Q: How to dispute a debt collection made on behalf of my landlords insurance agency? Notice was sent to my sisters address
There was a kitchen fire while I was at work and the person at my home at the time was uninsured. I had just moved in and was still in the process of getting renters insurance so I was also uninsured at the time. The smoke caused the sprinklers in the kitchen to be activated, however the firemen were unable to turn off the sprinklers and had to call the building maintenance who were not located on site. In the time it took them to arrive, my apartment as well as those below mine incurred water damage due to prolonged water exposure. The damage in mine made it uninhabitable, so I was transferred into another unit in the building. The unit was repaired and rented within 2 mos. I still live in the other unit in the same building and Ive been a good tenant. Up till now (10 months later), I never received any follow-up correspondence on the matter nor a bill of any sort for repairs to the previous unit. Therefore this so called debt should never have gone to collections. How do I proceed?
A:
You indicate that some sort of notice was sent to your sister's address. This address was not the address of the apartment that was damaged nor the one you were moved into? Did she give you the notice that she received?
Now you have received a demand for payment from a collection agency? That, in effect, does constitute a "bill", albeit some eight months after you ostensibly owed it. I don't actually know that they had a duty to send you a bill promptly.
I would dispute their contention that you owe for the damage. if the fire was caused by the negligence of your houseguest, you and the guest would probably owe for the fire and smoke damage. But additional water damage (if it can be separated from fire and smoke damage) seemingly is the fault of the landlord. You perhaps shouldn't be liable for that.
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