The SOP for anything relating to Tenant-Landlord disputes, this has served me well.
One, start documenting everything. Send registered mail through a legal firm, this should only cost a little bit and provides firm evidence for you to bring up later.
Two, start documenting everything. Seriously, this cannot be stated firmly enough.
Three, take pictures of what's going on. Show the lack of progress. Document it. "Three months" right now is a he-said she-said situation to the tenancy board, or whatever group governs the landlords in your area.
At this point, if your landlord isn't a total fuckup, he will realize what is going down and will either start the eviction process or sharpen up. If you're documenting everything and the landlord is being consistently awful at following the acts, you can go to the tenancy board with a request for them to escrow your rent until the landlord fixes up your place.
Just note, you're going to make enemies with your landlord as part of this process. Start looking for a new apartment now. You don't want to be enemies with your landlord.
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
I am not a lawyer, but I think you should speak with one to get the exact answer. Any advice you get from here will not be as useful in your state or province as the words of a pro. A legal expert is the way to go if you fear for the safety of your possessions. You can read over that passage a hundred times for a hundred meanings, all of which may be wrong by some footnote or tort case that isn't expressly mentioned here.
I suppose the real question here is why, after three months, you would be adverse to having the requested work done. Is it just the key situation?
Edit: Ah, I see. That sucks. Definitely lawyer up at this point.
We have e-mails going back to the beginning. EVERYTHING has been done over e-mail. We are not violating the lease, he has no way to evict us. I've been pouring over the lease and law to make sure.
We're already enemies. He has escalated things, we are preparing to take things nuclear.
My question was only: is what he doing against the law. I'm looking for an outside opinion to make sure I'm correct when we confront him.
If you're looking for specific legal advice, you need to talk to a local lawyer who specializes in this stuff. The internet is no substitute.
Just go to your neighbour and tell him you'd prefer he not get involved in this. If they side with the landlord, say you'll file charges for trespassing if he enters your house.
Robman on
0
ceresWhen the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, ModeratorMod Emeritus
edited March 2010
I'm pretty sure that no he can't do that UNLESS your neighbor is a licensed contractor who specializes in said repairs.
ceres on
And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
No, he's just a random dude that we can't communicate at all with because we don't speak the same language.
If you do want to get a message through to your neighbour we've got people from practically every nationality on this forum who could translate a small letter for you. Although it does sound like if he's the same nationality as your landlord that a "please don't use that key your friend gave you" is not going to cut it. o_O
We have e-mails going back to the beginning. EVERYTHING has been done over e-mail. We are not violating the lease, he has no way to evict us. I've been pouring over the lease and law to make sure.
We're already enemies. He has escalated things, we are preparing to take things nuclear.
My question was only: is what he doing against the law. I'm looking for an outside opinion to make sure I'm correct when we confront him.
IANAL:
Be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sure you are sure you want to take things down the legal route.
Realize that most lawyers will want money UP FRONT, or periodically. Almost none of them will work on the "If you get paid, I get paid" route.
My last house was a very large one and there were 7 of us living there.
The landlords clearly wanted very badly to keep our deposit. While we had some things in email, we didn't have everything. When it came time to leaving they ended up keeping a big chunk of it; I did threaten legal action and they said "That's fine, we have more money than you do, so go for it."
If you make ANY mistakes, or have made any mistakes, it can cost you your case.
It can be as banal as failing to give them proper written notice to vacate at the end of your lease, etc.
You should definitely check with your state's tenant laws/agency, but just proceed carefully. I've definitely been in your spot, but speaking as someone who has been screwed in the past, it gets very dicey.
neville on
0
MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
I don't know, but I'd at least be kinda pissed about this. I'd at least want someone to make a bit of a hike in order to rob my house.
We have e-mails going back to the beginning. EVERYTHING has been done over e-mail. We are not violating the lease, he has no way to evict us. I've been pouring over the lease and law to make sure.
We're already enemies. He has escalated things, we are preparing to take things nuclear.
My question was only: is what he doing against the law. I'm looking for an outside opinion to make sure I'm correct when we confront him.
IANAL:
Be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sure you are sure you want to take things down the legal route.
Realize that most lawyers will want money UP FRONT, or periodically. Almost none of them will work on the "If you get paid, I get paid" route.
My last house was a very large one and there were 7 of us living there.
The landlords clearly wanted very badly to keep our deposit. While we had some things in email, we didn't have everything. When it came time to leaving they ended up keeping a big chunk of it; I did threaten legal action and they said "That's fine, we have more money than you do, so go for it."
If you make ANY mistakes, or have made any mistakes, it can cost you your case.
It can be as banal as failing to give them proper written notice to vacate at the end of your lease, etc.
