Some people are idiots

[MAC]

I got a call from a friend of mine this afternoon. He owns the 2 family next door to me. Seems his first floor tenant went on vacation for 2 weeks and shut the heat OFF before she left. Well when she got back (today) she called him saying she had no water. My friend is in South Carolina at the moment......... I drilled out the basement lock and found water running down a wall. Shut the main off and chased the problem. The hot water line to the bathroom let go and was flowing everywhere. Isolated it and turned the water back on (minus the hot to the bathroom). Went back upstairs and openned the faucet in bathroom....a small stream CHIT. Went into the kitchen and opened both faucets NADA> Then I notice the dirty dishes in the sink. THERE IS FREAKING 2" OF ICE IN A BOWL. WHat a moron. I know what I'll be doing tonite.......helping the plumber fix the leak and chase down frozen pipes. How could someone go on vacation with dirty dishes in the sink.

[Finaddict]

Good thing your friend has you close at hand to watch the shop ... so to speak ... uggh what a scenario

[nightfighter]

So who is going to be paying for your services, not to mention the plumber's?.... I guess heat wasn't included in the lease... Glad I'm not a landlord.

[Slingah]

no brain.....no pain....

[Uncle Matt]

Send the tenant a bill for yout time and effort! Your a good man Dave for helping out. I'll give you a call Saturday.

[MAC]

Well I can't do much now. It's up to the plumber. Since the heat was shut off the WHOLE house froze. The toilet in the upstairs apartment is frozen solid. The shower head in the downstairs apartment was sitting in the tub. The sink in the kitchen downstairs is blown apart too. Glad I don't own the house or I'd be in handcuffs right now for strangling someone.

[Raven]

next door to my old house....

the guy moves out but leaves the bathroom window open
in these type temperatures.... so the pipes freeze and burst
and the whole basement fills up with water chest deep.

needless to say the whole house was wrecked....

[nightfighter]

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, if he wants them out as tenants... A call to the health or building dept. to make inhabitable, DUE TO TENANT ACTION. Tenant should be liable for damages, which won't be completely known until everything is thawed, or busted.
40B/Section 8 has its place, but I think it is abused 75% of the time, on both tenant and landlord sides.

[Slipknot]

What kind of moron goes on vacation for 2 weeks without doing the dishes before they leave?

I feel bad for your friend, better be sure he has contacted his Ins, agent pronto. That is gonna be a huge undertaking fixing that mess. Must be hot air heat because if it was forced hot water, that system would be toast too
Unbelievable

[OX]

Must be nice to live in Sect 8 housing and be able to go on vacation for 2 weeks.

[Raider Ronnie]

We had something much worse than this at my grandfathers auto repair shop when I was younger.
Attached to our shop was a few store fronts and on top of that was an 8 room apartment that my grandfather rented out.
I think it was around 1978 - 79 christmas day, my grandfather and I went out in the early morning to get a few things at a bakery and as a habit, we drove past our shop to check on things, that morning the temp was below 0 .
We arrive to find ice every where and covering the building.
Turns out, the old lady renting the place hadn't been there in months and hadn't paid any bills in months!
Gas co shut off her gas, no heat, pipes froze and burst the night before!
Turns out, the old lady was going around collecting from peoples trash and bringing it to the apartment, and when we got inside, there was trash 3-4 ft high EVERYWHERE !!! you couldn't see 1 inch of the floor anywhere !!! all 8 rooms
Hope things work out better for you and your friend !

[UserRemoved1]

what he said. section 8 sux. abusal is an understatement. tenant is responsible for this stuff i believe, that's why they have renters insurance. good luck getting paid though if they're section 8....

Originally Posted by nightfighter

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, if he wants them out as tenants... A call to the health or building dept. to make inhabitable, DUE TO TENANT ACTION. Tenant should be liable for damages, which won't be completely known until everything is thawed, or busted.
40B/Section 8 has its place, but I think it is abused 75% of the time, on both tenant and landlord sides.

[BigFish]

Yup! Blood from a stone! The only way you save money here is to avoid going to court and paying the Lawyers!!!

[labrax]

Happened to my Dad and Mom when they had a triple decker in Dorchester. Dad did all the remodeling and was taken to court for lead paint by a scumbag tenant that would not pay the rent. I believe they were backed up by city at the time - problem is no one inspected it - there was not a bit of lead paint in there. Judge threw that out, but hassle and expense of defending it for no reason. We eventually moved out and rented it for a while - until another tenant did the same thing as you experienced - burst the pipes on the third floor and just about ruined the place. They gave it to HUD. Big mistake as it probably is worth 500k now (30yrs later)

[Diggin Jiggin]

My parents had a second floor pipe burst when we were on vacation and no one was home. The heat was on but the pipe still froze as I guess it was run thru an area that wasn't adequately heated or insulated.

They live at the end of a dirt road with not many neighbors and by the time we found out about it, water was coming out thru the first floor shingles, the ceilings came down and the entire house ended up getting gutted right back to the studs..

