RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Renter Q & A

Is the landlord responsible for thse repairs?

John Reyes — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 00:30:41 +0000

Hi, i live in Lowell,ma. I was wondering, my kitchen counter is falling apart its splitting has a bow in it from water damage he never sealed around the sink.

Is my landlord req by law to fix this issue?

I call and call he tells me we will get to it tells me a day he will send someone in and then nothing.

Also i know if he provides a fridge he has to repair it if it breaks but, is it the same with an a/c? The a/c is built in to the wall and mine broke

i ask him to repair it and gives me the run around and the paint job is horrible he did not repaint after the last tenant left.

The post Is the landlord responsible for thse repairs? appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

Can My Landlord Do This?

Tamara — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:18:51 +0000

So I rent from a landlady who has a 20+ yr old delinquent daughter. The landlady cannot (or does not) want to deal with her daughter’s problems so the landlady moved her daughter right next to me and my fiance in our complex. This daughter siphons electricity and cable from the other tenants and from the building itself; she smokes so much inside the apartment that the smell creeps into our apartment either through vents or through the attic and makes our entire apartment smell like an ashtray; she feeds, coddles and lets stray cats into her apartment but refuses to take any responsibility for them when they become troublesome; she is constantly spilling trash that is left out in her front hallway and due to the wind tunnel we have through our complex, the trash ends up in front of our door; she wakes us up at all hours of the night because she has drunken fights with the random men she brings home; and just this morning, my fiance and I were woken up by the sound of a dog barking and loud yelling, we go outside to see what was going on and there were cops swarming the complex and a K-9 unit forcefully removing one of the random guys she brought home! This was scary as he**! Our landlady knows that these things happen either because I tell her or they have happened before. So the landlady does nothing to improve the situation. She even bad mouths her daughter to the tenants, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at us because she’s heard it all before! Now my situation is even WORSE because the daughter cracked a vertibre because she was chasing 1 of the stray cats up on out roof. Well now that her back is hurt, our landlady has decided to become Mother of the Year and yelled at me for coming to her with a problem regarding her daughter! I don’t know what to do anymore and we can’t afford to move right now

The post Can My Landlord Do This? appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

Carpet Replacement

Lauren — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 17:06:33 +0000

My husband and I have been renting our home for 5 years now. Our carpets are disgusting. It’s mostly our fault. We have pets and have had some potty training issues. I just found out that I’m pregnant and am really concerned about our carpets. Our landlords said that they could have the carpets cleaned but they would charge us for it. I unfortunately think that they are beyond cleaning and just need replaced. Our landlord stated, however, that they will not replace them only have them cleaned at our cost. Is this the norm?

The post Carpet Replacement appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

mice infestation-break lease?

taresa21 — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 12:20:28 +0000

we have complained about dead animal smell in the walls of my boys bedroom for several months. finally leasing company sent exterminators who found infestation in the attic, holes in the siding where birds and mice are, urine feces ect. the company also sent out someone to measure siding. Traps with poison were set inside my house and in the attic. the externinators were very forthcoming on the issue and that the poison eats the mice from the inside out and we could ahve more dead animal smell, but to call them and they will remove it. The mice in the attic however is extensive and they said it wont ever really go away all they can do is continue to throw more poison up there. The mice are so bad that they apparently ate all 10 sticks of bait in one week and the externinators had to replace it all. They are scheduled to return each week to check and add more bait. I have no heard from the siding guy. our lease is up april 30th but we want out now, i emailed the leasing company about all these issues and asked to be let out of our lease one month early so we can have time to find another place. Can they Not let me out? is there a way out of this without penalty. Im tired of catering to exterminators and siding people every single week with no resolve. And in all reality this needs to be dealt with while no one is living here. Mice are eating thru our food poop is everywhere no matter how much i clean and the only time my kids room doesnt smell like death is when it freezes outside!

