They should get insurance. It is very silly to suggest that they will act as a one man fire department.

Tell that to a relative of mine who had a tenant fall asleep drunk smoking in bed. Matress caught fire, smoke alarms went off, and she was able to rush in and get the passed out tenant off the matress then carry it outside. The fire department scolded her when they arrived 10 minutes later, but she undoubtedly kept the house and all the tenants belongings from going up in flames.

> They should get insurance.

They should probably also get Bay Area software engineer salary, but alas...

> It is very silly to suggest that they will act as a one man fire department.

No, it is not silly to suggest people who aren't 911 responders might be able to put out smaller fires... that's why homes have fire extinguishers nearby. (I hope yours is not an exception.)

Pretty much yes. The same thing they are supposed to do when any other apartment they don't live in floods.

You say this with the full understanding that this isn't a $200 laptop we're talking about that's at stake, correct? That that home can easily represent a decade or more's worth of work and salary for that landlord? You're demanding that they must just stand idly by and watch what is effectively years of their life go up in flames in front of their eyes while being prohibited from doing anything that could save themselves and everyone else a lot of grief, just because you demand it must be this way?

Yes, I say this with full understanding of the financials. But also with full understanding that a rented apartment is someones home and a stranger can't just barge into it at will. And the landlord is a stranger, just like any other person in the city or a street. If the tenant gives him the keys (like he would any other person/neighbour) it's fine, but for all other purposes he has no business walking into someone elses home.

(I know laws around that differ, but for example here in my little EU country the landlord cannot enter the rented appartment without explicit consent given ahead of the visit.)

> A rented apartment is someones home and a stranger can't just barge into it at will. And the landlord is a stranger, just like any other person in the city or a street. If the tenant gives him the keys (like he would any other person/neighbour) it's fine, but for all other purposes he has no business walking into someone elses home.

"Just barge into it at will"? In what world do emergencies inside the tenant's home conveniently pop up at the landlord's mere will?! And in what world is running into a house that you own to mitigate an emergency equivalent to "just barging into" some random building you never had and never will have any rights to?

If you believe the landlord fundamentally doesn't have the right to do this because the tenant's right trumps it no matter what, that's one thing, and it's something I can at least somewhat understand and debate legitimately regardless of my agreement or disagreement with it. But to just go ahead and completely and outrightly deny the existence of even a shred of nuance on the topic when there is such a clear night-and-day difference between your landlord coming in to mitigate an emergency in his own property and any random dude off the street just barging into your house at will is just... too wild to be honest. It's not something that can be taken seriously... all it does is completely sucks away any energy others might have to hear you out.

uhhh what were they going to do? Unlock the door and stop the flood?

> uhhh what were they going to do? Unlock the door and stop the flood?

"When your bathroom has flooded, the most important thing to do is to shut of your water as soon as possible. If you don’t know how to do it, it’s good to call a plumber and hopefully they can help you shut it off over the phone before they get to your house to assess damage. If the leak is coming from a toilet or sink, there is usually a knob near the pipes that you can turn to the right and shut off. You will also need to shut off the electricity of the flooded rooms with the main breaker. If you see sparks or smell gas vacate your house and call the fire department, only going back in until they tell you it is safe." https://texashomeandgarden.com/idea-center/bathroom/bathroom...

there is usually central knob outside apartment for whole building exactly for these cases, you can shutdown water or gas in while building for outside for this reason