Teneant got the gas shut off, thats why no heat. Pipes bursted. What to do now

[Anastasia Papyan]

Hello! I need an advice from an investors community. We had a really cold winter. One day the maintainance guy came at the property and discovered standing water in the basement. Then he discovered lots of bursted pipes and water damage. Later we discovered the gas was shut off. I called to the utility company and they sad the gas was shut off by the tenant on September. She left the property since the accident and claims the water heater, furnace worked fine, but it could not happened as the gas was shut off. We discovered lots of portable eelectric heaters around the house. The water is shut off as well because of the bursted pipes. Theres a lot of damage, the house should be replumbed. I submitted the claim to the insurance company  but not sure if they cover it. The tenant never told me the gas was shut off and the heat was not on. She did not tell me about the bursted pipes before we discovered them. What should I do in this case? Her furniture and belongings are still there but she does not live there. Please give me some advices, I really need help and dont know what to do

[George Red]

Unfortunately in the last freeze in KC I had a property where some pipes burst. The tenant assured me that he had the heater on but I called the gas company and they said that the gas has been off since the summer. I checked the lease and there is no stipulation saying that gas must be maintained in the unit and fortunately the tenant alerted me when water started to leak. We got the water shut off pretty quickly and I got a plumber out there to find the breaks and fix them... I'm just leaving insurance out of it as I would still need to pay the deductible and then my rates would go up in perpetuity (what a racket).  It sounds like your damage was more extensive and I think it would be prudent to have a plumber identify all the breaks and then involve insurance and have them confirm it is a covered expense and how to best proceed... a freeze like this has not come through KC in some years so I know a lot of people must have had to deal with burst pipes. Best of luck.