[Windswept]

But the situation is that he chose to rent a nice new apartment in which he could feel good about entertaining friends. No need to be embarrassed about worn carpeting or other cosmetic flaws, because it was brand new.

He could have rented something older and less expensive. But the assumption of 'newness' includes the supposition that everything is fresh and nice. He's paying for that quality of newness.

As it turned out, for months he could never be sure that if he had guests for dinner and it happened to rain that week or that night, that the wall wouldn't be stained and the carpet wouldn't be wet. That this dragged on for months, even with repair attempts, says to me that $800 would be reasonable to compensate for the frustration of constantly having a problem to deal with in what was supposed to be a brand new and unsullied apartment.

Plus, I would think that the roof would have at least a year warranty from the roofers. I would imagine that it would be their money that would be offered to renters - their insurance money, possibly. So the landlord/owner wouldn't be out anything, very probably.

Edit: Oops. Oops again. Nevermind......