Fire damage in my apartment....?

Question

I live in an apartment complex in Florida. Yesterday i was out shopping because i am moving out this weekend and was gtting new things for my new place.

When i pulled up i see mine and all the neighbors doors bashed in. I came running out of my car because i have a dog and my door was open. My next door neighbor's apt caught fire. The smell in my APT is horrible!! Even with the windows open nothing! It's in my furniture, clothes, everything because i am packing and have all my stuff out all over.

My apt complex didn't respond or offer any help for me. There's no way we could stay in that place and my roommate is prego. They didn't offer to put us in a hotel or anything. I mean, The smell of smoke was worse in our apt than the one next door who had the fire. Just by opening my front door you can smell it, taste it and your eyes burn.

My question is...if my apt complex does not do anthing can we sue them? That is an extreme health hazard and it's not fair..we had to sleep in our car last night! What kind of lawyer would we get? I doubt they will respond to the fac all of our furniture smells of smoke and probably won't come out.

Thanks for looking :)

Answer 1

Ummm Call the best lawyer you know. I happen to be a lawyer but I don't live in Florida. I would help but sorry!!! I live in New York. :D Yes you can sue them, they need to take action NOW. Or you can SUE them. I wish you best of luck and please be careful!  

Answer 2

Sue them for what?   This is all covered in your renters insurance.   You can only sue if the landlord willingly started the fire.

The Red Cross should have been there.   Give them a call, they have hotel vouchers you use until you move.

Your apartment does have to compensate you pro-rated rent for the days of the month you already paid rent for but could not live in the apartment.

This also answers the question about your security/cleaning deposit.   You can expect a full refund.

Answer 3

Renters insurance will cover you.

My lease covers problems like yours.

The landlord is not liable for personal property.

Renters insurance is very cheap, but for some strange reason, renters will not buy it?

Every body wants to sue a landlord and in this case if you have no insurance, you failed to protect yourself.

Smoke will come out of fabrics and there are companies that can remove it.

$20.00 per month is a small price to pay to protect yourself.

In Arizona and nevada, no you cannot sue.

Answer 4

you can sue, might wanna get everything...sterileysed?  first.

Answer 5

The landlord is not responsible for your personal property, that is why you should have renter's insurance.

The landlord is not obligated to put you up. You can terminate the rental agreement and vacate the premises. You would be entitled to the pro rated rent returned for the remainder of the month and your full security deposit should be returned per the law.

83.63  Casualty damage.--If the premises are damaged or destroyed other than by the wrongful or negligent acts of the tenant so that the enjoyment of the premises is substantially impaired, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement and immediately vacate the premises. The tenant may vacate the part of the premises rendered unusable by the casualty, in which case the tenant's liability for rent shall be reduced by the fair rental value of that part of the premises damaged or destroyed. If the rental agreement is terminated, the landlord shall comply with s. 83.49(3) [F.S. 1973].

>2008->Ch0083->Section%2063#0083.63http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.c...

http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.c...

Answer 6

Read your lease.  Your landlord is probably not liable for any damage to your personal property -- that's what renter's insurance is for.  As for a place to stay, again, unless the fire was caused by the landlord's negligence or wilfull misconduct, the landlord is not liable for a place for you to stay.  Rent abates while the place is uninhabitable, but that's all.  

Your only recourse is against the neighbor, if the neighbor caused the fire through negligence or wilfull misconduct.  The landlord gets first crack at the one who caused the fire -- the landlord's insurance company will go after them.

By the time the investigation into the cause of the fire is completed, and the landlord's insurance company goes after the responsible party, there is little likelihood of you making any recovery.

Have your renter's insurance company provide you with temporary shelter such as a motel room, and pay for Serv-Pro or some such company to clean up your furniture.  As a practical matter, you have no recourse against the landlord and little against the neighbor.

Answer 7

No, you cannot sue the management company of your apartment community.  They didn't start the fire, and they have no control over what the fire department does to stop the fire.  

This situation is why everyone should have renter's insurance.  If you don't have renter's insurance, you're going to be out of luck.  I'm sure that it will state in your lease that management is not responsible for any personal items in your apartment at any time.  Now, it would be nice for the management company to put you up in a hotel, or at least a vacant apartment, but you stated you are moving out this weekend, correct?  And everything is packed.  You might want to contact your new apartment manager and see if you can move in early.  But it's not going to solve the issue of the smoke damage and smell in your items.  ServPro or any other disaster cleanup company can clean it up, but it's very expensive - around 10k for a 1 bedroom apartment, I believe.  

I'm sorry, I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but you really don't have any recourse against the management company of where you live.

Two years ago, at my apartment community in downtown Denver, a new resident was moving in and her friend put a box on the kitchen counter next to the stove.  They put more and more boxes on the counter, and one of the boxes ended being shoved onto the stovetop, and the back of the box just happened to hit the button to turn one of the burners on.  The resident went to dinner, not knowing the stove was on.  The box caught fire, and the entire kitchen went up in flames, the heat blowing the windows out on the 9th floor onto a busy city street.  The sprinkler system came on and doused the fire, but everything in the unit had smoke damage AND water damage.  The fire department got there in record time, and sprayed water a second time.  The toilet had to be ripped off the floor so all the water had a place to go, and the units below this one, from the 9th floor all the way down to the 2nd floor, had ceiling tiles blown out and water damage in the bathrooms as the water was driven towards the hole where the toilet was.  We had one foot of water in each floor's lobby all the way down to the main lobby.  

Was this the management company's fault?  Nope.  Did the resident do it on purpose?  Of course not - it was an accident.  We were lucky though - the resident still had homeowner's insurance as she had just entered into an agreement to sell her house and her homeowner's insurance covered everything - the 10k to clean her items, the 50k to restore her apartment - new cabinets, new appliances, paint, everything.  And it also covered anyone below her who had water damage.  Because it was an accident, I immediately moved her to a different apartment in another building, and she ended up being a great resident, and we had a great relationship.  I didn't have to move her - in fact, per my company's policies, what I was SUPPOSED to do was evict her immediately for damaging community property, but she was shell shocked and in a terrible state.  She ended up being a great resident and only moved out to take a job across the world.

If the damage was caused by your neighbor, you need to file suit against the neighbor.

Answer 8

READ your lease. . . .carefully

LL may or may not be responsible. . . .it was your neighbor, not them who caused the damages. . . but if it's uninhabitable they probably have a responsibility to put you up in hotel

Contact your renters insurance, as your coverage should help in cleaning up your stuff, "de-smoking" it

there are processes to get rid of the smells