Landlord vs Tenant

diehardbiker65 said:
FYI withheld the rent money while the lease is in force CAN BACKFIRE in the court! DO NOT attempt this because this will show judge that your trying to take the law in your hands, and can throw you out. Two wrongs can not make it right. ..
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Right, there is a legal process for withholding rent. Tenants can't just do it themselves. Tenants are not actually allowed to withhold or reduce rent, but must pay that amount to an escrow account. The escrow money is withheld from the landlord until he is compliant. I think the court or housing agency controls the escrow account. It probably depends on the state.
 
diehardbiker65 said:
FYI withheld the rent money while the lease is in force CAN BACKFIRE in the court! DO NOT attempt this because this will show judge that your trying to take the law in your hands, and can throw you out. Two wrongs can not make it right.
Just pay rent, and file small claim court, also, keep everything in paper trail. This includes any threats from landlord and this can do good damage to landlord.
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For German law, yes. Tenants have the right to not pay the rent until the repair is done... What GalaxyAngel said is correct because it's same with here in Germany.
Tenants have to inform Landlord in formal writing (not phone) to demand Landlord to fix things within 1 or 2 week in notice, if not then reduce the rent or order repair to fix or go to lawyer for advice - lawyer/court honor fee etc. It mean that Landlord lose alot of money if she/he reject. Lawyer can get the paper from the court... Tenants pay the amount from rent to get paper from court, etc..., not Landlord... Landlord lose alot of money because of this. If Landlord want to save more hassle and money then stick with law.
 
I suggest contacting a local legal expert.

Question about the lease. A lease is a two-agreement. The tenant must obey the rules of the lease but the landlord is also legally bound by it. Therefore, if the landlord doesn't follow the terms of the lease, the tenant may be allowed to be released from the lease. That is, if the lease requires the landlord to maintain the property in livable conditions, the tenant may be free to break the lease without penalty.

Like I said, have a legal expert read your lease.
 
Hey, last Saturday newspaper which I love it has real estate related issues, including landlord/tenant issues. That article was talking about and is very similiar to your situation where tenant had problem with landlord complying the codes and safety. What it said is that it is BEST to deal with agency with specific issues that an agency can handle, NOTHING MORE, nor NOTHING LESS. For example you can call building inspector for code violation, discuss about code violation and that is it. NOTHING ELSE!!! DO NOT bring rent issues with building inspector because they have nothing to do with rental issues. You then contact cops, discuss with them about harassment issues and threats. THAT IS IT, NOTHING ELSE... DO NOT talk about the code violation. Because that is NOT cop's job! contact housing council in your area about rental issues, NOTHING MORE NOR LESS. Because housing council don't have authority to deal with harassment, building code voilations, etc Go to salvation army for temporary shelter, do NOT complain to them about landlord and tenant issues because there is nothing they can do about this. STAY WITH SUBJECT THAT AGENCY CAN HANDLE... that way you WILL get desirable results. Point is stay with area where agency have the authority to handle, not outside of the area! That is how government system works.

Interesting article!
 
diehardbiker65 said:
Do NOT ever think about using Landlord's boss phone number with intention to threating. This can lead to legal liablity that you don't want to. If Landlord loses job because tenant called and threatened the landlord, then the landlord can sue you for three times of wage losses! Ain't worth the risk!!! DO NOT TAKE LAW IN YOUR HAND!!! Let courts and cops deal with it.
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Diehardbiker,

Well, it's not threating.. just let the boss know, if the landlord takes my maintenance orders when doesn't comes up over 2 weeks, then the boss would call landlord to remind them to get fixed soon.

Also my county being contact with boss about installation wiring from hallway central fire alarm system (Siren and red light). I'm still waiting from my county to get acknowedges. Because it's the ADA laws requires the put the siren/strobe box interconnected from the hallway. I lived in old high rise apt, the landlord lost in the court battles, the court ordered landlord call contract provider (alarm compancy) and install the central fire alarm intereconnecting to some deaf resident units. My girlfriend lives in group apts and I noticed they have a central fire alarm siren/strobe comes interconnected from the hallway.

Some landlord have a email, if I need to fix a maintenance, I would send the email to landlord's office email. She takes my maintenance orders, till the maintenance guy came up in few days later, it's prefect for email to let the landlord know, when need to get fixed soon or any questions. For emergency maintenance service that resident will have call on the TTY thru relay service.
 
Can you get Legal Aid which is something like lawyer for people who are on law income.
I am pretty sure your landlord is violating your rights as a tenant, not to mention he is putting lives in danger.

gather documentation- letters,
phone calls, have witnesses etc. make sure you are always acting respectfully (as best as you can) and state clearly what it is to be done, ask why he doesn't do it, and with proof like that who knows maybe you can get money for staying in hotel and rent refund.
make sure you pay on time etc.

