Can I consider a clogged sewer drain pipe an emergency issue as a tenant?

I believe the main sewer drain in my house is clogged. I suspected it before when my sink started stopping up multiple times despite using liquid plumber along with the toilet in the same bathroom getting stopped up twice. The property manager said to try plunging and liquid plumber and I did. This issue started about 10 days ago.

Now all toilets are not running correctly, gurgling when the shower is running, and two sinks are stopping up. Liquid plumber cleared the sinks but one of them is already stopped up again.

I’m about to call the property manager but he’s terrible. Not necessarily a bad person but he’s 88 years old and his son is the landlord. His son is completely hands off and doesn’t seem to give a shite. I wrote the damn lease for him because his old one was just the dates of occupancy and a blurb about a security deposit.

Anyways, he has a history of taking too long with maintenance issues (leaking roof, water coming through ceiling took a month and a half to resolve - part where ceiling is partly caved in due to water damaged has yet to be fixed two months later). I do not believe he will even attempt to do anything about this issue soon.

And here’s the kicker - we just came home from the hospital with a newborn two days ago. My wife is having complications with her recovery and definitely needs a functioning toilet.

So I ask the OTers - can I call a plumber directly for this? What would the process be for me to get this fixed on my own without taking on the costs?

Update:

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Update: Well this brought out a side of me I haven’t seen in a long time.

Landlord called me yesterday afternoon to talk about the issue. I told him what we were seeing and reminded him that we saw the sink stopping up over a week ago. He started giving me the run around about how the pipes shouldn’t be connected and he wasn’t sure what could be yada yada...

I guess it was lack of sleep but I launched into him. Started yelling about all the bullshite repairs he’s done with the house and how I wasn’t going to have a newborn and a recovering mother under the roof with plumbing issues and a collapsing ceiling. I reminded him that I was a former landlord and understood the laws that protect tenants and that he was flirting awfully close with finding himself in a serious legal issue that would be taken to court.

I don’t know if everything coming out of my mouth was accurate but I didn’t really care. Considering the fact that he had a flimsy lease that I fixed for him, I figured he wouldn’t have the legal knowledge to call me out on anything.

Anyways, he apologized and said he had tried to give his dad something to do with his retirement. He said he was going to take a more active role with the house (probably not) and wanted me to call him first about any maintenance issues.

Only mistake I made was telling him we had family in town if the last working toilet stopped up completely. I guess I softened up after he apologized.

We got through the night just fine and the plumbing company has been there since 8am. We won’t get back to the house until this afternoon so I guess I’ll get a final update then.

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