Hot water System flooded house

[coolvxss]

Hello,
on sunday my girlfriend and i woke up to find the whole flat covered in a inch of water. we live in an up stairs appartment and the hot water system was in the wardrobe just sitting on the carpet. It split on the side and water was pooring out for about 7 hours so there was 100s of litres of water on every sqare inch of the place, and it even got down stairs and flooded two rooms of the place below.

our bed is ruined, i phones were charging on ground and ruined, and 1000s of dollars worth of my girlfriends handbags and shoes ruined and heaps of other stuff. the carpet cleaners came and got all the water out of the place with a pump thing and ripped up the corners of carpet in every room and put massive fans under the carpet to help dry.

What rights do we have? the real estate has been very rude to my girlfriend and wont do much to help. they say they are not going to pay for any damages or anything, and wont replace the carpet even though it stinks so bad. we cant even stay there for about a week because of all the fans have to be running 24/7 til its dry. and there stil trying to make us pay rent even though we cant stay there. And even the electricity bill will be massave because of this. Do they have to give us money for all this?

Cheers

[TVR-190]

to claify, the hot water system was sitting on the carpet and didnt have a copper tray at the bottom?

[Astranomical]

You'll probably want to get in touch with whatever tenancy authority you guys have down in Canberra and see if they can tell you what rights you have.

Dunno what else to say except I feel your pain - our hot water system sprung a leak back in March and flooded out the garage and downstairs bathroom, apart from the tiles in the bathroom (which had to be replaced) nothing else was damaged, but still it could've been much worse.

[coolvxss]

yeah the water tank was just sitting on the carpet. i thought it was so dodgy, i thought that it should be a law or something that it should be on a tray with a drain since its up stairs on carpet in bedroom because its bound to get a leak or something at some stage

[vicarious]

i would of thought(im no plumber) that it should be on a tray and a pipe leading to outside or a sewer/drain pipe

[ClairBear]

Your contents insurance should cover it. If you don't have contents insurance then it's a valuable lesson.

[coolvxss]

Na dont have contents insurance. just thought since it wasn't our fault we may get something back.

[ClairBear]

That's what you have insurance for, to cover you for when things happen that wasn't your fault, and with some good policies even if it is your fault

[CSP]

Sashyre is right. No insurance, more fool you. LOL!!! It's always funny when people whinge and complain yet they aren't insured...

Landlord's insurance will cover the damage to the apartment but not your stuff. Hot water systems can fail any time without warning.

[coolvxss]

Im more concerned about the rent and electricity bill. But hopefully it will get sorted out. I worked out its a little over $100 for electricity for the 3 days and im not paying nor the rent since i wasn't living there.

[CSP]

Im more concerned about the rent and electricity bill. But hopefully it will get sorted out. I worked out its a little over $100 for electricity for the 3 days and im not paying nor the rent since i wasn't living there.

You signed (I assume) a legal document, a tenancy agreement, which means you're liable for rent. The landlord on the other hand legally has to provide a habitable dwelling and in this case it would be very well argued that it's not the case.

My best advice, take lots of photos, make a diary of events and all conversations (do that now while everything's fresh in your head) and then start talking to the Real Estate Agent about your plans to lodge a formal complaint with ACAT (ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal). There's a lot of paperwork associated with it, and it costs about $100 to lodge but they usually favour tenants in this sort of situation. Just food for thought.

[ClairBear]

im not paying nor the rent since i wasn't living there.

Seriously wrong way to go about it. You pay up as per your agreement then ask for damages/compensation later.

[CSP]

You pay up as per your agreement then ask for damages/compensation later.

Absolutely correct. Hence my advice re following it up through ACAT.