Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts

Raw Sewage flood in basement

I rent a 5 bedroom house with a finished basement. OVer the weekend, there was a flood of raw sewerage that came into our basement through a non working toilet. We were told that it was the town's problem, that it was a town pipe that backed up, and caused the problem. When the problem occured, we (the tenants) called the town, and the landlord to try and correct the situation in our basement.

It took six days before a cleaning company came out to clean the raw sewerage. We were told that the house was liveable, but to seal the door to the basement with heavy duty plastic to prevent the odor from coming through to the rest of the house. My question is What rights do we have as tenants? Is the landlord responsible for submitting a claim to her insurance so that we can be reimbursed for our personal items that were damaged?

Can we take the amount owed us out of our rent for these damaged items?

Does the town reimburse her or us? Can we contact her insurance company directly? She mentioned that she did not want to file a claim with them because this problem occurred in the house 10 months ago and she does not want her insurance rates to go up.

Thank you for your time.


Asked on 1/23/04, 9:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joseph Murray Joseph M. Murray, Esq.

Re: Raw Sewage flood in basement

If you have a lease, read it to determine your rights. Send a written demand, certified mail to your landlord, itemizing your damages. If it is refused, contact a lawyer. Since the same problem occurred 10 months earlier, you should have been warned not to store items in the basement.

JOSEPH M. MURRAY, ESQ.

56 NORTH BEDFORD STREET

EAST BRIDGEWATER, MA 02333-1173

(508) 378-3944

[email protected]

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Answered on 1/24/04, 10:21 am


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