If you are staying in an apartment and the ceiling falls down who is responsible to pay for the damages?

Question

I am the tenant of an apartment and the ceiling in the kitchen and bedroom fell down. I have some personal items that were damaged resulting from the incident, I was wondering who would be responsible for paying for the damages to my personal items?

Answer 1

The property owner is responsible for the building repairs (provided you did not cause damage to the apartment and cause the roof to come down) and you are responsible for you personal belongings.

Answer 2

You are responsible to have renter's insurance. If you do not, then you are solely responsible for paying for the damage to your personal property. The landlord is responsible for fixing the ceiling. Renter's insurance is very inexpensive (like $15 a month if you don't have a lot of highly valuable possessions), so make sure you get it next time.

Answer 3

Renters insurance is a great thing to have and it would certainly cover your belongings assuming the damage was over the amount of your deductible ... but if your landlord knew about the problem with the ceiling (leaks, serious stress cracks, etc) and failed to take the proper steps to repair the ceiling to prevent it from collapsing, you would be able to take them to small claims and win.

I had a similar situation about 15 years ago. I repeatedly told my landlord about a leak and progressive buckling of the sheet-rock and he did absolutely nothing. One day during heavy rains, it all collapsed. I sued for damages to my belongings and won.

I did have to prove that I notified him of the condition, and luckily for me I had saved several answering machine messages where he made comments acknowledging my complaints and then basically blowing me off.

No matter what your lease says, your landlord is not excused from negligence.

Answer 4

The owner. Take pictures and take him to small claims court if necessary. Get an estimate for repairs and the replacement or repair of your items.
An exception would be if you let a tub overflow or caused some other water damage to cause the ceiling to fall. Then you would be responsible.

Answer 5

Your landlord needs to repair the ceiling, but you are responsible for your own personal items. Renters Insurance.. Most apartment places recommend it now when you are signing your lease.

Answer 6

It all depends. What caused the problem? Was it negligence on the property owners behalf. Or was it another renter?Or did something just wear out? If he did something clearly wrong, then you have recourse.(Did he shove a hose in through your bedroom window? Or did a pipe break?) If not, then you have none. But, either way, it will cost you to litigate. I guess the question here is, Did he have control over the situation or not? Good luck!

Answer 7

All of the above answers may be incorrect. To determine who is responsible for the damage you have to look to two things:

1. What does your lease say on the subject?
2. What caused the collapse?

Without the answers to both those questions, you can not completely decide who is responsible.

Answer 8

The terms of you lease specify your responsibilities. Generally anything that was part of the apartment you leased is the owner's responsibility. I do concur that renter's insurance is a valuable asset to have.

Answer 9

the owners of the apartments hold the responsibility of paying for the damages in your apartment.

Answer 10

The owner is responsible for the roof, you are responsible for your items. Renters insurance is always recommended.