Need Landlord Help: Toilet explodes when it rains! He does nothing.

Jack Daniel Stanley

Jack Daniel Stanley

Moderator
Staff member
This has been going on since August of 2006. Every time there is a hard rain.
toilet.jpg


To see the video click the link:
http://frenchquarterfeatures.com/toilet/problem.htm
(text on that page is redundant with this post)

After dealing with the building maintenance people for a year we finally confronted our landlord. Never mind that we were dealing with his duly appointed representatives in the building, we were told that it was our fault for not telling him. He claimed that they were not telling him - right the poor schlubs that have to clean up the human feces and ankle deep waste in the basement aren't telling the guy who has the money and resources to actually fix the problem so they never have to do that horrible job again. Not buying that one for second. Maybe ... maybe there was a language problem, if so it's a convenient language problem. Anyway, After this heated come to Jesus talk with the landlord several months ago, he assured us that it would finally be fixed once and for all. It hasn't been.

We're calling 311 each time this happens and filing a formal complaint.

We can't always get help with clean up either. We need clean up - immediately so we can, you know, shower and go to the bathroom, and can't always get a hold of the supers in the middle of the night.
But what can we do to stop this?

He sends plumbers that snake the pipes or something after the fact, but it's just a bandaid, maybe good for one rain, and then sure enough we have to deal with this again.

Occasionally we've been late on rent more than 30 days once or twice. Will this hurt us if we come at him hard?

We don't have a lot of cash and just cannot afford to move but dealing with this once a month or more is too much.

EDITED TO ADD: Front runner suggestion so far:
Max R. Wilson said:
Give the city building inspectors a call and see if they can come out and do a inspection, If it is setup the way we think they will probably write the owner up and force him to fix it.
Click to expand...
 
I cant help on the landlord side.

What floor are you on and how many floors in the building?
 
GageFX said:
I cant help on the landlord side.

What floor are you on and how many floors in the building?
Click to expand...

Floor 1. It does it in the basement too.

6 floors in hour building.

I think - but not sure - that it does it to all the apartments above hours as well.

If this is some type of 10's of thousands of dollars repair on the building as a whole the cheapest thing for the landlord would be to move us to another unit at the same rent.
 
What does your lease say?

Usually, there's some sort of requirement for habitability in state landlord/tenant law; remedies usually include a requirement for the landlord to rectify, and sometimes you can withhold rent (in escrow) until it's done. Or you can cancel the lease, but you can't afford to move.

But it comes down to what your lease says and what the basic state laws are.
 
Just to be clear, there is nothing about a buildings waste system that could allow any sort of rain or rain runoff to affect the system. The waste runs to the sewer completely independent of any rain/drainage system.

The vent pipes on the roof, IF PLUMBED PROPERLY cannot possible take in enough water to affect the system. WHAT CAN HAPPEN is if some retard decided that they can just run the ROOF DRAINS into the WASTE VENTS - since "it ends up in the sewer anyway" - in which case you are taking ALL of the water that hits your roof and dumping it into the waste system. If it is set up that incorrectly, then that will probably cause blockup due to debris in the system.

Judging from the picture, I would GUESS you are on the lower third of the building. If you ARE NOT, then there are certainly lower floors getting it worse.
 
David Jimerson said:
What does your lease say?

Usually, there's some sort of requirement for habitability in state landlord/tenant law; remedies usually include a requirement for the landlord to rectify, and sometimes you can withhold rent (in escrow) until it's done. Or you can cancel the lease, but you can't afford to move.

But it comes down to what your lease says and what the basic state laws are.
Click to expand...

Yeah will double check. I actually was wondering about some kind of escrow thing. This landlord is a scary negotiator, etc. so I'm kind of timid about it.
 
GageFX said:
Just to be clear, there is nothing about a buildings waste system that could allow any sort of rain or rain runoff to affect the system. The waste runs to the sewer completely independent of any rain/drainage system.

The vent pipes on the roof, IF PLUMBED PROPERLY cannot possible take in enough water to affect the system. WHAT CAN HAPPEN is if some retard decided that they can just run the ROOF DRAINS into the WASTE VENTS - since "it ends up in the sewer anyway" - in which case you are taking ALL of the water that hits your roof and dumping it into the waste system. If it is set up that incorrectly, then that will probably cause blockup due to debris in the system.

