I moved into this apartment in November. Two weeks into my stay here, I have a note on my door from the tenant downstairs, telling me that he had talked with our landlord because my shower kit was leaking onto his ceiling, that she was going to have it fixed shortly, and until that time, not to take a shower.

I talked to her a couple weeks after not hearing anything from her, and she said that she would have it fixed by mid-December.

Mid-December comes, and now my light fixture in my bedroom no longer works. I talk to her about this, and she says she will have this fixed by April, because her husband takes care of this, and would be busy until April.

February comes, and my shower kit has yet to be replaced. I confront her about this three weeks ago, and she says that the guy she initially called wouldn't return her calls, that she was talking to a client (she's also owns the local H&R Block), who said he would do it, and to expect him there shortly.

3 weeks later, he's still not here, and now my drain plug (one of those ones with a switch near the faucet) breaks with me just trying to close it off so that I can have a tub full of water. Like literally, this just happened.

I'd tell her this too, but I'm sure it'll be 6 months before I see fruits of that labor. Right now I'm pissed off at this whole situation.

What would you do in my situation?

Got a match?

Threaten to terminate lease

I'm not burning this place down, I don't have renters' insurance.

The first problem is that she is a scam artist. HR Block is one of the worst companys out there. I would leave ASAP.

She is going to drag it out and out and out.

is there anything in your lease that talks about how problems ought to be fixed? is there some sort of guarantee as to when/if they will be fixed?

regardless, i'd gtfo of there. if there's something in your lease about problems, though, you may be able to threaten to sue and scare her into a couple months rent back.

Let me add this in: I don't have anyone that would be able to move me at this point. And I currently cannot afford movers.

Me? I buy the place and raise the guy downstairs rent.

You? Fix everything, keep reciepts, deduct from rent. Wear earplugs.

Good luck

Stop taking baths.

And send the landlady a letter outlining all of your complaints. Tell her you've spoken to a lawyer who advised you that if she doesn't fix these basic problems within two weeks you should have it done yourself and take the bill out of your next month's rent, and she'll have no say in how much the work costs. Be nice about it and say that you'd much rather she just get it taken care of so you don't have to escalate the situation, but don't let her keep fucking you over.

You need to put your complaints in writting so you have a dated record them. Then hire someone to fix the problems and pay for it yourself. Enclose a copy of the reciept with your now smaller rent check. That should give you enought paperwork if you get evicted or have to take her to court over it. GL

EDIT: What they said ^^^^^

So you havent showered since November?

4. Repairs or Alterations. Lessee shall be responsible for damages caused by his negligence and that of his family or invitees and guests. Lessee shall not paint, paper or otherwise redecorate or make alterations to the premises without the prior written consent of the Lessor. All alterations, additions, or improvements made to the premises with the consent of Lessor shall become the property of the Lessor and shall remain upon and be surrendered with the premises.

No, nothing about a timeline as to when they're coming in to fix it.

No. I've been taking baths. And I'm going to have to spend more money on a rubber drain stopper so that I can continue to do that.

How about serenading her with your musical prowess with such force that it moves her to fix your apartment...........and do your laundry.

Eh, someone funny could probably make that work.






Like everyone's said, you have to put everything in writing. You have to document every complaint in writing and keep a paper trail.The lessee/lessor laws very from state to state. DO NOT fix anything yourself and deduct it from the rent.

State laws trump any provisions in lease.

The landlord as an obligation to repair broken things in a reasonable amount of time.

You are well within your rights to have it repaired, and deduct it from your rent.

The above provision really only means if you install a nice light fixture, the fixture stays with the place when you leave. Even that is unenforcable if you put the old one back up.

Judges take the side of the renter ahead of the rentee most times. This is why I do not own apartments.

Eh, I'm musical, and funny.

So basically, just deliver this in writing tomorrow then?

you can come shower at my place with me

obv

Now that's the funny!



Yep, outline in detail a list of all the problems. Include how many times and when you've contacted her with these problems and what the resolution was. Don't be angry. Don't be sarcastic. Just the facts.



I can't imagine just taking baths for months. I take a shower after a bath so I can wash the dirty soapy water off. Good lord, how does a person wash their hair in a bath?

I agree with what they all said, too many baths.

Hit her?

with a lead pipe

did you pay upfront? or give cheques? or anything?

if not, dont pay.

stay as long as you can.

when a confrontation begins from you not paying due to her unfilled promises and poor business practices. (since this is technically a business)

go to court (small claims.)

you'll have your reasons for not paying. you'll eventually reach a settlement, most of the time you'll get away with a lot less than what you would owe mostly due to the time/costs and reasons you have for being upset with the landlord.


This is obviously not a really good way to handle it, but if things are as bad as you make them sound, i'd stick it back to her.


