Entries Tagged 'Landlords/Tenants' ↓

What should you do if your landlord refuses to maintain the property according to the rules of your city or state? Sue! Actually, before you jump to the courthouse, there are several things you can do – many of which are more effective and cheaper than hiring a lawyer.

First, you can pay less rent or withhold your rent until the repairs are made. You could always make the repairs yourself, either you actually repairing it or you hiring a contractor to repair it, and deduct the cost of the repairs from the rent. You could also call a local building inspector, who can order the landlord to make the repairs. Finally, you can simply terminate the lease and leave.

Ultimately, before you take any action, check with local laws to ensure that they match what has been written above. Each area has slightly different laws in terms of what a tenant can and should do, maintain compliance with that first.

A landlord must repair and maintain a home such that it satisfied “basic habitability requirements.” Those basic habitability requirements are adequate weatherproofing; available heat, water, and electricity; sanitary and structurally safe building. The property must also be in compliance with local building and housing codes and some cities require smoke detectors as well as security measures such as locks. Each state, city, and county will have varying rules on this so you’ll have to check with your local rules to ensure compliance.

If you live in an apartment complex that only has one cable provider, you have no legal basis to force your landlord to offer up an alternative. In many instances, your landlord may have negotiated a special agreement and discount with one cable provider and you benefit from that agreement. Sometimes the landlord picked one because it uses cable boxes and not ugly satellite dishes. Whatever the case, in residential areas, the landlord has satisfied the demands of the Federal Communications Act and you have no basis for a claim.

Verizon Fios was recently made available in our area but anyone renting their home must jump through a few legal hoops before they can get it. In order to process the fiber optic signal, a cable box must be installed outside the premises to interface with the new fiber optic cable. The installation of a cable box is considered an “improvement” and most leases will specify that alterations or improvements to the property must have the consent of the landlord (makes sense right?). However, the rules are different for telecommunications equipment and improvements!

The Federal Communications Act, passed in 1996, was passed to protect American’s access to information through cable or wireless. It also clearly states that a tenant can install boxes or antennas as long as they are located in the rented property and don’t pose a safety or structural danger, though a landlord may require renter’s insurance to protect against liability (they don’t know how good your construction skills are!).

I would recommend talking it through with your landlord before pulling out the FCA of 1996, you can usually resolve these issues without the use of law.

The rules regarding landlords entering a rental property always needs to be spelled out in a lease or rental agreement. It’s one of those sticky situations where the landlord has rights to his or her property, the tenant has rights to his or her privacy, and the collision of those two concerns can cause a lot of headaches. If you are a landlord, be sure to clearly spell out and protect your rights. If you are a tenant, be sure the landlord clearly indicates what they want to be able to do so that you’re both on the same page.

Emergency Entry, Repairs

Outside of the legal document, in general, landlords are permitted to enter the premises in case of emergency or in order to make repairs to the property. In some states the landlord can enter the property just to determine if repairs are needed. In some other states, landlords can enter a property in the case the tenant is away for an extended period, 7 days or more.

On the tenant’s privacy protection side, the landlord can’t enter the property just to “check up” on someone.

Notice of Entry

The landlord usually must give 24 hours of advance notice. If the landlord doesn’t then they can only enter for emergencies (such as fire, flood) or when given permission by the tenant. The amount of advance notice varies by state.

Again, these rules vary by state but in general the rule is that the landlord needs to return the deposit within 14 to 30 days of the move out date. Landlords are allowed to take deductions from the security deposit provided they can justify the reasons for the deductions. Some states require a written itemized account of those deductions (unpaid rent, damages beyond normal wear and tear, etc) as part of that justification, either way you should demand that itemized list even if the law doesn’t require it.

If your landlord doesn’t return the deposit in a timely fashion and are unresponsive to requests, bring them to small claims court. If the landlord was especially negligent, you may get as much as two or three times your deposit back plus fees and additional damages. Some states are more friendly to renters!

Every single state in the union lets a landlord collect a security deposit from a tenant but only half of the states limit how much the landlord can charge (not more than a month or two of rent). The point of a security deposit is to assure that the tenant pays rent on time and keeps the property in good condition, if they fail to do that then the security deposit could be, in part or in total, forfeited to the landlord. As for what happens to the money in the interim, some states require that it be put in escrow and interest be paid to the tenant.

The specific law varies by state so you’ll have to research that.

Only four states have areas in which rent control ordinances have been put into place: California, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. If you don’t live in one of those areas, you don’t have a rent control ordinance in place as of this writing.

The point of rent control ordinances, also known as rent stabilization, maximum rent regulation; is to limit how much rent can be raised. The laws usually are there to protect renters from a landlord that wants to jack up rates, so in order for them to do so they must have a “legal or just cause” for the increase or termination.

The laws vary, even within the states listed, so you’ll have to dig deeper for the specific laws in your area.

In the article on how much a landlord can charge for rent, I mentioned that some states have lows that govern the date rent is due, how it can be paid, how to treat late rent, and rent increases.

Rent Due Date

In general, rent is paid in advance and paid monthly on the first day of the month. There is often no “grace period” involved and the landlord can, if they want to, opt to terminate the lease if rent is a single day late. Some states have laws governing grace periods but there is no federal law. Also, a grace period could be worked into the lease if the landlord feels especially forgiving. Remember, landlords like renting out property and they like on-time payment. They aren’t going to terminate your lease because you forgot one day, unless it’s systemic and it becomes a problem they feel won’t fix itself.

Late Rent Payment

I mentioned earlier that one day late could mean lease termination (though this rarely happens), but one day late could also mean fees. There are laws governing late payment fees and they vary from state to state. Review the state laws to see what the limit is though chances are your landlord has it right (trust, but verify!).

Rent Increases

If you have a lease, the landlord can’t change it without your consent (you probably wouldn’t consent to a rent increase!). On rental agreements, which refresh every 30 days, the landlord can increase it with written notice within 30 days. This usually means that you get one period under the “old” rate and then the new rate kicks in. If they notify you mid-way through a rental period, you get that period plus one more period. They can increase it by however they want though.

Unless there are rent control laws in place, a landlord can charge whatever they want for rent – ahhh, the beauty of the capitalist society. If you’re already in a place, your landlord can opt to increase the rent after the lease has expired and can increase it by as much as they want (again, as long as there are no rent control laws in place). Now, if they raise your rent, you move out, and then you somehow find out that the next tenant isn’t paying that higher rent then you may have a cause for complaint – the landlord may have wanted you, specifically, out and could face discrimination issues. However, since discrimination lawsuits are often expensive and a headache, if I were to find out that that scenario had happened to me… I’d probably let it go. Why would I want to pay someone to live in their place if they didn’t want me to live there in the first place?

Now, some states do have rules about increasing rent and rules governing when and how payment of rent can be made. As for how much? That’s wide open.