I have lived at the same complex for 7 years. 1.5 years ago the owner of the property passed away and the complex came up for sale. My lease was with the original owner. I asked for a written lease 16 months ago from the new owner/landlord, and never received one. Also, I do not have a verbal rental agreement. I have never been late on my rent or had any issues with the landlord. I spoke with him 2 weeks ago and told him I will be moving in February but would give him a 30 day written notice. On Friday I came home to over 200 gallons of water pouring into my apartment. My boyfriend called the landlord at 4:00PM and told him about the water coming in from upstairs. The landlord said there is nothing he could do about it and he would come out at 6:00PM. My boyfriend told him that he was emptying garbage cans full of water and it wasn’t a leak that could wait. He didn’t come until 7:00PM and he did bring a plumber to fix the leak in another tenants apartment. I told him that we called him 3 hours ago and that is too long to wait with all that water coming in. He said he can’t drop everything because there is a maintenance emergency. I told him for water rushing into an apartment that he can drop everything. He continued to argue about having to come out here to fix everything, that he is not a 24 hour on call emergency maintenance person and he just wouldn’t do that. I said I can’t wait to move in February because he doesn’t care about his tenants or his property. He told me to leave now, not to wait until February. He stated he doesn’t need a written notice that we are moving, just get out if we have a problem. I have an 11 week old son and told him that I am not moving out today. I have never been late on my rent and he cannot evict me today. I told him that I was concerned about mold growing in my apartment. He told me no worries and that he would make the repairs after I left in February. He told me that if I am concerned about mold that he would give me my rent check back and my deposit and would have his lawyer type up a letter stating so. Is this possible and if I decide to leave now would he have to stand by his verbal agreement? Or should I stay until the end of January and not pay the last month’s rent? Is this considered an eviction from him telling me to leave now? Do I have any rights about him not making repairs to the hole in my bathroom? I have property damage is he liable for those as well? Can I sue him for being negligent since I wouldn’t have had property damage if he would have came out when the leak started not three hours later?
I live in the state of Ohio, if that makes any difference.
The plumber who knows my boyfriend stated he wasn’t called until after 6 PM.
You will not like the truth.
Your landlord is well within the legal limits of "reasonable" time with a 3 hour response. He could have easily been on the telephone for an hour trying to find a plumber who was immediately available. No judge will fault him 3 hours, 3 hours is not very long. 3 hours is not even remotely "negligent in repairs".
You can not withhold rent, you pay rent until you move out. Because the landlord was not negligent you are not going to get a judge to let you withhold rent. Withheld rent always goes to the landlord after the repairs anyway, you do not get a free meal ticket because of the leak.
HOWEVER, even without his verbal agreement to let you move out today, you can move out because of the renovations that will be needed in your apartment. He most likely needs to replace the walls, and ceiling. You can not be forced to stay during major renovation.
As far as your personal items go, you file a claim with your insurance company. This is why you have renters insurance, to cover this sort of thing. His insurance does not cover any of your personal property, nor is he liable for your damages.
WOW…!!!
It doesn’t matter where you live in this case!
Get you a lawyer or go to small claims court and sue the slum landlord.
Gallons of WATER????
Document and proceed. Do not stop. go pass go.
Emotional distress is shown in your post also. Your post is packed with so many transgression SEE A LAWYER.
You have too many issues here to address. New baby!!
Nasty Sum Landlord.
He has a responsibility to good paying tenants especially.
Roofing and plumbing is number one on the list!
You can’t live in a place with leaks, moisture and stickiness.
Sue that So and So for $100,000 at least (ask the lawyer)
and document and take pictures.
Additionally: Sometimes it’s better not to have a rental agreement. Reason, it can lock you into the landlords position. Sometimes if you don’t have an agreement, the good lawyer can go beyond any agreement that the landlord has and incorporate other rental standards to a higher degree.
Try a legal aid society. They love "Slum Lords" and are eager to help step by step and you may not have to pay rent while they are filing your action! Right is on your side. Don’t mess it up.
