that, and in this case, my colleagues would have turned off the utilities if they weren't putting new tenants in immediately. sorry if that wasn't clear by my post. I can't imagine doing that between every tenant on an active property. Then you can't even use the bathroom when you're working on the place, or clean the kitchen. The lawns here would die and you'd spend a fortune trying to get them restarted every time. When my uncle’s properties are vacant for more than a couple of weeks he turns off the power at the breaker and the water and gas at the basement shut off valves. He also blows the water out of the lines with his portable air compressor if the season is right. It’s easy to turn it back on when needed, but it saves him the worry of a broken pipe or vandalism by anyone. But we don’t water lawns much around here, and the base charge for utilities is low enough that it’s cheaper to pay that for a couple of months rather than pay to turn off and turn back on. And of course, he’s a guy. Bathrooms and running water are a luxury, not a necessity. 😉 He also changes the locks every single time a tenant moves out, but he owns multiple properties so I think he moves the locks around between properties rather than buying new ones every time.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 26, 2019 10:46:54 GMT -5
I can't imagine doing that between every tenant on an active property. Then you can't even use the bathroom when you're working on the place, or clean the kitchen. The lawns here would die and you'd spend a fortune trying to get them restarted every time. When my uncle’s properties are vacant for more than a couple of weeks he turns off the power at the breaker and the water and gas at the basement shut off valves. He also blows the water out of the lines with his portable air compressor if the season is right. It’s easy to turn it back on when needed, but it saves him the worry of a broken pipe or vandalism by anyone. But we don’t water lawns much around here, and the base charge for utilities is low enough that it’s cheaper to pay that for a couple of months rather than pay to turn off and turn back on. And of course, he’s a guy. Bathrooms and running water are a luxury, not a necessity. 😉 He also changes the locks every single time a tenant moves out, but he owns multiple properties so I think he moves the locks around between properties rather than buying new ones every time. this sounds like what the guys would do, too. I'm not sure if I mentioned in this thread, but I have elsewhere - these colleagues were all tradesmen/techs or commissioning engineers back at my first job. all of us know our way around water and electrical systems enough to isolate the energy.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2019 10:59:59 GMT -5
Um, an electrical short can burn down your entire building. That either needs to be looked at ASAP or the power should be turned off.
Small claims court is prohibited by law to give you advice.
Nolo has good books about suing someone and judgement recovery.
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bookkeeper
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Post by bookkeeper on Apr 26, 2019 12:33:44 GMT -5
Ava, my DH has worked as a licensed electrician. Please go to your electrical panel and make sure the breaker to your heating system is off. Hopefully your panel is labeled with the appropriate circuit. If not, often electric heat and water heaters are bigger, double size breakers.
As others have said, please take the electrical issue seriously. I would flip the circuit beaker off to any affected areas of my home that I could live without until an electrician did an inspection.
Stay safe my friend!
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 26, 2019 12:49:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the information I looked it up. It's a great resource, but it's geared towards very low income people. Even if they would work with me, I would feel horrible wasting their time with my problem, which is really minor compared to what others are going through. I've wrote down the website. Maybe some day I can pass the information along to someone who desperately needs it and doesn't know where to get help. Ava, there is also the Hartford Bar association lawyer referral service. You don't need to live in the Hartford area to use it. You can read about it here hartfordbar.org/lawyer-referral/ but the general idea is that you call the Hartford bar association, describe your issue and they put you in contact with a lawyer who can help with that issue. The cost is $35 and that gets you a 1/2 hour consult with the attorney. After that half hour it is up to you and the attorney decide whether you continue working together or not. Thanks. I'll check it out
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 26, 2019 12:56:56 GMT -5
Ava, all of this is food for thought regarding your talk of moving elsewhere and renting out your townhouse. Does this change your mind about being a landlord? You may be surprised but no,it doesn't change my mind. With appropriate insurance and a good property manager I should be good. But then I am not a verbally abusive ass like the landlord next door. Nobody has ever felt the need to take revenge on me. I know he's a victim of vandalism but you should interact with him for less than a minute and see how nasty he is. I had to call the police on him, something I've never had to do before. The only reason I don't move is not financially possible for me right now.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 26, 2019 13:00:48 GMT -5