Fuzzy
 
I am sure Cheri appreciates all the advice but the way I see it is that the bottom line is the landlord WILL fix the line soon and Cheri will wait till April to see if he raises her rent.......then she will make the decision to pay it or move along. Right now she's worried about keeping her kids warm, etc....there's only so much a single mother with kids can do in one day, oh, and money is a consideration, too.
 
yes of course.

the way I see it there is no reason to increase rent just because something was broken and then fixed. they way I see, if there were done some upgrades, then yes but simply fixing what was broken- I don't think so.

legal aid, at least in canada is legal advice and representation for pple w/o income or low income, sumthing like that gotta be in US too,
so I suggest Cheri would look into it because what if there will be the rent increase.
then she would know what rights she have.

i hope the landlord is not from hell at all :)


Fuzzy
 
Tousi said:
I am sure Cheri appreciates all the advice but the way I see it is that the bottom line is the landlord WILL fix the line soon and Cheri will wait till April to see if he raises her rent.......then she will make the decision to pay it or move along. Right now she's worried about keeping her kids warm, etc....there's only so much a single mother with kids can do in one day, oh, and money is a consideration, too.
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You are right being a single mom is a tough job with having just one income. I know I been there and done that. I am a single mom with one son and I gotta make sure my son stays warm. It was so hard last winter for me cuz of my exh left me with empty oil. So I had to run out to get more oil for the sake of my son. Especially around xmas time. That was the worse time of the year. I am hoping that this xmas would be better then last year. Crossing my fingers.
 
Hey all! :wave: Sorry that I haven't been around to answer some advices that had been given, Like I said I do appreciated each one of yours, but I'm not too worried about the rent increase at this moment, I am more corner the welfare of my children and places we could go to stay warm. My dad had offer us a place to stay for the weekend that's where we were yesterday, and planning on staying with them the whole weekend too. ;)


Yesterday the City and Dominion Gas came over and posted flags where they would be digging to get to the gas line below, Looks like there are gotta be a a lot of digging in order to recover which gas line that is leaking, and who's responsible, It wouldn't be me, it would be the owner or the city's, or nobody at all. Heh! The City and the Dominion gas had put a lot of pressure on the landlord in getting the job complete before the winter comes, so today they are going to do the digging this afternoon, and then I will get a call from them when the job is completed. Hopefully the job will be done by Monday, they can't promise anything because it's a big job and it's cannot complete overnight.

So Many thanks to you all for some great advices and feedback's and caring! :ily: Until then I'll posted some photos of everything when I return, Only if I knew where my digit camera upload plug is. :Ohno:
 
Tousi said:
I am sure Cheri appreciates all the advice but the way I see it is that the bottom line is the landlord WILL fix the line soon and Cheri will wait till April to see if he raises her rent.......then she will make the decision to pay it or move along. Right now she's worried about keeping her kids warm, etc....there's only so much a single mother with kids can do in one day, oh, and money is a consideration, too.
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I thought, Cheri would move in with you and Susan? All of you may go down to the beach. Remind you - Tousi Do not get too wild ! :fruit:
 
It is hard to understand why the landlord would be angry at Cheri, or charge her extra rent. Landlords should know that repairs and upkeep of the house or apartment is just the cost of doing business. For him, it is a business expense that he will deduct from his rental income at tax time. Seems like he just has a bad attitude!
 
Reba..

No worries..

Cheri's home is under construction by now...
Let's hope not landlord will not going rip off w/Cheri's increase rent.

Will find it out further details and wait til Cheri will post it here.
 
Reba said:
It is hard to understand why the landlord would be angry at Cheri, or charge her extra rent. Landlords should know that repairs and upkeep of the house or apartment is just the cost of doing business. For him, it is a business expense that he will deduct from his rental income at tax time. Seems like he just has a bad attitude!
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He just don't like wasting HIS money on fixing things...That just how he is, he complain and complain if a tenant has problems with anything that related to the apartment....Like 2 years ago Cheri had problems with flood in the basement that came from a sewer, he would makes excuses telling her that if she didn't wash too much clothes then she wouldn't have that problem etc....Then later on there was another problem with molds in her basement from the flood, he told her to clean it with bleach cause it was her fault for letting the water get taller, he makes tons and tons of excuses so he doesn't have to fix anything but to blame it on the tenants....I could say a whole lot more but that pretty much covers how her landlord really is...

Now with the gas line, he is complaining about how much money he spend on putting a new drive way in....now it going to be dig up and that means it will cost him much more....so that why he saying he will raise her rent up cause he felt he lost alot of money cause of problems in the house she is living in...but her house isn't the only one that always has problems, he owns a couple of them, and they do have problems with their as well.....He rather to collect their rent money that's it...
 