Landlord do have a certain to respond. By him responding just looking is a not effectively doing anything, but acknowledging that there is and was a problem that needed addressing.
Good Luck.
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Lots of issues here.
3 hours may seem like a long time when water is pouring through the ceiling, but it is well within the amount of time allowed by law, especially since he brought a plumber with him.
The law requires the LL to respond in a reasonable amount of time. The court has held a reasonable amount of time is what ever it takes for a plumber / electrician / carpenter to schedule the repairs. If the plumber said I am booked up until next week, next week would be reasonable since the LL can’t control the plumber.
The mold depends entirely upon the type of mold it is. There are well over a million types of cataloged and named molds. Only a few are known to be harmful to people. You will need to prove the mold growing in the apt. is one of the harmful species, which are really rare since there hasn’t been a single death in the U.S. recorded from house hold mold. The courts will also look at where the mold is growing. Is it from lack of good house cleaning, or caused by plumbing leaks, poor insulation, etc.
As to whether you LL will stand by giving your deposit and rent check back, no one knows. Go ask the LL if he is still willing to do that, and move if he is.
If he isn’t willing to let you out, then give notice and move since this TLL relationship will never be amiable again and it is much more pleasant to live someplace where you have a professional relationship if not friendly relationships.
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I can understand your frustration and anger. I don’t understand why the water to the building was not cut off sooner.
If you had a written lease with the previous owner, I believe the same conditions would have passed on to the new owner without a new written lease to replace the original.
I do not think you should plan on using your security deposit as the last month’s rent without written approval from the LL. If he has offered to refund Dec. rent and give you the security deposit, get him to put it in writing and get out of there.
I don’t know about the rental market in Ohio, but winter is a slow time here in Austin. People looking to rent have less competition and may find better deals.
For best source of information about your personal situation, I suggest you contact a local tenant’s council or legal adviser. Have your original lease in hand so they can review the terms.
Good luck
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TX REALTOR
You cannot withhold rent for ANY reason without the permission of the court, which considering you have only one month left, would be pointless.
Put in your notice, be sure to be present for the walk through and get him to hand you something in writing ON THAT DAY, that allows you to leave.
He cannot evict you without going through the court system, just like you cannot stop paying rent without going through the court system.
You cannot "fine" him for not fixing the hole or anything else. If you do not pay him for January, he can charge you a late fee for that month and if you don’t pay it, turn it over to collections and tell your future landlords if they call for a reference that "you never paid the last month’s rent" b/c you didn’t.
Just b/c the security deposit is the same amount as the rent, doesn’t mean you can use that for the last month of rent…it’s for damages.
If he tries to lock you out, call the police.
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First of all think of your son and molding, you no longer have a contract with the new owner you are now on a month to month until you get a contract from new owner and he can write it up at anytime. You do have personal damage you should take him to court you don’t need a lawyer. First of all take pictures of everything get them developed and duplicates, go to your local courts and ask for a small or civil case packet to sue and start the procedures and stay on top of it and respond to every piece of paper you receive in the mail. Call your legal aid to help fill out paper work at no charge to you and when it’s all done and over with you will win more than what you think.
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You will not like the truth.
Your landlord is well within the legal limits of "reasonable" time with a 3 hour response. He could have easily been on the telephone for an hour trying to find a plumber who was immediately available. No judge will fault him 3 hours, 3 hours is not very long. 3 hours is not even remotely "negligent in repairs".
You can not withhold rent, you pay rent until you move out. Because the landlord was not negligent you are not going to get a judge to let you withhold rent. Withheld rent always goes to the landlord after the repairs anyway, you do not get a free meal ticket because of the leak.
HOWEVER, even without his verbal agreement to let you move out today, you can move out because of the renovations that will be needed in your apartment. He most likely needs to replace the walls, and ceiling. You can not be forced to stay during major renovation.
As far as your personal items go, you file a claim with your insurance company. This is why you have renters insurance, to cover this sort of thing. His insurance does not cover any of your personal property, nor is he liable for your damages.
References :