According to the woman, her new terraced apartment was uninhabitable because sewage was pushed into the apartment again and again.
The court found that the blockages were caused by the woman herself due to her incorrect toilet habits. AOP
- The terraced house’s drain got blocked three times in a row.
- According to the woman, she was forced to move to a motel and demand compensation of thousands of euros from the landlord.
- In the district court, however, convincing evidence was presented that the woman had blocked the drain herself with tissues.
A woman rented a terraced apartment in a small town in Pirkanmaa in November 2022. A few days after moving in, the drain from the apartment’s bathroom flooded into the apartment.
According to the woman, the flooding happened several times. It made the apartment uninhabitable.
The woman said that the apartment smelled strongly of sewage and sewage. The sewage that flooded the apartment caused him to feel unwell, vomit, stomach aches, diarrhea and allergy symptoms.
The woman quickly checked into a motel and terminated her lease to expire at the end of January 2023.
The woman ended up demanding compensation from the landlord for the inconvenience caused to her in the district court of Pirkanmaa.
The landlord denied
In June 2023, the Pirkanmaa District Court gave a unilateral verdict in the case.
In accordance with the tenant’s request, the court ordered the landlord to compensate 1,569 euros for staying in the motel, 1,140 euros for the rent paid by the tenant, 560 euros for damage compensation and a total of 100 euros for additional changes and washing clothes. In addition, the landlord had to compensate the woman’s court costs of 1,330 euros.
The landlord did not accept the verdict, but took his case to court. He demanded the annulment of the district court’s unilateral verdict.
The man denied that he had neglected to correct deficiencies or defects. The housing association had repaired and cleaned the blockages in the drain. The apartment had caused no health or other harm to the woman.
Bet on cat litter
According to the landlord, the woman herself had caused the drain to become blocked by putting paper hand towels in the toilet bowl.
The woman, on the other hand, denied the landlord’s claims. According to him, the blockage of the drain was caused by the resident of the neighboring apartment, who had repeatedly put cat litter in the toilet bowl.
The plumber came three times
The plumber who was heard as a witness in court said that he went to open sewer blockages three times in November 2022. The drain had been in compliance with regulations. The reason for the blockages was paper towels.
The plumber said that a paper jam was found immediately under the toilet seat. He had had to remove the compacted paper from the drain with a chainsaw one piece at a time.
According to the plumber, cat litter had sometimes been found in the drain of the apartment complex, but the blocked drain had been at the other end of the apartment complex. It had no connection to the blockages in the woman’s apartment.
The property manager provided toilet paper
The building company’s property manager also confirmed in court that he was there when the drain was opened three times due to a hand towel paper blockage.
According to the property manager, he had not seen toilet paper in the woman’s bathroom, but at least on one occasion hand towel paper.
The property manager had later taken toilet paper to the woman. According to the property manager, the woman was injured.
The judgment of the district court
The district court considered that the witness statements showed that the tenant himself caused the problems related to the blockage of the toilet seat and its drain. Consequently, the woman was not entitled to receive compensation for possible damages caused by the blockage of the drain, nor a discount on the rent payment.
The district court overturned the unilateral verdict it had given in June and dismissed the woman’s lawsuit against her landlord.
The woman was obliged to compensate her former landlord’s court costs of 9,670 euros, including late payment interest.
The state pays the court costs of a poor woman, 1,432 euros.
The woman appealed the district court’s verdict to the Court of Appeal of Turku. He demanded that he be released from the obligation to compensate and that the former landlord be obliged to compensate him as the district court initially ordered in a one-sided judgment.
The Court of Appeal did not grant permission for further proceedings in the case, so the judgment of the district court remained permanent.
Case updated on March 10, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.: Added information about the woman’s complaint and the Court of Appeal’s decision.
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