(also note: I was in court this year when a girl skipped out on her lease 4 months early. the landlord was suing for 2k. (4 months rent) and they came up with an aggreement of 1k.

the girl got off 2months rent just for being an ass and skipping out on it.

i had a similar situation arise when i was in university - the house we rented was supposed to come with laundry facilities, when we arrived, there were none. after a month or more of harrassing the landlord (who we called Crazy Bob), and repeated promises from him that he was going to buy a set, but was just waiting for a good deal to show up used in the paper or something, we gathered every single piece of laundry in the house, every piece of clothing, all the sheets, towels, even the drapes, and took them to the drycleaners/laundry service down the street, and had them send him the bill.

it was huge.

he showed up ranting and raving, and tried to get me to pay it. i explained that if he had installed laundry machines like he was supposed to then this never would have happened. he showed up that weekend with a coin-op set, which was not allowed per the lease, so as soon as he left, i popped the coin mech off and we had our free laundry for the year. he never said anything about the broken coin mech either, although i assume he must have come by at some point to try and collect the quarters (the machines were in a common mudroom for the 3 apartments, unsecured).

once that was settled, he actually turned out to be a decent landlord; friendly, not bothersome, and reasonably understanding about slightly late payments from perpetually broke college students. he was an accountant and even helped us with our taxes for free. i ended up living there for 3 years, and then in january of the 4th i dropped out and moved to Whistler. i gave him 2 months notice/rent, and Crazy Bob flipped. FLIPPED. he demanded that i pay until the end of my lease, etc etc etc. i laughed and left his office - on the way out his assistant, bug-eyed, asked if he was going to shut the office down due to *another* nervous breakdown and cursed that she had a lot of holiday bills to pay.

i left town that afternoon, and not until that summer did i find out that Crazy Bob had done my buddy's taxes for him that April and tried to KEEP HIS REFUND and get Jaime to get me to pay him off, so that, in Crazy Bob's mind, everybody paid/got paid what was owed. Me, Jaime, the police, and Mrs Crazy Bob didn't agree. his accounting office was closed down, his wife left him, and when i finally drove past the place a few years later and saw all new paint, new windows, new garage, and a mowed lawn, i assumed he lost the house too, obviously to someone who wasn't as cheap and who was taking care of it.

the moral of the story is simply don't fuck with my laundry.

Apparently credit scores and credit history aren't as important in Canada as they are in the US.


It's very expensive and rather hard to get another apartment if you have an eviction on your credit.

yeah i have never had a credit history/score check for an apartment, ever.

Very good point. Getting it all in writing is the first step, then either withhold your rent entirely or contact an attorney (most of whom will advise you at least once for free). Don't say anything in writing like "Look, I can't afford to move, so I really want to work this out," or she'll assume that she has you over a barrel.

She may be having her own money problems -- not that that excuses making you live in substandard housing. My sister's rented house got foreclosed out from under her, because the owner couldn't keep up with the mortgage. Lack of maintenance was one of the first signs.

You could also threaten to call the housing authority and have them get involved. You have to be provided a working bathroom in a legal apartment.

Our college apartment in Florida had a huge, moldy, mult-colored stain on the upstairs ceiling due to an AC duct in the attic leaking (luckily, not that crazy toxic mold and none of us allergic). We called the landlord about it. He came over with a can of white spray paint, covered it, said, "There, it's fixed," and left.

Of course, it was back and bigger than ever when our lease was up. Guess how we got our security deposit back in full?

Put it in writing, but don't hand deliver it. Mail it certified, return receipt requested.

Call Dawson to come choke her. If you're lucky, he might bring a Hot Pocket.

Stop paying rent.

Meh, you know how many non-legit rental rooms/apartments are out there.

rent with a friend, or a room in a house. Or better yet, rent on a month - month basis.


There are soo many options when you're a single person that I wouldnt spend another dime or minute for a place i didnt enjoy being in

threaten to break your lease, or call your rentalsmans office. theyll get shit straightened out. i had aproblem like this when i was renting from a place in 2/3rd yaer of school.. related to the floor tiling being all broken and needing to be replaced due to wear/tear and prior tenants, and after repeated asking they never did a thing and told us to live with it, so we called the rentalsman, had the floor replaced on our own and the building was billed for it. i reckon it was probably 4 months rent they lost because we took the best contractor in town on a holiday

I wash my hair under the faucet, while the tub is filling.

Seriously guys, I like this apartment. I'm not hassled too much by my neighbors, except my downstairs neighbor who continually wants me to come downstairs for beer. It's a month to month lease, so I don't have to worry about needing to wait till the end of the lease to move if I have to (which, once I get my associates finished, will have to happen).

The problem is that things aren't getting fixed, so I need an option to force her hand in getting this promptly fixed.

