In April 2008, a fire broke out at a six-story, 72-apartment complex on Temple Street causing around $3 million in smoke and fire damage, which made the building uninhabitable and displaced its 110 or so residents. That was only the beginning of the problems for the tenants. The start of the fire had nothing to do with the tenants, the management for the building hired R&R Battista Services, Inc., of Watertown to do some bathroom repairs.
During the repairs the workers were using a acetylene torch to do work on a second-floor bathroom and a fire was ignited. The employees attempted to extinguish the fire before calling 911 and with no fire alarm in the building, important minutes were lost before the fire department reached the scene.
After the immediate problem of the fire was taken care of, the landlords of the Framingham apartment building unlawfully prevented tenants from reclaiming their possessions. The owners extorted tenants when owners told residents they could get their possessions back only if they sign a waiver saying the landlords are not liable for damage caused by the fire. On top of that, the owners also asked for tenants to pay $500 to Vertex Environmental Services for asbestos decontamination of affected items.
A second lawsuit has been filed against the landlords, the tenants are being represented by Ted Hess-Mahan of Hutchings Barsamian law firm in Wellelsey. Hass-Mahan had this to say about the situation. “I’ve never seen something quite as egregious as this.”
No one wants to deal with situations like this and it doesn’t help when at all when you don’t have renters insurance. If the tenants had renters insurance they would not have worry because the insurance company would deal with the situation and pay for anything that was damage! Based on how affordable renters insurance is, purchasing this insurance is well worth the alternative!