Cheri said:
I made a few calls today to Dominion Gas, the City and the landlord.

The Dominion gas said it's out of their hands because they only shut it off for safely reasons because of gas odor, there a leaking somewhere in the pipe underground in order get my gas turned back on the Landlord has to hire a private professional certified by state to repair the gas line and then they will come out and turn it on after the job is completed.

I talked to the City of my hometown, and the Mayor's office also and he said that a few people came by the house yesterday to located the lines, and that the Landlord has to get a permit from the city to have the professional certified to dig underground to the gas line pipe to find out where the leaking is located at, then they can do repair It's gotta take a few more days because it's a big job and the City suggest me to stay with a family relative until the job is compete and I told him that the Landlord refused to repair the problem, the Mayor said he doesn't have no choice, the city said if he refused to fixed before this week is over, the landlord will be charge a fine by the City and he would have to appear to court to explain why he refused to repair the gas leaking.

Then finally I talked to my landlord by phone, at the begin he started yelling about how that they have to come out and dig through his brand new drive-way that he had re-done two years ago, and that cost him tons of money and I was like, so you're upset that they have to dig a hole in ur brand new drive-way? I didn't know that it was that important than worried about the gas leaking. Good Grief! He's is such a pain to communicate with. I asked him again are you going to hire someone to repair the gas leaking? He said, "Do I have a freggin choice? Once this all is over, I'm gotta raise your rent up". Oh geesh! :roll:
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:( First I want to say Welcome Home and it's great to have you back!!! I am so very sorry to read what you have been going through. This has to be so hard on you and the boys, and being such an inconvenience. Thank God you have wonderful family that is very supportive and caring of you and your boys needs.
This landlord what doesn't he understand that he can replace a driveway, but, he cannot replace a woman with 2 young boys. It's not like you ask the landlord to do anything major every week, this is something that was really important and needed to be taken care of really soon.
 
:aw: Cheri, I really do hope things get fixed pretty soon for you and the boys. At least now you're in a nice, warm home with dad and this landlord I hope worries that he maybe facing problems when this is done.
I hope that this hasn't affected you all in anyway healthwise.
I will pray for you, and I hope that all will be straightened out soon. Good luck Cheri and God bless.
 
Maybe he had another big issues for him to deal with. This gas leak just added to stresses. Happens to me when I had too many things going on at once and is very overwhelmed.
Tax deduction does not always help, if he got expenses way more than what he collects, thus there is no more tax writes off once the tax liablity becomes zero!
So, as long as Cheri gets everything together thats important.

Reba said:
It is hard to understand why the landlord would be angry at Cheri, or charge her extra rent. Landlords should know that repairs and upkeep of the house or apartment is just the cost of doing business. For him, it is a business expense that he will deduct from his rental income at tax time. Seems like he just has a bad attitude!
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Okay I'm back! :wave: Yesterday they did a lot of digging, first they dig by the street and the side of my house. They recovered 3 different places of gas leaking near the street. Dominion gas and few other men worked on the gas leaking all day yesterday to all night. This morning Dominion gas tested the ground one more time to double check if the job is completed. And they turned the gas back on this morning at 9 am, and phoned my dad and told him that the job was completed and the gas is turned back on, and that I can come home. They didn't have to dig the driveway, they were going to do that last if there is needed to dig more. Looks like the Landlord got worried over nothing. :thumb:

Dominion gas told my dad this morning that If the people didn't call in sooner from the smell of the gas odor, then the house would have blew up. :Ohno: He said he is glad that they caught it in time, so am I! ;)
 
^Angel^ said:
He just don't like wasting HIS money on fixing things...That just how he is, he complain and complain if a tenant has problems with anything that related to the apartment....Like 2 years ago Cheri had problems with flood in the basement that came from a sewer, he would makes excuses telling her that if she didn't wash too much clothes then she wouldn't have that problem etc....Then later on there was another problem with molds in her basement from the flood, he told her to clean it with bleach cause it was her fault for letting the water get taller, he makes tons and tons of excuses so he doesn't have to fix anything but to blame it on the tenants....I could say a whole lot more but that pretty much covers how her landlord really is...

Now with the gas line, he is complaining about how much money he spend on putting a new drive way in....now it going to be dig up and that means it will cost him much more....so that why he saying he will raise her rent up cause he felt he lost alot of money cause of problems in the house she is living in...but her house isn't the only one that always has problems, he owns a couple of them, and they do have problems with their as well.....He rather to collect their rent money that's it...
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That's correct the bottom line is he is very greedy, Seriously! I've been living here for four years now and everytime I have a problem with something that happened in my home, He rants off. :roll:
 
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