If it isn’t one thing . . .
Posted on July 18, 2006 - Filed Under Housing |
My phone rang last Thursday. My tenants toilet no longer drains. It overflows beautifully but it doesn’t drain. I attacked it with a plunger, but to no avail.
That got me worried.
To complicate issues, I had to leave town this last weekend. I called my insurance company, issued an emergency request, and waited. No one showed up. Friday, I had to leave. I told the tenant that she could use my bathroom in the meantime.
My tenant didn’t like this and took the initiative about contacting a plumber on her own, without telling me. Whomever came out said he snaked up to 150 feet and was unable to remove the blockage.
This much, she left me in a voice message this morning. Upon hearing that, I said to myself "Well, this is a problem the city can fix. It’s obviously not on my property and the city will fix it." I called my insurance company and canceled my work order.
As the day dragged on, I started thinking about this.
First off, the tenants house isn’t 150 feet from the street. It’s more like 60 feet. If this plumber snaked 150 feet, then he snaked my yard and half the street! I doubt that highly. Also, the clean-up for the second house is about 15 feet away. His snake should have stopped there. Because my house and the tenants house share the same sewer line, we should both be having problems. But we’re not. The problem must be between my house and the tenants house.
In any event, I called the insurance company once again and restarted the ticket.
The good news out of this is that the plumber didn’t charge the tenant because he was unable to remove the blockage. This could have turned into an ugly battle because I could envision her trying to stick me with the bill. My way costs $35 and hers could have cost hundreds.
Fortunately, that’s not something I have to deal with.
In the meantime, she’s continuing to use my bathroom. Fortunately, I’m house-sitting for a friend these next ten days so there won’t be any awkward "bathroom moments".
I’ll keep you all posted!
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3 Responses to “If it isn’t one thing . . .”
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Cliff:
Be careful not to mention to the insurance that you “think” the problem is between both houses. It may not be, but if it is, they may not cover that. We had a case with a leaky faucet on the outside wall of our house (the one we use for our water hose), and they wouldn’t work on it because it was on the “outside” of the house (???!!).
You’re kidding me! Talk about petty. I asked the insurance company and my policy includes removal of all blockages. But what the plumber found today is starting to scare me . . .
I think it’s a bad move to contact insurance companies over things like this. For small claims you should self-insure.
Insurance companies make money via premiums and denying claims. You’ve just given them ammo to raise your rates and ammo to non-renew your insurance in the event that you ever have meaningful claims.