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I had a situation where a tenant had the heat up very high all winter in our
home. We had an old boiler, and needed 3 parts replaced during the upcoming
winter. The man also meddled with the transformer, trying to restart the boiler
several times, when you're not supposed to with an empty tank. The transformer
failed during this winter, the boiler died, and because of a burst pipe we
sustanted over $40,000 damage to the house. The problem is I can't prove that
the boiler failed because of what this person did. I can get a statement from
the oil company that this placed additional stress on an old boiler, and might
have caused it to fail.
My question is if there is a chance that this person might have been
responsible for the damage, can any partial compensation be recovered? Is it
all black, and white, guilty or not, or would I be entitled to recover a small
amount because this person might have been responsible?
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Design,
Was there any obligation on the part of the tenant to not keep the heat
"high" in his apartment. A letter from the oil company that the tenant
placed stress on the boiler by using it may not get you very far in court.
Wasn't the boiler supposed to be used? You may have a claim for the
transformer since he meddled with this part but the boiler failure and burst
pipe sound like the failure of an old heating system. Remember that if you
take the tenant to court it will be up to you to convince everyone that he
contributed to the failure of the heating system by using the system
improperly.
From reading your post I'm unconvinced that he did anything to damage
your heating system. You freely admit that your heater needed 3 parts
replaced just to function and that it was old. Blaming your tenant seems
unreasonable.
Good luck,
Dave M.
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