Ava, my DH has worked as a licensed electrician. Please go to your electrical panel and make sure the breaker to your heating system is off. Hopefully your panel is labeled with the appropriate circuit. If not, often electric heat and water heaters are bigger, double size breakers. As others have said, please take the electrical issue seriously. I would flip the circuit beaker off to any affected areas of my home that I could live without until an electrician did an inspection. Stay safe my friend! Thanks to you and everyone concerned about my safety regarding the electrical issue. The firemen look into my electrical and my contractor did too. Everyone agreed it's safe. It's only The heat not working but I don't need it right now. My contractor said electrical may be more expensive but the water damage was more urgent
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 26, 2019 13:04:47 GMT -5
And I got condo insurance It starts covering my home tonight at midnight. I chose a 2.5k deductible. My condo is covered for up to 30k in damages. I got liability insurance for300k
Since I bundled with the car insurance it will cost 170 a month for both. The car coverage alone was 159. I'm in love with Amica right now
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 26, 2019 13:32:01 GMT -5
Ava, my DH has worked as a licensed electrician. Please go to your electrical panel and make sure the breaker to your heating system is off. Hopefully your panel is labeled with the appropriate circuit. If not, often electric heat and water heaters are bigger, double size breakers. As others have said, please take the electrical issue seriously. I would flip the circuit beaker off to any affected areas of my home that I could live without until an electrician did an inspection. Stay safe my friend! Thanks to you and everyone concerned about my safety regarding the electrical issue. The firemen look into my electrical and my contractor did too. Everyone agreed it's safe. It's only The heat not working but I don't need it right now. My contractor said electrical may be more expensive but the water damage was more urgent My concern would really be the "I'll look at it later" attitudes. If you haven't determined what is wrong with it, how can you know it's not an actual danger? If someone said "oh, this shorted, tripped the breaker, there's a problem with the internal ignition switch that we can fix later", that's one thing. I've identified the problem, and it's not an urgent problem, all is good. If someone says "It looks fine, we'll figure out the problem later" I'd be very concerned. Is your contractor a licensed electrician? Maybe I'd feel a little better in that scenario...maybe. Having a fireman look at it wouldn't be anything, that's like having your random friend look at it. You've gotten this advice from others, but didn't specifically address it. At MINIMUM, kill the breaker to the heat. You don't need the heat now, so there's literally no risk in having the breaker off.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2019 16:28:52 GMT -5
And I got condo insurance It starts covering my home tonight at midnight. I chose a 2.5k deductible. My condo is covered for up to 30k in damages. I got liability insurance for300k Since I bundled with the car insurance it will cost 170 a month for both. The car coverage alone was 159. I'm in love with Amica right now That's doesn't seem to cover much damage, but I know condos work differently. I just don't know how they work. At least you are covered for liability. And the price is good. I'm glad you got it.
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 26, 2019 17:00:30 GMT -5
And I got condo insurance It starts covering my home tonight at midnight. I chose a 2.5k deductible. My condo is covered for up to 30k in damages. I got liability insurance for300k Since I bundled with the car insurance it will cost 170 a month for both. The car coverage alone was 159. I'm in love with Amica right now That's doesn't seem to cover much damage, but I know condos work differently. I just don't know how they work. At least you are covered for liability. And the price is good. I'm glad you got it. It does sound low. I have just a 2 bedroom condo all one level 1100sf no garage and only have to cover drywall in according to my HOA. (So basically all finishes floor/ceiling/wall, doors, windows, and then appliances, fixtures, and cabinetry.) I believe I have $60k in coverage - my mortgage requires it and that's the level the mortgage was ok with. My deductible is also $1k. Ava - you do realize that, assuming this incident was a covered incident under your insurance, if you had this insurance it would still be coming out of your pocket because so far all your costs are way below your deductible right?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2019 17:36:59 GMT -5
That's doesn't seem to cover much damage, but I know condos work differently. I just don't know how they work. At least you are covered for liability. And the price is good. I'm glad you got it. It does sound low. I have just a 2 bedroom condo all one level 1100sf no garage and only have to cover drywall in according to my HOA. (So basically all finishes floor/ceiling/wall, doors, windows, and then appliances, fixtures, and cabinetry.) I believe I have $60k in coverage - my mortgage requires it and that's the level the mortgage was ok with. My deductible is also $1k. Ava - you do realize that, assuming this incident was a covered incident under your insurance, if you had this insurance it would still be coming out of your pocket because so far all your costs are way below your deductible right? It doesn't matter. She shouldn't make a claim, anyway, unless it is fairly catastrophic. My insurance company reclaimed the $5k they had to pay me for a small kitchen fire in the form of a surcharge.