You should definitely check with your state's tenant laws/agency, but just proceed carefully. I've definitely been in your spot, but speaking as someone who has been screwed in the past, it gets very dicey.
yeah, the devil's in the details
in the place I'm renting now, the fridge stopped working the week I moved in so I let the building manager know over the phone thinking it would be taken care of quickly
two days later, nothing had been done
while I was understandably upset, when I looked up the local laws it stated they had 3 days to resolve the problem after I had notified them IN WRITING
so I wrote him a letter and then followed up with him on the phone explaining, "you have a letter from me now and you are legally required to resolve this, so get to it pronto"
I still wasn't happy with the dude for dragging his feet and having to wait 4 days to get a working fridge, but legally he wasn't obligated to do anything until he had a written notice from me
them's the breaks
Is your neighbor just some random guy that the landlord likes to use to harass you? Or he is an on-site super or handyman or contracted with the landlord to provde those services?
Generally speaking the landlord has the right to enter your dwelling to address maintenance issues whether or not you are there. But it sounds like there is rather more going on than a maintenance issue, so you should really speak to whatever your local housing authority is.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Landlord here. Having bad landlords is hell. Yours is sloppy and bad.
There are a couple of points missing that you might want to look at:
1st.
Your landlord has the right to do with his keys as he sees fit. It sounds ridiculous, but if he didn't, multihouse units would be pretty much impossible to run. So yeah, he could be giving free copies of your keys to anyone that crosses the street all right. Again, he is not legally binded not to do that. What your landlord IS implicity binded to do is to provide a safe and secure living situation. If he is just willy-nilly giving keys out and you get shit stolen, you have a strong case against your landlord failure of making his best effort to provide safe and secure conditions.
2nd
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE YOUR LOCKS!
It's an assholish thing to do, normally, but you are not prohibited from doing so
3rd.
Your landlord MUST give you propper notice before fixing the stuff. In writting. 24 hours before entering the premises, or with your consent. State regulations may vary. The quality of the work depends entirely on the landlord. As long as he is having as little as a verbal contract, the accountability for any repair issues falls squarely on your landlord and his contractor shoulders.
The stuff that almost automatically voids a contract are fire hazards, water leakages and gas leakages. Those are urgent stuff and you should be moving out in any of those cases. Any housing expenses can be refunded by your landlord in case it's his fault.
4th
Use the small claims courts to deal with this. You don't need a lawyer, and as long as you get your documentation and evidence together you shouldn't have a hard time getting your deposit back and nulling your contract, perhaps even having some rent back. Be sure to look for any implied contracts like if he said "this x is going to be added next week" and it wasn't and even a promo picture of a feature not delivered. That can get you some money back. Courts generally rule in favor of the tenant, since housing is a more pressing right than renting.
5th
Your landlord can't a) raise you rent, b) make your life impossible or c) stop doing his obligations while you settle the first problem in court. If he does, you can sue for critical damage. Plus, any hike in the rent or hassle will be reimbursed to you. Small Claims court still can do this. As a landlord I always will wait 6 months before raising the rent or asking a tenant to leave if I had some kind of problem with said tenant. Pray your landlord is stupid enough to go all emo.
6th
WHY THE HELL DID YOU ACCEPT THIS PLACE? Let this be your lesson: a landlord-tenant is enough of a tense relationship as it is for you to choose the wrong person!
Renting is a business and you are the customer, you deserve a good service. Your landlord is fucking stupid, a happy customer will always bring more money than an unhappy one.
How badly do you want this place? It really doesn't seem like much! How much of your lease is due? If you are month to month well you are in good luck. I would just give a 30 day notice and vacate the place before it gets worse and forget about courts. If it's a 6 month or a 1 year lease and you have more than a third of the contract to go, sue away
honestly, the neighbor is acting in a capacity as a maintenance professional here.... if you've had this issue for 3 months why are you up in arms against someone coming in to fix it?
<edit> also, add your own lock to the door... in our old apartment, the landlord/super could only open our bottom lock since we added our own top lock... this allowed us to secure our premises, but also the ability to lock only one of the locks to allow/deny access to the landlord/super.... if there is an emergency in such a situation, they'll knock down your door, however, and you'll be responsible for the repair.
The Inevitable RiseAnd FallRegistered User regular
Posts
One, start documenting everything. Send registered mail through a legal firm, this should only cost a little bit and provides firm evidence for you to bring up later.
Two, start documenting everything. Seriously, this cannot be stated firmly enough.
Three, take pictures of what's going on. Show the lack of progress. Document it. "Three months" right now is a he-said she-said situation to the tenancy board, or whatever group governs the landlords in your area.
At this point, if your landlord isn't a total fuckup, he will realize what is going down and will either start the eviction process or sharpen up. If you're documenting everything and the landlord is being consistently awful at following the acts, you can go to the tenancy board with a request for them to escrow your rent until the landlord fixes up your place.
