<p>I’m still waiting for the release of liability and the bill for materials that the LL promised to send me yesterday. I’m going to call him today - part of the reason this has dragged on for a month is that his building manager was previously sending communications to us at a misspelled email address.</p>
<p>I never cared about the stairs meeting a specific code - I just wanted it to be safe. I wanted something sturdy that D could hold onto for balance when she’s finally allowed to put some weight on her leg. You need to understand that these stairs are unusually steep - the first 3 steps are normal, but the last step to the porch is about 2 inches taller than normal. They’re steep and irregular and MANY people have referred to them as “scary” in the year that D has lived there. (D warned me about them when she first rented the unit, but she assured me she’d be careful. When H and I finally saw them we shook our heads and said, “This landlord is nuts for not putting up a railing - this is a lawsuit waiting to happen.”) </p>
<p>After I first contacted the LL about D’s injury and my safety concerns and found out he had no intention of putting up a railing unless we paid the entire cost (and again, this lack of railing was a defect that MANY people had marveled at, and seemed to be something long past due for the owner’s own liability concerns) I called my SIL who is an attorney in another state and who works with municipalities to find out what my options were. She told me to call the building inspector to find out what the law actually is, because it was possible the building was grandfathered. She also told me not to withhold the rent because then D would be in default on the lease. But when I called the NC building inspector to find out the laws, they told me the best thing to do was to file a complaint, because then they could go and look at the actual unit and tell me exactly whether or not it meets code and what it would require to fix it. It was only when they called me back to tell me the stairs were indeed in violation that I learned they had no ability to enforce the code. (I still don’t understand why a state would go thru the trouble to write codes and hire people to inspect for them, but not bother to have a mechanism for enforcement. Here in MA, the LL would be facing increasing fines until the safety violation was resolved.) Meanwhile, the inspector had notified the landlord that he was in violation and it was in his best interest to put up the railing, which is the extent of what he could do. So the landlord got estimates from licensed contractors to put up a railing that would meet building code, which were well over $1000. He then called me to tell me he had no legal obligation to meet the code, but he would put up something temporary and less expensive IF we waived liability and paid for half. So we agreed. </p>
<p>The compromise we have reached will satisfy me - IF the LL follows through on it, AND if the railing is sturdy - a rickety railing is more dangerous than none at all, if D depends on it for balance. (That was another reason the building code was appealing, it specified how sturdy a railing should be). In the end, the temporary railing will come down and the scary stairs will still be waiting for the next tenant. I don’t know how the LL thinks this is the best solution for him, but that’s not my problem I guess.</p>
<p>For those of you advocating PT, D will be going to PT when her cast is off. This is not her first time on crutches so she knows how to maneuver stairs. My bigger concern is when she is finally allowed to put weight on the leg and is unbalanced with a heavy/awkward walking boot, or is walking normally on a leg that has been weakened by weeks/months of no weight bearing. That is when I think she’ll really need a railing to hold on to, to help her keep her balance. I had a walking boot last year when I had an ankle injury and I REALLY relied on stair railings when going down the stairs, because it’s heavy and you can’t bend your ankle at all, which throws your balance off.</p>
<p>We now return you to your regularly scheduled carpet replacement discussion. :)</p>