Water Damage Restoration for a Rental Home

A few months back, we were called to perform water damage restoration services for a rented townhouse in Red Deer, Alberta. The problem was one we often encounter as water damage restoration specialists in Central Alberta. A supply line to the main floor toilet had failed and water had flooded the entire main floor and basement.

The landlord has many rental properties and firmly believes in keeping a good tenant. He was very hands-on with how we dealt with his tenants. Also, he understood that pipes can accidentally break, so he had no issues with cooperating in restoring his property and his tenants’ contents.

The tenant was a young couple with a newborn baby. Although flooding disasters can be highly distressing, they were very understanding of the chaos following the flood and the drying process.

Whenever we are called into a landlord/tenant situation, insurance complicates things. We need to deal with each of these sets of people separately, but also as a group. Here’s how we managed this particular case.

The Landlord/Tenant Insurance Problem

The insurance for the landlord covers the structure itself, but not the items owned by the tenants. And, unless the tenant has their own insurance, we can’t legally touch their things. As a result, this makes restoration extremely difficult, especially when tenants have a lot of contents.

Fortunately, the tenants did have insurance. Thus, we started working on “a claim within a claim”. That means we had to separate our restoration services for the tenants’ claim from those performed for the landlords’ claim.

After a home flood, the floor is sometimes unsalvageable and needs to be safely removed and replaced. Sadly, this is what happened in this case. We removed the flooded flooring and dried the area, preparing it for new flooring installation. We would like to send out a big thank-you to Louis Hamonic and his team at Jordan’s Flooring in Red Deer. They always ensure our clients get quality flooring and excellent service.

Bonding with the Young Parents

Throughout the water damage restoration process, Trish bonded with the young mother over having a newborn grandbaby and baby, respectively. Trish and Gordon Holmes’ (PuroClean Property Damage Paramedics owners) first grandchild was born right around the same time!

And, as Red Deer is not a huge city, Trish and Gordon’s daughter happened to meet that young mother at a Mom’s Group Event a few months after the incident.

The family resemblance along with the age of the children prompted the young mom to ask her if she was Trish and Gordon’s daughter. She recalled that PuroClean had worked in their home and remembered them as being very diligent and kind.

That makes us proud to have helped them recover from such a difficult loss! As always, we stand ready to come to any property’s rescue and provide water damage restoration services in Central Alberta.