By dani1104 - 29/01/2010 08:49 - United States

Today, my window fell out of the wall, landed on my head, and shattered. I waited 6 hours to get 23 stitches in the emergency room. When I got home, I found a bill. I owe my landlord $130 to replace the window. They won't fix it until I pay up. FML
I agree, your life sucks 32 877
You deserved it 2 309

dani1104 tells us more.

dani1104 0

So I'm not lying. The window repairman came today (after I paid $130) and said that some spring or something in the window frame was worn out. Boston had some very strong winds the day the window fell out, which pushed it out of the frame. I was on the floor doing a puzzle of Fenway Park if you needed to know.

Top comments

softkitty_fml 0

there is no way he can legally make you pay for that if it turns out that the accident was a result of his negligence. if he knew about the problem before and didn't fix it then you can easily sue him for the damages to your person. either way, the landlord cannot make you pay for the window unless you did something that caused the window to fall out in the first place. he is just trying to intimidate you. don't fall for his bullshit. i'm a law student. i know this stuff to be a fact.

you should demand the medical bill from your landlord instead. for renting a place with a dangerous window.

Comments

yeah it's your landlords fault your window didn't say in the wall. you could probably get him to have to pay your medical bill. that or you could threaten to sue and bargin for cheaper rent.

you just lost the game... i just lost the game. :(

Soybean254 0

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You do realize that you are the most obvious troll ever, right?

PottentialFML 0

Do you realize in his low educated mind he can't process what you just said?

I'm guessing you're some kind of man-*****. Shut the **** up and make your own goddamn sandwich. >:(

you should demand the medical bill from your landlord instead. for renting a place with a dangerous window.

softkitty_fml 0

there is no way he can legally make you pay for that if it turns out that the accident was a result of his negligence. if he knew about the problem before and didn't fix it then you can easily sue him for the damages to your person. either way, the landlord cannot make you pay for the window unless you did something that caused the window to fall out in the first place. he is just trying to intimidate you. don't fall for his bullshit. i'm a law student. i know this stuff to be a fact.

This. It's not your fault that that the window was probably not installed correctly. Landlord has to pay up on this one.

geordieboysgirl 0

Yep, just a bully. Stand up to him and call you local authoity to find out what your rights are. Isn't it cold? Make sure you track the increase in your heating bill and charge him for that too.

mj2123 0

I like that the law students name is "softkitty" :) But seriously, yeah. Unless you actively caused the window to come out, it's your landlord's responsibility to fix it...and probably cover your medical expenses as well.

softkitty_fml 0

softkitty is a reference to the Big Bang Theory. Sheldon's mother would sing it to him when he was sick. it's a perfectly dignified username.

Well, now I like your name even more. That show is one of the best, and I love Sheldon.

He's right. You do not have to pay for the window, unless you were messing around and caused it to fall out. In fact, the landlord is required to pay for the damages to your person as well as cover the cost of replacing the window. If he fails to fix the window and pay your damages, it's time to seek legal council and move out of there.

LMFAO_fail 0

Hahaha @ "I am a law student." Well then, you should know a thing or two about leases. My lease states specifically that broken windows NO MATTER THE CAUSE are the tenants responsibility. I asked for clarification and according to my lease, even if thieves break into my apartment by way of window and I file a police report, I am still responsible for paying for the window. So, OP...check your lease. If you have a similar clause, pay up. IF NOT, then definitely fight it. So before ya'll assume whose responsibility it is to pay...find out what the lease says.

#45, that is a weird lease. I have absolutely never seen a lease that included a clause like that. Also, even if it DID have that type of clause, the window fell out of the wall. That means it, most likely, was not installed properly and is therefore still the landlords problem.

softkitty_fml 0

didn't realize that joining one of the oldest and most respected professions in the country was funny. oh well, i guess working at walmart is more lucrative in the short run. you had it right all along. even if the lease has that provision that all broken windows are the tenant's responsibility, i cannot think of any reason why anyone would stick that on you. if you can make a case for negligence then that clause should go out the window, especially if it is a boilerplate provision. most leases are standard form and since the parties have unequal bargaining power in the transactions there is very rarely an instance where boilerplate language is kept in a situation like this. leases are a yucky hybrid of contract and property law (my two best classes, by the way) and they can be difficult to navigate. just because you signed a piece of paper does not mean you are completely and hopelessly bound by the words on the page. and in the absolute, worst case, you could probably sue (or threaten to sue) your landlord for the window-related injury. even if your case never goes to trial, sometimes an ambiguously-worded letter on law firm letterhead can do wonders for unwanted fines.

