Source: Reddit
So I am living in a basement suite that has a laundry room next to it. The room is shared by my and the family I am renting from as part of the rental agreement.
One day a week, the family will unlock the door in the laundry room that leads to my suite, and thus I have access to the room for the day. I put my clothes in the machine, and shut the door to the suite so that I don’t hear all that ruckus. There are stairs in the laundry room that lead up to the rest of the house, so I assume that is how they access the laundry room.
I had my clothes drying in the laundry room. All of a sudden I hear yelling from the wife and next thing I know, an ambulance has arrived.
I soon learn that:
- Apparently their 4 year old opened up the dryer and climbed in.
- Their dryer was faulty.. it doesn’t shut off when you open the door. Yea…. So the kid was tumbling in there while the door was open and all because the machine didn’t shut itself off when the door was opened.
This was last week and the kid turned out to be relatively fine.
But now the landlord and landlady want me to reimburse their son’s ambulance bill and medical bill (they have no insurance), totaling $8477. 34. Because it was my laundry that the kid climbed into. (Really??)
I didn’t think I was responsible because:
- I am not in charge of watching their kid. I am paying an insane amount of rent to begin with, I didn’t agree to babysit anyone in addition.
- It is their laundry machine that is apparently faulty.
But they insist and I am not sure. I went to a forum that was orientated towards landlords to see if I was really responsible. I was asked if they family ever raised rent. I have been living there for one year and 4 months, so no, I admit they did not raise rent when the lease was renewed after the first year. But still, they didn’t do it for charity. I pay my rent on time everytime and don’t cause a problem: I assume them not collecting a little extra is still better than the risk of trying to find a tenant that isn’t trouble etc, at least that was their thinking. Anyways, I am not planning to stay after the lease ends
Anyways I was told then by the landlords that I should be grateful that they did not raise rent and should pay up to be morally fair. What Should I Do ?
Am I a TA?
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
