Q: Who is responsible for an ongoing leak that was reported at the beginning of the lease, the tenant or property manager?
I'm a new tenant and in my first month of the lease. I rent a unit in a triplex. I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the lease, the lessor waived their obligation to maintain the premises. Within my first week as a tenant I reported a leak issue underneath the kitchen sink. It was temporary repaired by the property manager and the leak has reappeared. The property manager says I am responsible now even though it is the same issue. Who is responsible?
A: The lessor is the landlord. You state that the lessor waived the obligation to maintain the property, which according to what you wrote, means that you are obligated to fix the leak. Plumbing leaks underneath the sink are generally easy fixes. The leak is coming from a connection or a pipe has a hole in it (unlikely). Find the leak, undo the connection, make sure the threads are clean, and before you re-connect it, inspect the pipe at the threads to make sure there's no cracked pipe, which can happen if some goober tightened the connections too tight. If your pipes are good, reconnect and test for leaks. If you have a garbage disposal, all bets are off. I don't recommend you fool with it. Those things are a pain in the neck.
Bruce Alexander Minnick agrees with this answer
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