Should landlord or tenant pay for toilet overflow damage in MA?

It's somewhat arguable, and might depend in part on the specific wording of a lease or other rental agreement; for example, a specific provision that you were to minimize utilities waste might have put more of a burden on you to timely report the refilling problem. The landlord's argument, at least if the landlord found out about the toilet running constantly, would be that your failure to report the problem reasonably promptly prevented them from doing timely maintenance that could have avoided the problem, and that you thus caused unnecessary damage. You might counter with evidence about the timeframe taken by the landlord in the past to do relatively minor maintenance, evidence that the toilet had been recently serviced, evidence that the clogging problem was not related to the constant refilling, etc. If you feel that you didn't cause the problem at all, then don't agree to pay. If you feel you might have been partly at fault by failing to give the landlord a chance to correct the problem, then under pressure to pay, you might consider meeting in the middle. In the future, it would be best to always report problems as they become known to you (but of course hindsight is 20/20, isn't it?). It will not only forestall problems like your current one, but help in cases where the landlord refuses to do maintenance.

It depends on the source of the damage. Most of the time this type of damage belongs to the condo owner. henry lebensbaum esq 300 Brickstone Sq Ste 201 andover, ma -- [email protected] (978) 749-3606. Criminal Law (all courts), Drunk Driving, Drugs, Violence, Sex Offenses, theft, SORB, Divorce Child Custody Alimony Child Support & Modification, Contempts & Paternity Juveniles Domestic Violence & Restraining Orders, Business Law, Personal Injury, Guardianship, Conservatorship & Estate Administration & Legal Malpractice. For these & other areas, contact me. Email sent may be copied intercepted or held by computers.