No water for two weeks.... Should we complain?

Post Reply New Topic

Me and my husband moved in with an uncle who in turn has a landlord. After a week of being here, the water failed for a total of one week, then was back on for a few days, then failed again for going on two weeks now. They are making me and my husband go to town and buying water while we keep hearing nothing but excuses for the water... We can't bathe and my husband has a skin infection... But the only place other than this we can go is another relative that we have money issues with. Also I'm not hearing back from jobs and I tried calling social security for my husband's case and they said it was going to take months. I'm on over the maximum dose of my depression med and crying everyday... Also my car is having problems making me miss appointments.... I'm getting fed up

Yeah. You should complain. This is ridiculous.

Yes you should complain. Stay strong and things will get better. I know its really hard right now but you will survive. Good luck.

YES

That's criminal, no water for 2 weeks. Complain. You have rights.

I was told today the water may be frozen underground and we might have to wait for the weather to get warm... Car is fixed now and I heard from one job yesterday that had me take an "aptitude test" that I hope I passed because after I submitted it I later realized I made a mistake and I reported it but I'm nervous now...

Make sure you ask the water company for a refund or credit for future water bills. It doesn't seem like much now, but when your bills are considerably lower, you might feel a little better. Also, check with low-income advocacy groups near you, they can assist you and argue with the water company. In my state, utilities (water, oil, natural gas, sewer, heat and telephone) can't be off for very long before the state utilities commission takes over their operation. So utility companies are always worried about outages being too long.

Michigan sucks sometimes like that
I live in a very old house and have been SO grateful no to have frozen pipes, not sure why.. Always had them growing up and in other houses here.
How does your uncle feel about the situation? Are you paying him rent or just staying for awhile? It has been VERY cold and it could be true about them being froze under the frozen ground, which would be hard to deal with now. If he is paying rent though it seems like he should be entitled to a discount or something. I would definitely complain if it were my home but your uncle may not want to make trouble and put his place at risk. To me it depends on if it's a sleezy landlord or just some person renting out a home. It really sucks being without water though. Sorry.
Glad you got your car fixed, good luck on the job!
Life really is hard sometimes. Keep pushing through..

Must not have did the test very well... Rejected me for some reason right off the bat. And no water company involved, it's a private well, we live out in the country.

I don't think people here understand what it is like for two people to live on only 750 a month. On top of that, my uncle told DHS we're not paying rent when we are so DHS slashed our food stamps... Badly so based on my calculations I'm trying to feed us for less than 7 dollars a day and having about 350 left after rent and bills is an allowance of only spending a little over 10 dollars a day for anything... And my uncle doesn't want us to use the stove because it uses propane.... Yay we eating microwave hotdogs again for dinner... Foodbanks help some... But not a lot. Even if I got a job how would I relocate?

That's kind of an unfair statement.
Try living off of $400 a month, in San Francisco California, for 3 months straight before you go back to your normal measly earnings.
We had 3 cats. I starved, literally, almost to death. So that my cats and my Husband had food because he had better qualifications and could get hired again faster and with better pay than I ever would. The only time I ate was when he was home and made me take most of the small dinners we had. I lost 40 lbs in those 3 months. I was in county hospital more times than I could count, for it.

So yeah. People here can understand.

Landlord/tenant laws vary from state to state and by city/township/county. Most states require water access and for issues to be resolved in a "reasonable" amount of time. Two weeks is likely beyond reasonable. That said, most leases I've ever read/looked over/signed would not allow extra people to occupy the property unless they were added to the lease (assuming adults). So while your uncle needs to push the landlord to fix the water, the landlord may push back against the extra not-on-the-lease-properly tenants. (These are separate issues entirely tho.)

Your uncle may need to contact the local housing authority, landlord/tenant board, HUD, (health dept?,) etc. If none of those sound familiar, a librarian at the local public library probably has the knowledge, access, and resources to help you track down a few possible leads on which local agencies to contact.

Be aware that withholding rent is not a legal option in many places. In some places it may be possible to put the rent in an escrow or other holding account when it's due in lieu of paying it directly to the landlord. As difficult as it is to pay rent, the landlord is running a business.

Googling brought up
Tenants & Landlords: a Practical Guide <-- MI based &
NOLO's Overview of Landlord-Tenant Laws in Michigan

(Not a lawyer or in RE. Not legal advice. Just info.)

I think continuing to live with these relatives who aren't really helping you and live out in the country isn't getting you anywhere and actually is hindering you.

How about contacting a homeless shelter in the nearest larger city and asking if there is a way you and your husband can stay there, connect with an advocate or social worker to help you get services, work and a place to live?