Is my landlord responsible?

Question

The people underneath me decided it would be a great idea to grill out on the patio. All my windows were open and for one straight hour my house filled with smoke. I came home, found the smokey apartment and walked straight over to the manager who lives at the apartments. The managers response was for me to call the local fire department. They did not attempt to tell them to move the grill even though they were still grilling out at this time. So I did the "nice" thing and walked to my building and walked to the first floor patio and asked them to move the grill, bc my daughter and I who is 6 months old cant breathe in the thick smoke. Well they responded it was too hot to move and proceeded to through on the steaks. So last resort I had to waste our taxpayers money and call the fire department. They had to bring big fans into my house and air it out. My couch carpet walls and my everything smells like smoke. I do not have renters ins but will get it now asap for the next issue. What is th elandlord responsible for? Cleaning carpet? Anything I need some help! They make us sign a paper about grilling on the wood patios, but nothing about smoke damage reg. the smells and such. Thanks

Answer 1

No...the landlord is not responsible for any of your cleaning.  If you feel that strongly about it...take the downstairs tenants...since they are responsible.. to small claims court to recover your costs for cleaning.

Answer 2

no thats what renters insurance is for

Answer 3

The landlord has no liability in this issue at all.

Answer 4

You don't say what the lease says about grilling so I assume it was not to grill where they were grilling.  You have a right to assume that the management will enforce the agreement you signed and you have the right to expect them to enforce that with every tenant equally.  The manager refused to do so and it caused damage to your apartment.  I think you have recourse against the manager and the people that live below you.  Whatever conversations you have with people, you need to do them in writing so that you have some sort of proof and take pictures and keep track of records and reports.  I would ask the apartment complex to repair and clean everything since they did not enforce the agreement equally.  I believe they have the greater liability and they have the deeper pockets to pay or the where with all to fix the apartment.  Since you reported it to management as you should have and they did nothing, I say go after management first.  It isn't your job to enforce rules, it is the apartment complex's.  You have the right to expect certain behavior from the people around you as is expected from you and management has the responsibility to be sure all tenants adher to the rules.  When management sets rules for tenants, they put themselves in the position to have to enforce the rules and they did nothing.  Remember letters should be sent return receipt so that you have proof that management received them.  If you have to pay, take them to small claims court if it's within the limits allowed or sue them.  The manager did not do her job correctly and you did everything possible to correct the situation.  Management will not be happy with you but so what. . .I could be off base here and if so, then go after the people that did the grilling.  They must be really thoughtless jerks.  The problem with small claims court is that even if you get a judgment, you still have to get them to pay so pick your fight carefully.

Answer 5

I highly suspect that you have no recourse against anyone.  You could take the grillers to small claims court but that would cost a little and probably wouldn't result in anything to your advantage.  I just can't see how the landlord would be responsible since the damage has already been done by the time you notified him.  Even if he would have approached the grillers it wouldn't have done any good at that point.

Answer 6

Is it legal to have portable grills in an apartment building.  In my city it is not if you want to grill you must do so in the parking lot because of the fire hazard

Answer 7

You would like it if this were crystal-clear.  Of course, if it were, you wouldn't have written your question.  The neighbor might owe you nothing.  Once you leave your window open, the whole legal issue gets muddy.  The manager has no liability.  The landlord might pay you $200 cash or give you a discount on next month's rent.  She wouldn't have to.This isn't quite the same as if a storm blew a flood of rain thru your window but it is closer than you think.  What a lousy deal for you. You didn't do anything wrong and nothing is worse than smoke smell. /

Answer 8

Ask your neighbors who were grilling if they have a renters insurance policy. If so, see if you can file a claim against the liability coverage of their insurance.

The people who were grilling are responsible for the damage to your property.  It was their negligent actions that caused the smoke.

Answer 9

Your landlord is not responsible for anything, he did not fill your apartment with smoke.

Answer 10

The landlord is responsible for everything like telling the other renters to be respectful of other people's spaces.

Answer 11

Next time leave a smoke detector on the sill of the open window. So if they do it again it will go off and alert the whole neighborhood to what they're doing. That should put a stop to it.