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 26, 2019 18:03:52 GMT -5
It does sound low. I have just a 2 bedroom condo all one level 1100sf no garage and only have to cover drywall in according to my HOA. (So basically all finishes floor/ceiling/wall, doors, windows, and then appliances, fixtures, and cabinetry.) I believe I have $60k in coverage - my mortgage requires it and that's the level the mortgage was ok with. My deductible is also $1k. Ava - you do realize that, assuming this incident was a covered incident under your insurance, if you had this insurance it would still be coming out of your pocket because so far all your costs are way below your deductible right? It doesn't matter. She shouldn't make a claim, anyway, unless it is fairly catastrophic. My insurance company reclaimed the $5k they had to pay me for a small kitchen fire in the form of a surcharge. You're correct usually not wise too have small claims - just a lot on the thread were like go through your insurance when this first happened and I wanted to point out that with that deductible it wouldn't have mattered.
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laterbloomer
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Post by laterbloomer on Apr 26, 2019 21:33:00 GMT -5
I really dislike insurance. Unfortunately it is a necessary part of owning property. I do too but I felt better after I totalled my car and they paid off the $19,000 owing on the car. That covers a lot of years of insurance payments.
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simser
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Post by simser on Apr 26, 2019 22:39:29 GMT -5
What about the security deposit? Shouldn't that cover the damage?
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justme
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Post by justme on Apr 26, 2019 23:40:16 GMT -5
What about the security deposit? Shouldn't that cover the damage? It'll probably all go towards the landlord fixing his place. He likely has more damage than ava. Assuming it wasn't used towards unpaid rent since the dude was evicted.
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seriousthistime
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Post by seriousthistime on Apr 27, 2019 11:11:44 GMT -5
Ava, all of this is food for thought regarding your talk of moving elsewhere and renting out your townhouse. Does this change your mind about being a landlord? You may be surprised but no,it doesn't change my mind. With appropriate insurance and a good property manager I should be good. But then I am not a verbally abusive ass like the landlord next door. Nobody has ever felt the need to take revenge on me. I know he's a victim of vandalism but you should interact with him for less than a minute and see how nasty he is. I had to call the police on him, something I've never had to do before. The only reason I don't move is not financially possible for me right now. I get what you are saying, Ava. But remember that being a verbally abusive ass is not a prerequisite to someone taking revenge on you. People who are evicted can feel wronged by the landlord, no matter how cooperative the landlord may be in helping them work through their financial issues. Sometimes the tenants just move quietly. Sometimes they leave a mess behind. Sometimes they leave damage behind. Significant damage. (Ask me how I know.* ) Appropriate insurance and a good property manager only take you so far. (And regarding insurance, you'll need to upgrade your insurance into a non-owner occupied policy.) If you decide to rent out your place, really think hard on (1) the quality of tenants you're likely to get given the townhouse complex, neighborhood, and area (i.e., is it declining? would a quality tenant want to live there? is a prospective tenant likely to be living hand to mouth where one setback will do them in?); (2) damage will come out of your pocket regardless of the property manager or insurance; (3) good tenants are good tenants until they aren't -- divorce, unemployment, illness, etc. can turn a good tenant into someone who's seriously behind on the rent.
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Apr 29, 2019 14:16:47 GMT -5
And I got condo insurance It starts covering my home tonight at midnight. I chose a 2.5k deductible. My condo is covered for up to 30k in damages. I got liability insurance for300k Since I bundled with the car insurance it will cost 170 a month for both. The car coverage alone was 159. I'm in love with Amica right now Please take the time to read your FULL insurance policy (about 30 pages long) over and over several times do that you understand what IS covered, what is NOT covered, and what your duties are in the event of a claim. No 2 policies are the same. You must understand YOUR policy BEFORE you have a loss (which I hope is never!!!).
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