[Bass Babe]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

What kind of moron goes on vacation for 2 weeks without doing the dishes before they leave?

I hate to break it to you, duders, but I totally would go on vacation without doing dishes. If I would, I'm pretty sure other people would as well.

I used to leave college for winter break (a month or so?) and put all my dishes in a plastic bag under my bed so that when they did room checks I wouldn't get in trouble.

I just had to do dishes tonite, simply because we were out of plates and bowls and RRC had to eat cereal out of a measuring cup.

However, I would NOT let my pipes freeze.

If someone needs subsidized housing, how can they afford to vacation for two weeks? I don't qualify for government assistance of any kind, and I can't afford to vacation! Oh right, I need to pop out a couple kids to get the freebies... On second thought, I'd rather not go on vacation.

[Slipknot]

don't sweat it bassbabe, it was a joke, making light of the turning the heat off stupidity

[thortum]

Bass Babe, you sound like you could be my daughter. Do you have piles of clean & dirty clothes laying around the house.

[RLC100]

RR, as a gas company employee I know it is illegal to shut off the gas for non payment (nov to apr). They should be held liable.

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by MAC

I got a call from a friend of mine this afternoon. He owns the 2 family next door to me. Seems his first floor tenant went on vacation for 2 weeks and shut the heat OFF before she left. Well when she got back (today) she called him saying she had no water. My friend is in South Carolina at the moment......... I drilled out the basement lock and found water running down a wall. Shut the main off and chased the problem. The hot water line to the bathroom let go and was flowing everywhere. Isolated it and turned the water back on (minus the hot to the bathroom). Went back upstairs and openned the faucet in bathroom....a small stream CHIT. Went into the kitchen and opened both faucets NADA> Then I notice the dirty dishes in the sink. THERE IS FREAKING 2" OF ICE IN A BOWL. WHat a moron. I know what I'll be doing tonite.......helping the plumber fix the leak and chase down frozen pipes. How could someone go on vacation with dirty dishes in the sink.

Don't ya cherish those moments.

Hell I worked in a house where the water ran for THREE months,owners turned the heat off!

Insanely rich=new house.Insanely rich still doesn't replace stupid.

[Bass Babe]

Originally Posted by thortum

Bass Babe, you sound like you could be my daughter. Do you have piles of clean & dirty clothes laying around the house.

My long lost daddy! There's also the half-dirty clothes -- stuff that's not dirty enough to need to wash yet, but not clean enough to fold and put with other clean things.

[crash]

Sounds like you need to burn the tenant for heat, probably the most productive thing they'll ever do.

[MAC]

Originally Posted by crash

Sounds like you need to burn the tenant for heat, probably the most productive thing they'll ever do.

ahmmm, can't do that. Don't want the NAACP after me.

She was supposed to be out by the 15th. (no kids) But did have a boyfriend living with her. That would explain why every shade in the house is drawn 24/7. She would probably get in trouble with the state for having someone else living there.

I went over yesterday to check on the heat. Yes it was on. I also took some pictures for his insurance.

And I'm sorry but these people are SLOBS. Here's the dishes in the sink and the broken faucet. Under the sink was stuffed with dirty pots and pans too. I don't know....I guess I was just raised different.

[Canalman]

plant's looking good too

[FishermanTim]

The "salt in the wound" will be if this slob turns around and sues you for the condition she left the place. All it takes is a bleeding heart liberal judge to make the "mean old landlord" fix the house o the "little old poor lady" even though it was all her fault.

There's always the possibilty of her becoming a "squatter", which is another legal nightmare. If she hasn't returned from her vacation yet, I also wouldn't be one bit surprised if she files a complaint that you broke into her house.
Isn't this a wonderful world we live in?

[MAC]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

The "salt in the wound" will be if this slob turns around and sues you for the condition she left the place. All it takes is a bleeding heart liberal judge to make the "mean old landlord" fix the house o the "little old poor lady" even though it was all her fault.

There's always the possibilty of her becoming a "squatter", which is another legal nightmare. If she hasn't returned from her vacation yet, I also wouldn't be one bit surprised if she files a complaint that you broke into her house.
Isn't this a wonderful world we live in?

Actually she was supposed to be out on the 15th. But she refused. Not sure if they are still there but I think they are. I did notice the building inspector walking around the outside of the house yesterday afternoon, but I wasn't going over to let him in without talking to the home owner first.
The water on the basement floor is drying up and the heat is still on, so that is all I an do.

[bloocrab]

From what I remember, maybe they should hire me and you as their dishwashers....



I hear ya on the "raised differently" MAC..... Sometimes I wash every dish I can BEFORE I even eat... Call me stupid, I guess

[MAC]

Well the tenant is gone and the home owner is back. The insurance company and adjusters will be there tomorrow to go over things . This will get the ball rolling on fixing things. They (insurance company) will be going after the former tenant pretty hard as it looks like damage will be in excess of 15K. Come to find out she works for a large railroad company making 85K a year. Why she would have turned off the heat is beyond me.