Austin-area renter says no water in kitchen sink for 24 days
AUSTIN, Texas - Aaron McGuire lives with his wife and four kids. The youngest is only eight months old.
McGuire says he pays his rent and he's always on time.
"If I'm living up to my end of the bargain I would expect that from them. But it hasn't been the case," McGuire said.
McGuire says on June 14th the water started leaking from his kitchen sink. Underneath and from the faucet. He says his landlord, who lives on the same street by the way, walked over and turned the water off.
"I came over and I addressed it with him, I said 'what are we supposed to do over the course of this weekend without water to my sink?' His specific words were 'I'll give you a bucket,'" McGuire said.
McGuire says water that had pooled underneath started to mold. And as of Monday morning the issue still hadn't been fixed.
"At this point now we're at 24 days without running water to our sink. So you can imagine having to clean bottles, wash dishes, when you're feeding a family of six. It's a huge inconvenience to have to use my bathroom sink when I'm feeding my family every night," he said.
After Fox 7's interview with McGuire on Monday, they also worked with the Austin Tenant's Council to deliver a letter to the property owners. As McGuire told us Tuesday afternoon, the sink issue was fixed Monday afternoon...mostly.
"They did all the plumbing work underneath it. They had to cut the top of the faucet off because it was corroded," McGuire said. "Something we were grateful and excited to have that it was working and functioning finally. Although I was not satisfied with them doing minimal mold repair."
McGuire says now he's trying to get out of his lease.
Landlord/tenant issues are commonplace. We spoke with attorney Steve Davis who represents both tenants and landlords. He says it's important to read your lease from beginning to end and call an attorney if you have any questions.
"We're just in an era where you just click on a box and you waive all your rights. A lot of people are used to doing that," he said.
Davis says the Tenant's Council is a good resource. He says if it's a health and safety issue and the landlord isn't responding, call an attorney.
And one important tip -- keep good records.
"Here's what I tell almost every one of my clients: whenever a situation comes up like this you do a timeline. And you do it from the start of the tenancy to the present. All the people that you contacted, all the people that had some sort of response to your issues, like how long it took and how you suffered as a result of it," Davis said.
Fox 7 did contact the property owner and landlord but we intentionally left their names out because they haven't been able to do an interview with us yet.