Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Outlet sets room on fire

I rent an apartment. I called 911 and the leasing office and a maintanence person came over.He said from what he saw, it looked like odd. The next day the leasing manager sent an electrician out. He said it was a freak accident. Because the outlet that caught on fire had nothing plugged into it and it is on a power switch that was not turned on. Here's my problem, the manager is basically saying I am responsible. But there's more to the story. Several weeks before this, the power suddenly went out in that room and when maintence came, they could not figure out what was the problem. He ended up working in that same outlet and said he'd made replacements that fixed the problem. Two days later the same thing happened, the power went out and another maintence person came out and worked in the same electrical outlet. He said he found some wrong wiring that the other person had left. Again he said he fixed the problem. So my roommates bed catches on fire, while she's asleep in it, as result of a fire starting in the very outlet two maintence people worked on, on two different occassion.... and I'm being told I'm responsible. Is that right?

Please help me.


Asked on 1/20/00, 3:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert Sher Wagshal and Sher

Re: Outlet sets room on fire

You are responsible only if the fire was caused by your negligence or that of your roommate. It sounds like the maintenance people who earlier worked on the outlet from where the fire started did a poor wiring job. If your county has a housing authority, either they or the fire department can investigate to determine the actual cause of the fire.

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Answered on 1/24/00, 5:05 pm


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