Tenant in NC, RDU : questions involving broken septic pump that is causing major septic leak in back of house
Hey y’all,
We have been renting for going on six years at the same rental location. We haven’t had any issues with our landlord, but really never had a major issue until now.
Background: the house is is an old house, and the septic pump was replaced around three years ago. The septic pump has failed due to being clogged, and the landlord sent a unlicensed plumber out to attempt to fix the issue which intern caused the problem to become worse, raw sewage leaking from pipe outside of the house.
We have asked for over a month now to have someone come out to fix the pump because the last plumber broke the wash out connectors causing raw sewage to overflow in the backyard. There is a creek that runs through our property that is around 400 feet away from the sewage leak and we are concerned about polluting the waterway.
The landlord has not responded and is unwilling to send someone out to fix the issue.
The Handy Man, who does work around the property suggested we tell the landlord that we will start living out of a hotel and deduct the hotel cost from the monthly rent. The same Handy Man also suggested at one point that we pay to have the pump fixed and just deduct from the rent.
My question is are we legally able to deduct from the rent or if we withheld the rent due to the plumbing issue will the landlord have rights to evict us??
Do we tip off the city about a potential environmental hazard?
We love where we live and don’t want to get anyone in trouble or piss off the landlord (I hate I just said that). Landlords suck and we don’t want to move. We just signed a new lease in August.
Let me know your thoughts, thanks in advance!!