Judging from the picture, I would GUESS you are on the lower third of the building. If you ARE NOT, then there are certainly lower floors getting it worse.
Click to expand...

Yeah first floor. The scenario you describe makes a lot of sense. I know nothing about how this stuff is routed etc.

Another note - this building was built in the 20's I think.
 
Looks like they have the rain gutter pipes connected to the sewer lines, and its obviously back flowing though the easiest path out...

Its possible that there is a clog further down making it so when it rains hard the partially clogged pipe will fill up and then go out the toilette, but normal use is not effected. We had tree roots in our sewer and one day it finally said no more and when you flush it would fill the shower up... it was a 12K repair for us, but if they re-route the roof drains it would fix it. assuming thats what they are doing.

Edit: i need to post faster.... haha
 
Okay... makes sense. It HAS to be covered in your lease and you may be able to follow up with the construction contractors if they did not build to code. I have no idea what New York code is, but I doubt they allow draining into the waste vents.

As you wait for the landlords to do something, I suggest you go to the roof and take some evidence pictures. Any pipes coming up and and drainage pipes on the roof surface.
 
Wow, that sucks. But it is also pretty cool at the same time. Did you tell him you were a famous actor?

If that doesn't work let me know and I'll come out there and have a chat with him. It might not fix your problem but look at the upside: you get to spend a weekend with me!

In all seriousness, do what David said. I hope you get this problem solved. If "going after him hard" is what you have to do, do it, it might be the only way to fix this issue. Best of luck!
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
But what can we do to stop this?

He sends plumbers that snake the pipes or something after the fact, but it's just a bandaid, maybe good for one rain, and then sure enough we have to deal with this again.

Occasionally we've been late on rent more than 30 days once or twice. Will this hurt us if we come at him hard?

We don't have a lot of cash and just cannot afford to move but dealing with this once a month or more is too much.
Click to expand...

First, it looks like you have ample documentation that this happens ... video always helps. Also, calling 311 is a good idea for documentation sake.

Second, yes, the fact that you have been late on your rent hurts you, because if you are in small claims court or other method of going at your landlord "hard", he might look like a deadbeat landlord, but you'll look like a deadbeat renter.

Regardless, I don't know the specifics in NY, but every landlord is responsible for keeping the quality of living for their residents up to par. This is not up to par. Is the landlord the top banana in this or does he work for a larger company?

But, what sucks is, that you have a problem and your landlord doesn't really care, they don't want to fix anything cause that hurts the bottom line, if he can get someone to live with an exploding toilet, then by all means, he will. I was in a townhome once and the power went out on the top floor. It didn't get repaired for 2 days because it wasn't deemed an emergency cause we still had power downstairs. lame, right?

My suggestion is save up to move, it's might not be worth the hassle to fight.

*reminder, don't drop a deuce at JDS' when it's raining.
 
Give the city building inspectors a call and see if they can come out and do a inspection, If it is setup the way we think they will probably write the owner up and force him to fix it.
 
Holy crap! I've never seen anything like this.

Have you shown this to an off site plumber? Do they have any ideas on what needs to be done to fix it? Aside from the band-aid snake method. Maybe ask them what it would take to get this fixed, as if you would pay for it. Just to hear what the answer would be.

You could threaten to show this to a local news station if he doesn't do anything.

Sorry, man.

Mike
 
Nice.

Should I just do that or would it be better to warn the landlord so he can hurry and fix it before they come? In other words it gets fixed, maybe a lot faster?
 
that might cost some serious $$$, i know a home inspection around here is about $400. Don't know if/who the city guy would charge, but probably worth a phone call to find out.

EDIT - just do it. i think the repeated service calls that your toliet looks like **** volcano are enough warning. who knows if he'll fix it right this time?
 
you could say that you will call the inspector in 5 business days if nothing has been repaired, but it might be a good idea anyway to see if there are any other code issues to get fixed :kali:

City inspectors usually don't charge as they are to enforce the code, its different then a house inspector when buying.
 
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