agree with you. Landlord is trying to save his ass. You can tell you're a wannabe lawyer. The way you speak is so by the book. But this isn't in a good way.

softkitty_fml 0

thanks. i am a wannabe lawyer. which explains why i am paying 30k a year to go to school for it. also, i speak by the book because the law is nothing but books. there's not a whole lot of that renegade law-and-order type adventure stuff. most of it is bookish and boring. you win cases by knowing the rules and making them work for you, not by shocking a jury. plus this is contract/property law with a little bit of tort in there. it's not sexy and adventurous. try to win a case without going by the books. it won't work.

friedblueoyster 0

Just because a lease says something doesn't mean it's 100% certain. If the restrictions are against public policy, no court would hold you to the terms.

friedblueoyster 0

SoftKitty- Keep in mind you're on a website where people do nothing but complain. Throwing out legalese works great in front of a judge, but not for a jury. FML.com is pretty much where the jury pool comes from, not judges. You'll only make yourself mad at the world when the trolls complain about the language you use even if you're right.

You just sound like a stuck up student. nothing more. nothing less. and throwing $30k figure out means nothing. I finished a private education paying well over $115,000 (actually I'm lying. I got almost all in scholarships). It's just bugging me the way you're giving your advice. should try being more normal and down to earth so you can sway your future "juries". otherwise, you'd just be the pretentious lawyer. oh, and having a better attitude may help with getting clients. just a thought.

Aside everybodys' bickering about tuition, #4 has it. You're the one injured, and the landlord is just trying to scare you out of a lawsuit he knows he will lose. I'm quite certain you will be able to find an injury lawyer more than happy to take your case, if all else fails.

is anyone thinking about the fact that all the legal stuff takes forever? even if he sues the landlord, he's not replacing the window. so now the guy suffers until anything gets legally accomplished. fyl indeed. anything to do with the court system and lawyers is long and draining and a lot of times unfair.

@softkitty How does this work in the US - can you have the window fixed with your own money then withhold the costs from the rent? That's a possible course of action here in Germany, but I doubt the law in the US is that renter-friendly, or is it?

Ok, found it myself on the website which gte2845 mentioned above: If a landlord doesn't make required repairs, what are the consequences? If a tenant requests repairs and the landlord or property manager doesn't meet the habitability requirements, a tenant usually has several options, depending on the state. These options include: * making the necessary repairs and deducting the costs from the next month's rent * withholding the entire rent until the problem is fixed * paying less rent while the rental remains substandard * calling the local building inspector, who can usually order the landlord to make repairs, or * moving out without responsibility for future rent, even in the middle of a lease. So OP, I think you have a lot of good options there. Calling the building inspector should allow you to find out what your rights are in your state, without incurring any costs - that seems a good place to start.

pidri 0

yea fukk your landlord his cheap ass window almost killed you!

MoonyIce 0

You really should do something about that - don't let 'em walk all over you. It's a landlord's responsibility to take care of any failings on the property if they're not your fault.

pattheaninal 9

you have an asshole fir a landlord.

Sparkiee93 3

Sue them? It's not your fault the property was faulty and injured you.

I hate it when random things fall and land on you. What were the chances?

but a freaking window fall on you? how does that even happen?

Well, according to Newton's theory on gravity (which later became a law), every object in this known universe attracts every other object in the universe based on mass. The bigger the mass, the greater this force of attraction is. This is also based on proximity to the mass in question (i.e. the further away you are from this object, the less attraction you have to it). So, for whatever reason, the window that fell out of the... um... window-area, was unable to resist the force attraction of Earth and came crashing down towards the Earth. The OP happened to be positioned underneath (a relative term) this attracted window and, thanks to the law of gravity, the FML resulted as such. tl;dr - the window loves the Earth more than you.

I laughed also. I thought we were going to hear about the OP's gravitational pull though.

i think they meant how did it detach from the wall....

If you were not in the way of the suicidal attempt of the obviously neglected and depressed window, then it would not have hit you. If anything, you should be more concerned about counselling the other windows so they do not attempt suicide by trowing themselves at people too. Seriously though, your landlord sounds like a dick.