Just note, you're going to make enemies with your landlord as part of this process. Start looking for a new apartment now. You don't want to be enemies with your landlord.
I suppose the real question here is why, after three months, you would be adverse to having the requested work done. Is it just the key situation?
Edit: Ah, I see. That sucks. Definitely lawyer up at this point.
If you're looking for specific legal advice, you need to talk to a local lawyer who specializes in this stuff. The internet is no substitute.
IANAL:
Be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sure you are sure you want to take things down the legal route.
Realize that most lawyers will want money UP FRONT, or periodically. Almost none of them will work on the "If you get paid, I get paid" route.
My last house was a very large one and there were 7 of us living there.
The landlords clearly wanted very badly to keep our deposit. While we had some things in email, we didn't have everything. When it came time to leaving they ended up keeping a big chunk of it; I did threaten legal action and they said "That's fine, we have more money than you do, so go for it."
If you make ANY mistakes, or have made any mistakes, it can cost you your case.
It can be as banal as failing to give them proper written notice to vacate at the end of your lease, etc.
You should definitely check with your state's tenant laws/agency, but just proceed carefully. I've definitely been in your spot, but speaking as someone who has been screwed in the past, it gets very dicey.
yeah, the devil's in the details
in the place I'm renting now, the fridge stopped working the week I moved in so I let the building manager know over the phone thinking it would be taken care of quickly
two days later, nothing had been done
while I was understandably upset, when I looked up the local laws it stated they had 3 days to resolve the problem after I had notified them IN WRITING
so I wrote him a letter and then followed up with him on the phone explaining, "you have a letter from me now and you are legally required to resolve this, so get to it pronto"
I still wasn't happy with the dude for dragging his feet and having to wait 4 days to get a working fridge, but legally he wasn't obligated to do anything until he had a written notice from me
them's the breaks
Generally speaking the landlord has the right to enter your dwelling to address maintenance issues whether or not you are there. But it sounds like there is rather more going on than a maintenance issue, so you should really speak to whatever your local housing authority is.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
There are a couple of points missing that you might want to look at:
1st.
Your landlord has the right to do with his keys as he sees fit. It sounds ridiculous, but if he didn't, multihouse units would be pretty much impossible to run. So yeah, he could be giving free copies of your keys to anyone that crosses the street all right. Again, he is not legally binded not to do that. What your landlord IS implicity binded to do is to provide a safe and secure living situation. If he is just willy-nilly giving keys out and you get shit stolen, you have a strong case against your landlord failure of making his best effort to provide safe and secure conditions.
2nd
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE YOUR LOCKS!
It's an assholish thing to do, normally, but you are not prohibited from doing so
3rd.
Your landlord MUST give you propper notice before fixing the stuff. In writting. 24 hours before entering the premises, or with your consent. State regulations may vary. The quality of the work depends entirely on the landlord. As long as he is having as little as a verbal contract, the accountability for any repair issues falls squarely on your landlord and his contractor shoulders.
The stuff that almost automatically voids a contract are fire hazards, water leakages and gas leakages. Those are urgent stuff and you should be moving out in any of those cases. Any housing expenses can be refunded by your landlord in case it's his fault.
4th
Use the small claims courts to deal with this. You don't need a lawyer, and as long as you get your documentation and evidence together you shouldn't have a hard time getting your deposit back and nulling your contract, perhaps even having some rent back. Be sure to look for any implied contracts like if he said "this x is going to be added next week" and it wasn't and even a promo picture of a feature not delivered. That can get you some money back. Courts generally rule in favor of the tenant, since housing is a more pressing right than renting.
5th
Your landlord can't a) raise you rent, b) make your life impossible or c) stop doing his obligations while you settle the first problem in court. If he does, you can sue for critical damage. Plus, any hike in the rent or hassle will be reimbursed to you. Small Claims court still can do this. As a landlord I always will wait 6 months before raising the rent or asking a tenant to leave if I had some kind of problem with said tenant. Pray your landlord is stupid enough to go all emo.
6th
WHY THE HELL DID YOU ACCEPT THIS PLACE? Let this be your lesson: a landlord-tenant is enough of a tense relationship as it is for you to choose the wrong person!
Renting is a business and you are the customer, you deserve a good service. Your landlord is fucking stupid, a happy customer will always bring more money than an unhappy one.
How badly do you want this place? It really doesn't seem like much! How much of your lease is due? If you are month to month well you are in good luck. I would just give a 30 day notice and vacate the place before it gets worse and forget about courts. If it's a 6 month or a 1 year lease and you have more than a third of the contract to go, sue away
<edit> also, add your own lock to the door... in our old apartment, the landlord/super could only open our bottom lock since we added our own top lock... this allowed us to secure our premises, but also the ability to lock only one of the locks to allow/deny access to the landlord/super.... if there is an emergency in such a situation, they'll knock down your door, however, and you'll be responsible for the repair.