Looking for a Landlord Opinion on Property damages

[Marcus Johnson]

I am having a landlord issue and would like landlord opinions .  We have had a great relationship before these past month of so. I was giving the option to move out and will be taking that option.  

Background:

- I have been renting a house ,in Georgia, for the last 2 years for $1900 dollars a month. House worth 300k to 350k

- We currently in dispute on who is responsible for repair of a cleanout pipe, sewer line . Clean out pipe broke off and was laying in the yard for i don't know how long. My pumping eventually got to the point where sewage was coming out of a toilet  anytime  any appliance used water flooding half of my downstairs. 

- His plumber says it look like it was cut, so not normal wear and tear . My plumber said it looks like it was improperly installed sticking out of the ground by more the  than 3 feet.  I said I don't know what happened to the pipe but it would be impossible to  it where it broke at because  the part of the pipe that broke . Repair bill 8 or 900 dollars.

-Previous month, the cleanout pipe is on the right side of the house and the a/c unit  .  The a/c pump needed to be replaced. Before his repair guy  came, I had weeds removed from near the a/c unit and the guy broke the power supply to the a/c unit. I paid my landlord 400 dollars for the power supply and he paid 400 for the pump replacement.   From his perspective, he is saying he went half on the a/c repair .

- I bring this up, because he continues  to state that he was nice enough to go half with me for the a/c  trying to encourage me to accept responsibility  for the cleanout pipe. I have sent him text message stating that I appreciate the kindness and I  am willing to pay for any invoice he send me a/c  power supply supply .   He has yet to send me  an invoice for repair.

- It took him 3 days to find a plumber and I live in Atlanta.  He stated that all the ones he reached out to was busy or not answering his calls. He never sent anybody to clean up the sewage from the inside. I feel that there is more damage to inside of the house that leaked sewage that I don't want to be held responsible for.

- He has now given me the ultimatum  of either me and him finding a solution that is  "fair to both of us" or I move out. I have chosen the move out path.  His reason given is because of these two major repairs  and that he can't afford to have these type of repairs 

Repairs:

- When I first moved in, the downstairs  area  and my son bedroom flooded for a week due   an a/c unit. Come to find out, there was a light switch in my son room that controlled the a/c condenser for the unit. My son had turned the switch in the off position thinking it controlled his ceiling fan.  His repair man , came a few times and eventually realized the switch  that controlled the a/c ocndenser was in the off position .

- Toilets and Bathtubs  often would drain no matter what I tried.  The kitchen area flooded  anytime somebody used a bathtub.  His repair man  probably came once every 3 months for this problem. He's snaked the pipe and things would work again. This makes me think that the pipe may have been cracked  near the beginning   of my lease.

- Basement was flooding, was due to a  hole in the kitchen faucet.

-A/c  power supply and cleanout pipe mentioned above.

My Position:

-I shouldn't be responsible for something improperly installed  according to my plumber. pipe was sticking out by more than 3 feet out the ground.

- I shouldn't be responsible for a sewage pipe located outside the house that I didn't directly cause to break.

- My landlord is over reacting to maintenance cost,  I have lived  here for two years and those have been the only two major repairs. 

-My landlord doesn't hires the cheaper labor and I have seen shortcut taken for the other repairs. 

-From my research of average maintenance cost, my landlord is still way under the average  even if you include the 400 dollars I paid him for the power supply.

- We live on a dirt/rock road that is often maintained  like once a month at least.  It is possible a city worker was careless and broke the pipe. They are often near the area that was damaged with their equipment. 

- Road is rough. People often get stuck in the a ditch area. anybody could hit the damage area of my lawn trying to get out of the ditch . 

[Nathan Gesner]

First, I have to ask why you would want to stay there? This place sounds like a disaster so why not move to a home that's worth the money and without the problems?

Second, who cut the pipe? It doesn't matter if it sticks out six inches or three feet. Someone cut it and it should be obvious. As a Landlord, I would naturally suspect you, someone in your family, or a contractor you've hired. Why would anyone else go into your yard and cut it off?

Third, if sewage is backing up into your basement, it requires professional remediation immediately. That's a health hazard. If your Landlord is not handling that right away, that's a good indication that you need to get out of there.

From what I can see in your post, the house is not worth the money and the Landlord is not interested in doing the right thing so I would do what I could to get out of there before things get worse.