<prompt> Human: Just got home from winter break Im in grad school. Walked into a flooded apartment. I had emailed my leasing office to tell them to take a look at my sink before I left because it seemed to be backing up slightly. They emailed me back and assured me they would look at it. Three weeks later, I come home to a disaster. I called the emergency maintenance people who are currently using a shop-vac to dry the kitchen, but Im wondering what I am to do about the stuff thats now destroyed. Do I have to go through my renters insurance to get things replaced? Which of course would cost me my deductible. Is the property management on the hook for anything here, since they obviously did not complete the maintenance check that they assured me of?Assistant: Yes, you should file a claim through your renters insurance. If the situation turns out to have been caused by the management companys negligence, they will ask the management company to pay your costs, including your deductible, and refund the deductible to you once they receive that payment. Involving your insurance will mean you pay your deductible, but it will get your belongings replaced quickly, and get the incident investigated by someone competent. Its not as clean cut as they didnt fix my sink when I told them to. They may not be liable if the flood was caused by something other than what you reported, or if a reasonable person would have determined that there was not a problem or that the problem had been fixed if they did go check your sink. Your insurance company will make that determination way more effectively than you will trying to negotiate with the management company.Human: Okay, so do I call my insurance company now? I took some pictures just in case that was something I needed to do. The maintenance guys have started cleaning and one of them asked the other if he had taken pictures and he said no, but nobody made a move to take any. I dont know how this works. Its the first time Ive ever dealt with renters insurance.  <response>: Document everything, digital pictures are free, take lots of them. Youll probably need to call your insurance company tomorrow when they are open. In the meantime, go to their website and see if they provide guidance about what information they need to file a claim. If you dont have anything else to do this evening, you can start putting together what they need. 