Toilet overflow: am I responsible?

[colonel_panic]

I'm renting an apartment on the second floor of a house. My landlord and his family live downstairs.

My toilet overflowed and flooded their apartment and basement. At the time I was in the other room watching TV and didn't hear the water running.

My landlord says that the damage is my fault because I didn't stay in the bathroom after flushing to make sure that the water had stopped running.

His argument is that if I had been in the bathroom to notice the overflow there would have been time to turn off the water before the flooding occurred.

I've never heard of this being a required action after flushing a toilet. I've always just made sure the waste goes down the drain and then washed my hands and left.

In this case, I left the bathroom after seeing the waste go down the drain.

My landlord has asked me to agree to a substantial rent increase to pay for repairing the damage.

He and his family are nice people and I want to do the right thing, but I don't think it's right for me to pay for damage if I'm not responsible for causing it.

My question is: Was I negligent in leaving the bathroom without waiting for the water in the toilet to stop running?

[TenantNet]

No, it's not negligence. Negligence would have occurred if you had heard or seen the water running and did nothing. But be careful in what you say. Apparently the LL is using what you told him to make the accusation.

And where was the LL at the time, or any member of his family? If the water went into their space, and then into the basement, did they not notice anything?

This is not normal wear and tear, but it's not damages. Things can go wrong. I would say you are not responsible, but if you're in a private house the LL controls any right to renewal for your lease, if there is a lease. So you're caught between a hard place of standing up for your rights and keeping your apartment.

[colonel_panic]

I'm a month to month tenant so he has the right to raise the rent.

My main concern is that he might sue me for damages if I choose to move out rather than agree to the rent increase.