Tenancy Related Question - Water Damage - British Columbia

[Sonam Nathani]

Hello,

I had a water leak in my rental apartment last weekend. Do not have tenant's insurance. And my landlord is threatening me to pay for the repairs of the downstairs apartment.

Story: Was running the portable dishwasher, kitchen faucet pipe had a leak, water leaked onto my kitchen floor and carpets. Water leaked for roughly 30 minutes and it also made its way to the apartment downstairs.

Brought in Rug Doctors the next morning (less than 12 hours) and sucked out as much water as I could from my carpets as well as the downstairs lobby. My unit is fine now. Carpets have dried out. No mold or damp smell. The restoration guys concluded that the damage to my unit and to the unit downstairs is minmal.

Today, the downstairs apartment had a repairs company fix things for them and my landlord called and said that it will cost an incredible amount of money and I will have to pay for it because I was being negligent.

Has someone on this blog been through something like this? I dont think I am responsible for poor insulation between the two units. Reading through the BC tenancy laws at the moment but if someone can give me a different perspective, I would really appreciate it.

[JM Payne]

Laws are local, so you should call whatever BC has for tenant protection and discuss with them.  From your story it sounds like the pipe under the sink leaked, which would not be negligence in my mind.  If you hooked it up incorrectly and walked away, that would be a different story.

Hope that helps, good luck.  Also, while you're here, perhaps you can read and learn how to become a landlord yourself!  There's tons of great information on how to buy, finance, different markets, and different strategies, such as house hacking, that would allow you to convert your current situation to one that would be much more financially suitable.  Best of luck, hope you stick around!

- JM