Discussions

Home
Discussions
Renting in brandon
Question from a tenant!

Question from a tenant!

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

Question from a tenant!
12/23/2016 at 2:15 PM

I am having a bit of an issue with the place i have been renting and just want to know what all can be done. The landlord gave me an oil heater to help keep warm, it blue the breakers and fuses in my apartment. the only thing that worked was the stove. It took a week and half for them to send an electrician to fix the problem. during that time frame everything in my fridge and freezer rotted. the smell was atrocious. it was so bad that I had to throw out the fridge and freezer(came with unit) Ive requested reimbursement for the food i lost and gave a rough estimate. Ive been requested for a detailed list and receipts for everything. Many were homemade dinners that were prepared for me. that being said , its now been requested that i buy a new fridge and freezer. Ive put my notice in at this particular place. what can i do? I understand where the landlord is coming from, but they arent the ones who had to go a week and half without power. im very frustrated and stressed over this situation and wonder if there is anything i can do.
Edited by admin, 2016-12-23 15:27:45. Reason: title
Jym
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 82

Jym
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 82

I would
12/23/2016 at 2:24 PM

Try contacting the tenancy board. Hopefully they should have some answers for you.
geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

yes
12/23/2016 at 2:59 PM

I figured it would not have taken that long to have electrician come out , by the time they got here everything was bad had to be thrown out. I tried cleaning the fridge and freezer and couldnt get the smell out at all. I was advised that i should have put my meals on my fire escape if i wanted them to stay cold.
Bluebell
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1232

Bluebell
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1232

...
12/23/2016 at 3:02 PM

Call or visit the Residential Tenancy Branch for assistance. They should be able to let you know what is within your rights.
geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

not salvageable
12/23/2016 at 3:02 PM

Jame Gumb said "Why wasn't the food disposed of properly? Leaving food to rot to the point of ruining appliances is on you, unless no one was around during this time frame. "

I cleaned them 3 times and I couldnt get the smell out at all. It was starting to affect the whole apartment. The landlord is currently not local. in fact , thousands of miles away. The response i received in regards to the food was pretty much a too bad... sorry for your luck kinda thing. so not only am i out the food, i have to replace those items. i was told that i should have put my food out on my back fire escape to keep them cold.

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 31

I figured

12/23/2016 at 3:23 PM

A Weathered Heart said "

geminiguy27 said "

Jame Gumb said "Why wasn't the food disposed of properly? Leaving food to rot to the point of ruining appliances is on you, unless no one was around during this time frame. "

I cleaned them 3 times and I couldnt get the smell out at all. It was starting to affect the whole apartment. The landlord is currently not local. in fact , thousands of miles away. The response i received in regards to the food was pretty much a too bad... sorry for your luck kinda thing. so not only am i out the food, i have to replace those items. i was told that i should have put my food out on my back fire escape to keep them cold. "

I believe the question is - when the food started to go bad, why not throw it out then? Why leave it to the point that it would ruin the appliances?

As for what you can do - I would contact the Tenancies Branch and see what they say because from where I stand I think you're SOL. "

Its totally my fault for not throwing all the food out until it was too late. I really was hoping that the next day the electrician would be here and I wouldnt have to toss everything. Bad call on my part for sure. Im pretty sure im SOL too. I was kinda hoping someone would have a better hope for it.

Starblanket01
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 141

Starblanket01
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 141

.
12/23/2016 at 4:21 PM

You are definitely SOL, it's your responsibility to take care of appliances that come with the apartment. And throwing them out was a really bad idea, I doubt you'll receive your damage deposit back and you may be forced to pay for new appliances. It shouldn't of got to the point of smelling so bad that you couldn't clean it.
plus zero
Joined: This month
Posts: 1236

plus zero
Joined: This month
Posts: 1236

not sure
12/23/2016 at 6:00 PM

I would say that it is the landlord's responsibility on you store or keep your food good. I find it should be you to find however way keep your food good. I am sure isn't easy but isn't the landlord's fault the appliance broke down nor it is your fault, they are things that just happens and really no one's fault at first.
TheScotsman
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 373

TheScotsman
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 373

Breakers
12/23/2016 at 6:36 PM

Why didn't you unplug the heater and reset the breakers? Go to CDN Tire and get fuses?
Brenda..
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9544

Brenda..
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9544

geminiguy27
12/23/2016 at 6:48 PM

geez - feel bad for you. Not many helpful solutions here. A lot of "it is all your fault"

I am not sure what you can do, but just wanted to say sorry this happened.

Perhaps, if this ever happened again, get the information of who is supposed to come fix it. Then you can phone them and set up an appointment and you would kind of have a timeline.

If the landlord it that far away, he should have someone looking after his building and tenants. I rented for years and never once did I have to fix anything or have to run to Canadian Tire to pick up parts that I would not have a clue about. When the landlord went away, we were given notice with a "who to contact" number.

Merry Christmas!

