I’ve been lurking around these parts since 2004, and I just would like some opinions on the following situation:
Really long story made short (I hope!):
I rent a 2nd floor 2 bedroom apt. in a really crappy house that was subdivided (poorly I might add) into 3 separate apartments. The receptionist I work with rents the apt. below me. Her father-in-law (in his early 80s) owns the building, and the other apt. is rented to a 70 year old man recovering from colon cancer.
We live in the Capital Area of NY. And due to my fiance’s new job, we were in a rush to find a place to live within a week, and the receptionist said the apt. was available and we just took it (which we really regret).
Back in December, I was 7 months pregnant. My fiance worked nights, and it was just me and our American Bulldog in the apartment. I felt dizzy, had a headache and felt confused and went to lay down on the couch when I heard the Carbon Monoxide Detector start going off. As mine was going off, and I went down the stairs, I heard the other two apts. CO detectors going off, and the recpetionist came out on the phone with the fire dept.
Skip ahead, I have to go to the ER in an ambulance for all the symptoms I’m having and am there on oxygen for 3 hours.
My copays are 100 for ER and 100 for Ambulance.
This month, I deducted the $200 in copays with a copy of my bills to the landlord and paid the remaining sum of the rent.
Angry 80 year old man calls me up screaming at me saying that the furnace (which was the cause of the CO leak, and well over 50 years old-the house is from the 1800s) cost $6000 to fix and how was he going to write off this $200? Keep in mind he is currently putting on an addition to his house and the receptionist constantly brags about how well off he is.
I come into work the next day, and the receptionist is on the phone with her father in law describing how I have some nerve for doing that to him!?!
And has stopped talking to me for the past week! This woman is in her late 50s and grandmother to 4, I cannot believe how childish she is acting, and as she answers the phones at my employment, and I have to interact with her to get my calls, etc. let alone have her live beneath me!
Was I wrong for doing that? I’d imagine if a similiar situation had happened to her daughter while pregnant, she’d be on my side. I just don’t get it.
There’s obviously more details, and ask if you’d like.
Hmm, tough one, and I don’t think it’s as cut and dried as you do.
True, you shouldn’t have to pay for your medical bills because someone else was at fault. But that’s not always how the world works. You will spend your life paying copays for stuff that’s not your fault.
And you can’t just unilaterally decide to reduce your rent.
Let your landlord know how helpful you can be to your health insurer if they would like to investigate whether they should be responsible for their part of the hospital bills. Explain what a favor you’re doing him by only making him responsible for the small payment.
I can tell you that at least one HMO with a presence where you are has a department to investigate claims like this, one that fills positions by advertising “Total Bastard Wanted.”
Something like that can’t be deducted from your rent. Something like this is for the court system, if the landlord doesn’t feel like paying the medical. I sure hope I’m reading your post wrong, and the furnace is not likely to do this again. Getting out of a lease because of dangerous conditions in the apartment is most certainly legal. Once again you’re at court if the landlord disagrees, but at least you’re alive and healthy when you attend.
I’d just like to add, that I’d like to keep legal issues out of this, and just ask for opinions. We both work in the legal field, so if this needs to be addressed legally, it most certainly will. My rudimentary research on the subject so far seems to point that having the landlord pay my copays would be the least of his worries. As the apt. is probably not up to code on numerous other issues, and in a state of great disrepair to begin with, should I terminate the “lease” I have with him, he’d have a very hard time finding someone else to rent it for the amount that he’s asking.
And yes, I am physically ok now, as is the baby so far (another month or so until I deliver). Besides being greatly scared of another CO scare (the levels on the 2nd floor were so high that the Fire Dept. couldn’t believe that either myself, the baby or the dog were alive.
I seriously consider everyday whether the apt. will be the death of me (I wonder if the fireplace below my apt has been cleaned or the two gas stoves in the other units (I have electric) are working properly). It’s all a huge mess.
I suppose the least of my concerns would be that the receptionist is ignoring me. I am very lucky to be alive. Reminding you all to go home and make sure you’re Carbon Monoxide AND Smoke detectors are working!
You can’t keep legal issues out of this. Assuming you have a lease, that is a legal contract. If you feel the landlord is in breach of the contract, then you are obliged to take action through legal means. You can certainly choose to NOT pay your rent and to sue for your costs at the ER, but you can’t unilaterally choose to only pay a portion of your rent and expect to not hear some grief.
By the way, from a medical stand point, I’d get the hell out of that house. The baby is much more susceptible to the effects of CO poisoning and may have problems before you have any symptoms. It’s not worth the risk IMHO
In Seattle, before deducting an item related to a failure of some condition of the apartment, you need to request timely action from your landlord (in writing), and if that does not happen then you are fully within your rights to deduct expenses used to fix the problem yourself. The Seattle courts are very heavily on the side of renters rights and don’t put up with abusive or non-responsive landlords.
One incident of mine involved roaches, for which my landlord was very poky about extermination and repeatedly tried to do so himself with Home Depot stuff. I eventually had to set up a biweekly Terminix visit until they were eradicated for good, and deducted all of the costs from my rent.
The next incident was an apartment that hadn’t been cleaned or painted when I moved in as had been originally promised during my lease signing, and was unlivably moldy and messy. I paid to have it cleaned and painted by a third party, which took a couple of weeks. I deducted the fees, and pro rated rent from my delayed move in date, from my rent. The landlord took me to court and even tried to countersue for frivolous extra stuff, but the court sided with me.
Most cities will have a free renter advocate available to ask your type of question. Best rule is all correspondence between you and a landlord should be in writing!
GargoyleWB, what you’re describing is are expenses used for the apartment itself. The OP isn’t talking about paying to have the furnace fixed, she’s talking about the deductible from her ER visit. Granted, the ER visit was immediately predicated on the faulty furnace, but that isn’t exactly the same thing.
You might have avoided a lot of the grief if you had discussed it with the landlord before making your (lower) rent payment. Landlords do have bills to pay and plan for too; even if $200.00 doesn’t seem like it would make a difference, it’s hardly safe to assume.
And, not that you asked, but I’m like that, I have definitely found that mixing work and personal life in any way - whether it’s dating a coworker or living in a house owned by the office receptionist’s father - especially when hastily and without much forethought, is usually a bad idea, precisely because of the potential for this type of situation.