How to deal with the landlord

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Also - retalitory eviction is illegal.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

See I was beaten to the punch on the rent deduction. But its worth looking up the stuff about a "warranty of habitability" as its called in NJ.

I used that to get our evil ex-landlady to fix the kitchen taps which were running cold (obviously that's a hygiene issue if you have no access to hot water to wash you kitchen untensils).

To be honest I'd say that most of the time (unless the landlord is a complete b'stard or just doesn't care) these things will be resolved without resort to a lawyer. Just a case of knowing your rights and being able to explain them in a convincing way via correspondence. Even if your legal standing is potentially rather shaky (our landlady tried to pass off the lack of hot water as something we should have pointed out at the viewing) you can blag it to some extent - if you can write a good letter.

Worked for us - totally turned the tables on our landlady, who then went about in fear of us for a year and who would speak to me in wheedling tones after I put her in her place*.

*This is the woman who responded to a made-up complaint about cat litter disposal by demanding that the wife and I get rid of our cats immediately. I sent her a letter demanding - a copy of the complaint and a copy of the apartment complex by-laws (which she didn't provide) and a suggestion that I would review them with legal counsel.

[Nancy2015 2]

Thank you all!

Sure seems like it's going to be a hassle. I spoke to a landlord/tenant conflicts mediator today, and he said we should keep writing them, documenting all the ####### that is going on in the apartment. If they don't do anything, we should call the city building inspectors.

I will write a letter citing the CA hability codes, send it certified mail to the property mgmt company and see what happens.

BTW, we've had 5 managers in the past 2 years - they stay for a couple months and quit, so maybe no one is returning my calls because we lost the management again.

I would just move right now, but we don't have any money to do that, and my hubby doesn't want to deal with moving anyway besides, all the complexes where we can afford to live have very bad reviews on the net. I wish I was making 100K a year and didn't have to worry about this #######

[homesick_american 1]

Thank you guys

I didn't know we could pay the rent into an escrow account. Sounds like a very good idea

You can in some states. I refused to pay rent one month in Dallas because my landlord had not fixed a leaking window box that was ruining the bathroom floor. I brought in a bank statement as evidence that I had enough to actually pay the rent. They hopped right to it, lemme tell ya. Those people were slumlords, though.

I think maybe in addition to complaining so that at least the local renter's board knows about the problems, you should try to find another place to live. Slumlords don't change.

[homesick_american 1]

Also - retalitory eviction is illegal.

Definitely, but it's hard to fix once it has happened.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

We've been pretty luck so far - our place in CA had a pretty good management. Even when the bathroom ceiling collapsed (crazy lady in the unit above) - the damage was fixed quickly and we were reimbursed for stuff that was ruined.

Our current and last landlords have been private individuals. The first place we lived in was in a building that unbenknownst to me had a cockroach infestation; and the landlady hired some sort of 'handyman' from her Church who turned up without any tools except what he had on his keychain. It was a headache all year - but things have paid off.

We're now renting the upstairs part of a house from our new landlord, who we get on very well with. He's pretty approachable, pleasant to deal with - total turnaround from 'that woman'. She was one of those people who likes to come across aggressively via remote means (like letters and emails) but was meek as a mouse when I actually talked to her.