Edited by Brenda, 2016-12-23 18:51:19
Dman44
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 112

Dman44
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 112

outage
12/23/2016 at 8:17 PM

U stayed there a week and a half with no power??? No heat??? I find that hard to believe.... i was out at work in Newfoundland and we had a storm come through and the hotel i was staying at had no power for approximately 22 hours. The temperature was only -20 and after that time with no heat it was almost to cold to stay in the rooms. I slept in the truck. So a week and a half in manitoba when it was so cold here... must have some wicked insulation in your unit...

traveller
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9145

traveller

Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 9145

12/23/2016 at 8:38 PM

Dman44 said "U stayed there a week and a half with no power??? No heat??? I find that hard to believe.... i was out at work in Newfoundland and we had a storm come through and the hotel i was staying at had no power for approximately 22 hours. The temperature was only -20 and after that time with no heat it was almost to cold to stay in the rooms. I slept in the truck. So a week and a half in manitoba when it was so cold here... must have some wicked insulation in your unit... "

im assuming that there is some kind of shared heat, maybe gas, but the ops suite doesnt quite get enough heat so he was supplementing with the heater that blew the breakers buuut it shouldnt have taken that long for the op or the landlord to find someone to flip the breakers, anyone can do that and if they are separated then there should be someone with access, unfortunately waiting until the food went so bad it wreaked the fridge and then discarding the appliance is the ops mistake and i dont think there would be any compensation, i would try mediation

peopleperson

Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 119

peopleperson
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 119

Question from a tenant
12/23/2016 at 9:08 PM

Question from a tenant
Contact landlord and tenant department

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 31

heat

12/23/2016 at 10:02 PM

water heat

pm5k
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 432

pm5k
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 432

You threw out someone else's fridge?
12/24/2016 at 4:34 PM

The entire issue was a tripped breaker and you took 10 days to solve that? This smells like there's more too this...accessible breaker or not, it won't take 10 days for a landlord to fix. If any of this is true I'm guessing you didn't contact anyone.
Starblanket01
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 141

Starblanket01
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 141

pm5k
12/24/2016 at 5:32 PM

My thoughts exactly!
TheScotsman
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 373

TheScotsman
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 373

A lot left out
12/24/2016 at 6:04 PM

Were the breakers in the apartment? Were they accessible in another part of the building?

There are a lot of ways to solve a problem. Understanding would come first.
PowPow
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 198

PowPow
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 198

sorry but
12/24/2016 at 10:30 PM

None of this makes any sense, how could it have possibly tripped every breaker in your apartment except the stove? It will only trip the breaker on the circuit it's on, unless it tripped the main in which case the stove would be off too, unless the stove is in a different panel than the rest of the circuits which is extremely unlikely. Also no electrician would take that long if somebody was without power in the middle of winter. Things are not adding up in this situation sounds like there is much more to the story. Also you don't need to hire an electrician to reset a breaker or change out a fuse, if I were the landlord I would expect you to replace the appliances.

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 31

Clueless

12/25/2016 at 2:34 AM

pm5k said "The entire issue was a tripped breaker and you took 10 days to solve that? This smells like there's more too this...accessible breaker or not, it won't take 10 days for a landlord to fix. If any of this is true I'm guessing you didn't contact anyone. "

I dont touch anything when it comes to any of the electrical stuff , im completely clueless when it comes down to it. I know when the electrician showed up it took about 5 hours to get sorted. The landlord was contacted within a couple hours and said they would call the electrician.

geminiguy27
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 31

geminiguy27

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 31

well

12/25/2016 at 2:43 AM

PowPow said "None of this makes any sense, how could it have possibly tripped every breaker in your apartment except the stove? It will only trip the breaker on the circuit it's on, unless it tripped the main in which case the stove would be off too, unless the stove is in a different panel than the rest of the circuits which is extremely unlikely. Also no electrician would take that long if somebody was without power in the middle of winter. Things are not adding up in this situation sounds like there is much more to the story. Also you don't need to hire an electrician to reset a breaker or change out a fuse, if I were the landlord I would expect you to replace the appliances. "

Again , ill reiterate that I know nothing about any of that kind of stuff. I know that I am supposed to contact the landlord when things go wrong. Im not saying that i handled the entire situation correctly. All I know is (while in regular conversation with the landlord) that I waited for the electrician for a week and a half. From what i heard the reason the stove was working is because of some 220 and 120 stuff. again , something i dont get into because i know nothing about it. Ive always been told when something goes wrong in an apartment that you call the landlord. thats what i did. each day i waited for the electrician that was supposed to come and didnt. so again , let the landlord know. winter has nothing to do with it , its water heat. But with every contact with the landlord i was told an electrician will be there the next day to take care of it.

traveller
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9145

traveller

Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 9145

12/26/2016 at 10:31 AM

geminiguy27 said "

PowPow said "None of this makes any sense, how could it have possibly tripped every breaker in your apartment except the stove? It will only trip the breaker on the circuit it's on, unless it tripped the main in which case the stove would be off too, unless the stove is in a different panel than the rest of the circuits which is extremely unlikely. Also no electrician would take that long if somebody was without power in the middle of winter. Things are not adding up in this situation sounds like there is much more to the story. Also you don't need to hire an electrician to reset a breaker or change out a fuse, if I were the landlord I would expect you to replace the appliances. "

Again , ill reiterate that I know nothing about any of that kind of stuff. I know that I am supposed to contact the landlord when things go wrong. Im not saying that i handled the entire situation correctly. All I know is (while in regular conversation with the landlord) that I waited for the electrician for a week and a half. From what i heard the reason the stove was working is because of some 220 and 120 stuff. again , something i dont get into because i know nothing about it. Ive always been told when something goes wrong in an apartment that you call the landlord. thats what i did. each day i waited for the electrician that was supposed to come and didnt. so again , let the landlord know. winter has nothing to do with it , its water heat. But with every contact with the landlord i was told an electrician will be there the next day to take care of it. "

flipping a breaker is as easy as flipping a light switch so it does seem like there is more to the story, if i were the landlord i would have walked you through that so either something more went wrong or IDk but i can understand you not knowing what to do, we all have our strengths but it was totally your fault for letting your food get so bad you had to throw the fridge out, hopefully lesson learned