Legal Question in Construction Law in North Carolina

Plumbing problems

I am a ''house manager'' in North carolina. Since the owner of the house works in Europe, I have been charged with maintaining the house in his absence. For a very small fee deducted straight from my rent I make sure the rooms in the house are rented out and I take care of any maintenance issues as they arise. Recently I had a short term boarder who had a clogged shower. They called Roto-rooter to have them come fix the problem. The plumbers came over and repaired the shower, the tenant paid them with his credit card. 3 days later roto-rooter is calling me to say I owe them the 411 dollars to fix the drain since his credit card did not go through.

-I did not call roto-rooter to tell them to fix the problem.

-I never signed any invoice etc. giving them permission to perform any work on the property.

-The tenant signed a slip giving them permission to do the work.

-I dont know where the tenant is, he moved out the day after the repair. I dont know his name.

Question: Is the landlord or the house manager (myself) responsible for this bill? Or can I tell roto-rooter to ''take this one in the gut...'' since they never recieved permission from the owner nor myself...

Thanks!!!


Asked on 3/08/02, 9:31 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Kirby Law Offices of John M. Kirby

Re: Plumbing problems

without having researched the issue, my initial gut reaction is that Roto-Rooter's only claim would be against the tenant, the person with whom they had the contract. There are some situations where a service-person can put a lien on property, but I tend to doubt that would apply to this situation, where the owner (nor his agent; i.e. you) did not agree to the services. The other possible theory is for something called "quantum meruit" or "unjust enrichment." The idea behind these theories is that the Owner has benefitted from the services, and as a matter of equity should pay. The application of this doctrine to your case, however, is unclear. You may want to consult a lawyer. Their remedy, assuming they have no "lien" rights, would be to file suit, at which time you could re-assess the situation.

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Answered on 3/09/02, 11:50 am


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