Tenant personal property damaged thru landlord negligence

[Tsoi Anisoquilli]

Unlicensed uninsured tree trimmers the landlord hired, downed limbs on house power line causing huge power surges. Landlord did not notify Oncor before the work started.

Tenant notified landlord when the limbs came down. Landlord still did not contact Oncor.

tenant notified landlord of continuing power surges. 5 days after the incident landlord finally called Oncor to fix the problem.

Oncor repairman told tenant landlord should have called before trimming. Said the surging could have caused a fire.

The power surges took out the lightbulbs in the house, melted several surge bars and plug adapters, ruined a heating pad, the tenant's magnifying work lamp, several other lamps that were plugged in and the refrigerator causing the loss of approximately $75 worth of groceries in freezer. The surge also damaged a component in the furnace.

The landlord when asked to replace the damaged items, said to call Oncor that Oncor would pay.

Tenant called Oncor, spoke to the District Manager. She said that Oncor was not the responsible party.  That the landlord caused the problem by hiring the people he did which were not any of the local licensed companies. And by doing so the responsibility became his.

Tenant went back again to the landlord asking for goods to be paid for. Landlord just kept saying it was not his problem.   Tenant told the landlord there would be a deduction from the rent and proceeded to do so each month as items were replaced. Receipts sent with rent checks.

Tenant deducted small amounts each month for 2 months, then in the third month  after deducting another small portion ,the landlord is retaliating with an termination notice. There is still a balance of $255 that has not been deducted.

Thing is not only was the damage done but the landlord left the tenant without heat or lights for 5 days, with power still surging into the house system.  The house breaker box never was thrown either, which is very strange. The breakers should have engaged at once.

Note: Tenant is a senior on fixed income, which the landlord knows. Tenant has been there 13 yrs.

So who's right and what can be done about it?