Monday, July 30, 2007

Not Born to Run HQ Under Attack

(My bathroom ceiling, day 7, AFTER upstair's landlord's contractor came to see whether the leak was from a common condo pipe, or from the upstairs apartment. I think the curtain rod holders lend a certain je ne sais quois to the scene.)


(You should have seen it BEFORE he cut the hole. ANYBODY HOME UP THERE?))

(Note the clever disguise of trash bag over the place where TILE USED TO BE. That was Number One Daughter's idea. If you squint it kind of looks like a window. Kind of.)

Yes, this is the high-class zip code in which I live. (It actually IS a high-class zip: 20817! Look it up.)

So the tenants upstair's landlord's contractor (got all that?) said yes, his employer's apartment's leak caused the damage. (Who lives up there you ask? Mr. landlord's MAID! And her family. They live rent free, in exchange for maid services at the guy's McMansion. Is that legal?) And the contractor added that he, Mr. S. H. (the landlord, who I am so outing in the next post) is responsible for fixing the ceiling. However, the whole bathroom needs to be replaced, and he's not responsible for everything that's wrong or broken, so now we start the haggle. My wonderful building maintenance guy said he'd do the whole job for $4800.

Meanwhile, I am showering at work.

17 comments:

21stCenturyMom said...

Hmm.. is that contractor a lawyer? I doubt it. I do believe that with all of the letters you have sent that Mr. Landlord IS responsible for replacing your bathroom as it would not NEED replacing if he had attended to the leak several years ago when you first reported it.

Go get him!

Rhea said...

JHC! I agree that the landlord is responsible, but you just need to get it done, and if it costs you $2,400 and you're done with it, then it's worth it.

LBTEPA said...

WHAT a schemozzle.
Surely there are (cute) lawyers at your work who could write some nasty letters for you?
Otherwise just offer to swap apartments for a while - you move into the Mcmansion until the damage they cause is rectified

Black Knight said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Black Knight said...

The Black Knight is also a lawyer: do you need his help?

Laufenweg said...

ahhhhhh....life, gotta love it. best of luck!! i'm glad you have another place to shower.

Thomas said...

Looks like I'm the only one who likes those cute stars on your shower curtain.

A massive hole in the ceiling, trash bag instead of tiles ... but at least you've got stars on the shower curtain!

peter said...

Where is Chicken Little when we need him?

Bolder said...

at least you're showering...

i'd probably forego that as a silent protest...

Laurie said...

Yikes.

I had a clever comment but Bold made me laugh and I lost it. Grrrr.

I hope you get this worked out soon!

Rich said...

Doesn't Peter do tile work? And plumbing? Looks like he could.

Maybe expand the hole in the ceiling and go with that open-air feeling?

Dori said...

Oh, how awful! Why do you have to deal with it? Can't your respective insurance companies haggle it out?

Thanks for your comment about "fair use." It made me feel better, cuz I respect your opinion. :-)

Larissa said...

This has got "law suit" written all over it. I'm with Bold and lbtepa - skip the shower and stay in the McMansion. That'll get their attention.

I hate those McMansion places, though. They remind me of house farms - like somebody planted a bunch of seeds in a field and they turned out to be houses. That's what they're like here anyway, Total Lack of Imagination.

Vickie said...

Nice mess! I definitely wouldn't want to be messing with that.

Anonymous said...

your house is in a pitiable condition it needs repairing

David said...

The maid. Does the maid have a green card? Leverage.
Mr. S.H. Is that as in Poop Head?
I would think the Aesthetics Response Team from 20817 would be all over this fiasco. Where are they when you need them?

IHateToast said...

oooh, i sense a smackdown.

i like the look. so edgy. says, "i could live in a war-torn ghetto, but i choose not to. t his keeps me in touch with how the other people live.