Hi, I come to you seeking advice on what options/rights we have in this situation. We can’t use our kitchen and it’s causing us a ton of trouble with cleaning and always needing one person to be at home in case it happens again. Details on our situation below.
Edit: They finally got someone coming to solve the problem tomorrow, but I am still curious if there’s anything we should be aware of as far as tenant rights in a situation like this.
TLDR: Kitchen sink has been backed up and was leaking. Plumber “fixed the leak” but someone needs to come back to properly clean the pipes. Everything is approved, just need to find the time. We are told everything is covered cause it’s not our fault. Water backflows from the drain while noone is home on New Years and floods kitchen and into living area. Happens again on Jan 2nd, while we are home. Noone in our apartment was using water when these things happened.
Just before New Years eve our kitchen sink began getting backed up. We tried drain cleaner, which seemed to work for a few hours but then it went back to clogging up. And water backflowing into the sink from the drain. Its not the first time our plumbing has had issues so we didn’t think much of.
I then noticed below that water was leaking out from below the cabinet directly at the floor level. We called our management company and they had someone out the next morning (New Year’s Eve) to take a look. He “stopped the leak” but would need to come back later to resolve the drainage issue due to old pipes being backed up. They told us sometime before the 10th of January.
We came back from my in-laws on Jan 1st to find our sink had overflowed while noone was home and had flooded the kitchen and into our living space. (Nothing of value was damaged or lost, luckily). So we spent an hour mopping things up and tidying. Wife called the rental company again, and spoke to someone saying we have an emergency and need someone to come ASAP. They said they’d call back, and never did. We thought maybe the Earthquake caused it. We werent in a heavily hit area, but we did shake for quite some time.
Now, on the 2nd, it happened again while we were home. Kitchen flooded but we were able to stop it and bail water before it got too bad. Wife called the rental company again and this call center employee apparently cannot comprehend what is happening, and it seems like the person from last night didn’t actually bother to update our issue with how urgent it is. So now we’re waiting for them to call us back, but they really don’t seem to be understanding the situation. My wife is native Japanese, so language barrier isn’t the issue, unless the call center people aren’t native, but she doesnt have that impression.
So, is there anything that we as tenants are entitled to in a situation like this? Reduced rent? 50¥ off at sukiya? One free gyoza with an order of ramen at Rairaitei?