Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin
Our landlord shut the water off in our trailer in the middle of winter and then went out of town its been over 35 hrs since this happend said he would return today and turn it back on but stil has not. we have no water to cook, shower or toilets there was no reason for doing this other than he was angry about his lot water bill going up so he went around and turned the water off of the people running water so their pipes would not freeze.. what can we do can we go to a hotel tonight? and if our pipes are frozen from him turning stuff off whos responsible for this? and if so can we go to a hotel till the pipes are unfrozen?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I do not know enough about your situation to judge whether or not it is legal for a trailer park owner to shut off water during the winter. If you are in a seasonal trailer park which is only open in the summer, this would be a normal event which you would have expected when you moved in and not trailer owner's responsibility, unless you have a contract saying otherwise. You therefore need to retain a lawyer and give him all the facts so that he can properly research the issue for you. If you routinely face pipes freezing due to inadequate heat tape or insulation, you should have resolved the problem beforehand by adding sufficient protection from freezing your pipes by mechanical measures other than letting the water run constantly during cold weather. That is an expensive and wasteful practice, particularly if you are on a municipal water system which bills based upon volume used, so I can understand why the owner might be a bit miffed if lot renters are doing this constantly. Perhaps you are better off spending your money on bottled water and heat tape in the short run and worrying about the legalities later? In any event, my comments here are not legal advice, nor do they create an attorney client relationship between us. However, you always more than welcome to contact my office to discuss retaining me or to set up a free initial consultation at my office in Racine. I also can sometimes arrange to travel outside of Racine for initial consultations if absolutely necessary.