1. More spraypaint.
2. More cowbell.

I hope it's number 2.

In the conservatory

Brilliant.

+1



He bathes in the saliva of strippers.

Don't threaten her, it will get you nowhere.

Make a formal written complaint and then stop paying your rent. I am an apartment manager and the worst tenant is the tenant who is aware that if we do not fix broken things in their apartment in a timely matter they are allowed to withhold rent until the repairs are done.

We had a tenant last summer who allegedly went straight to our maintenance guy and told him of about 4 issues in her apartment. She is supposed to go through me so that a.) I know there is a problem and b.) I make sure it is repaired within 24hrs. My maintenance guy is forgetful and if I am not there to remind him to do things he won't. A couple months go by and she isn't paying her rent and my boss decides to take her to court. Before court starts he talks with them to work a deal and he is then told by her that these repairs were not done. He calls me to rip me a new one and explain I was unaware. So we get the info on what needs to be repaired and tell her we will take care of it and he dismisses the case.

She decides that she will only let him in there to fix things when she is present but she works from 8am -8pm. So this makes it so she can go a few more weeks without having to pay her rent. So my boss gets pissed and calls her and says that the maintenance guy and Steve will be in your apartment at 3pm tomorrow. Steve will leave a form stating everything he watched Tom fix and then when you get home, you look at the repairs and if everything is done, sign it and drop it off at the office the next day on your way to work. If there is anything else you think needs repair then you add it and we will do the same thing the next day. After you sign off on all repairs, don't forget the 3 months back rent.

She signed it and brought it in and then never paid her rent and we evicted her 13 days later.

So for the most part you have a leg to stand on, but going around and threatening to break your lease is not going to get you nowhere. People threaten me with that a lot and I tell them they are free to go at anytime.

Start using the shower two or three times a day. Long, long, showers.

Or follow the serious advice above.

Contact a lawyer and see what they think you should do and what your allowed to do by law. Otherwise, SBriand's advise also seems good and if he is an apartment manager then I would take his advise as well. Contact other residents to see if it is just your apt. that they wont fix. (Doubt that it is) If they aren't fixing other peoples problems you could also contact a news station or the local newspaper and talk to someone there and try to get them to wright a story about the living conditions and how you are having to live in a slumloards apt. complex. That will get them to fix it very fast!

What town do you live in? I voted for other. You just need to report it to the rental inspector in your neighborhood. She will have 2 weeks to 30 days depending on your town. Since I'm a landlord myself, I know this is the only way that I could be forced to fix something. Normally I just keep telling my tenants, "two weeks".

You cannot legally stop paying a portion of your rent, trust me, you will lose in court. You are bound by the lease you signed.

Fuck her and the neighbor below. For the love of God, please just start taking a shower again.

And when the ceiling in the apartment below you caves in...oh well, "you should have fixed my shit, now you've got something else to fix."

Yes you can actually. There are laws to protect tenants from things like this. You can withhold rent if reasonable repairs have not been completed.

Not in Iowa you can't, which would mean that I assume other states are the same. I've gone to court countless times for evictions, and repairs etc etc, is brought up every time for the tenants sob story.

Judge: Are you paying rent?

Tenant: no.

Judge: Judgment granted for the plaintiff.


I've never had a judge find against me in a non-paying situation.

Well I have been to court and seen tenants claim we had not made repairs and that we were to fix the repairs or they could and we would have to reduce their rent by that much. Once repairs were complete then if the tenant still does not pay within 10 days the court signs the eviction, but not until we do the repairs.


Going through the info I have on the Landlord Tenant Code, we are required to complete repairs in a timely fashion. The tenant though needs to put the problems in writing. The tenant has to give us a reasonable amount of time to complete said repairs. If a reasonable amount of time has gone by the tenant has 3 options...

1. Make the repair themselves. Only if the repairs cause issues with health or their well being. I think not being able to shower for months is a good reason. Anyway, they can call someone professional in and they can get the work done themselves and them invoice the apartment complex. The repair costs do need to be reasonable. The apartment can reduce the rent or pay the amount shown on the invoice.

2. The tenant can withhold rent till the repairs have been made. The landlord can not evict the tenant during this time.

3. The tenant can give notice of termination.

Personally, I think 1 is the best. Repair it yourself.

But to be clear, in situation 2 it has to be substantial. If a tenant has a closet door off track and the toilet is running constantly then no, they can't withhold rent as those damages are not hurting anyone. But if the person lives under a hole in the roof and the water is leaking into their closet and now mold is starting to form, they can withhold the rent until the repairs are done.

Well Brian, that's all fine and good, but who is this Steve character you talk about?

Also, the Hotellier's Act kicks the Landlord Tenant Act's ass in so many ways, haha

Well, Mr....I can't seem to remember your name, I think you meant the Hoteliers Act.