The post mice infestation-break lease? appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

Landlord takes over garage

Michael McCormack — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:16:04 +0000

Hello,

I have lived at my location for about 2 years now. My lease was up a year ago and now it is month to month. We also are getting assisstancfe from Portage Municipal Housing Authority to pay our rent. We have stored our stuff in the garage since we moved in nothing valuable because the garage door is off. We just store kids toys or bikes in there. This is a multi unit house with 2 garages. Last week my landlord told me to ask the other tenant that lives in the other unit of the house to store my stuff in there and he will put a new door on the garage. Then he want to keep the garage for himself and we have no agreement in the lease for the landord to use the garage it just says we are renting the premises and the garage is on the premises. He said that he told me he was going o use the garage when i moved in but I do not recall ever having the conversation. The garage goes to the house. Does he have the right to do that? and he never even asked or said he would lower the rent to use the garage. He just said for me to move my stuff out and he will take it over thats it. I need advice on what my rights are. Thank you.

The post Landlord takes over garage appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

Landlord’s right to employment updates?

a palmful of stars — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 18:36:41 +0000

I live in the first-floor apartment of a two-family house in a city in CT with my boyfriend. The lease is solely in my name. The owner lives on-site in the upstairs apartment. When I signed the lease, I had just started a new job in the city. Prior to my signing of the lease, the owner (I’ll call her Sally) did a full background and credit check, and verified my employment and income. The lease was effective October 1.

Sally is nice enough, but she is extremely nosy. Even before we were fully moved in she asked us constantly about our comings and goings. We share common entrances to the house and I see her face-to-face almost daily. Her apartment overlooks my parking space and she is home a lot, so it is hard to leave or return without her noticing.

Here’s the complication – I lost my new job last week. The good news is I have qualified for unemployment, my company is looking to transfer me to another department, and my boyfriend is also gainfully employed; therefore I’m optimistic I’ll be able to honor the lease and pay the rent. However, I also have to deal with Sally’s increased prying. Since she can tell when I’m home because of the presence of my car, she asks daily if I have the day off, if I’m on vacation, etc. She also has been asking my boyfriend about his work schedule and his modes of transportation.

My question is: Does my landlord have the right to know about my recent lay-off? Can she use that knowledge to demand I get a co-signer? I know she has the right to do a background and income check before a lease signing, but does that imply that she is entitled to ongoing updates about my employment situation? It seems that since she hasn’t entered my apartment there is no grounds here for a breach of privacy complaint, but am I within my rights to tell Sally (respectfully and graciously) to back off?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

-C

The post Landlord’s right to employment updates? appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

Landlord let another person in my apartment who didn’t reside there when I was out of town…

David LaMattina — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 02:01:30 +0000

Yes hello I David LaMattina was living in Fresno CA and living in the apartment named Cedar Tree II apartment’s and well I had left with my girlfriend out of town where I was gone for 3 weeks and well I am not under power of attorney or conservator and well I was getting a lot of calls from my mother to where I had to file a complaint with the police for harassment against her for her calling me at all hours of the night… And well I will tell you this I’m a disabled us army rangers spent 11 years in military and deployed 6 times overseas and suffer from PTSD, grandmal seizures, TBI , hearing loss and tons of other issues relating to stress and anxiety… No when I get home from my trip my mother has at this point bugged the other residents living there to where they have told management that if she knocks on there door again they were going to have to file for a restraining order against her due to her being a nuisance to them… Now when I get home and enter the property I notice stuff out of place and moved not being where it should be… So I asked neighbors who has came over my apartment and if anyone had went into my apartment and neighbors told me every other day my mom was there with the police and they were conducting a health and welfare check on me and I was told from the manger that she asked for a Key to get into my apartment and she said she never gave her a key however a renter said in front of manger that my mom did enter property and seen her take my Kirby Vacuum and shampooer from the apartment and my ASUS Tablet 10.1" 32gb and on top of it she took my military health paperwork from me and told the management of my health conditions and other residents who live there and well I was even called on my new cell phone number by management who mind you didn’t have my phone number at all ever. And she clearly stated to me while I was with my girlfriend who heard the phone call and she asked if I was at home and how she came and knocked on my door and I didn’t answer and how my mom asked her to do a welfare check out on me and she was concerned with my wellbeing and well she gave management a power of attorney in my name mind you it’s signed by a notary and only entailed in my name. Nit signed by a judge and is not on record for court house at all and it has her in charge of financial services and health and well the management told me how my mom more or less talked to them about how I was dying and needed help with my life which this is so not true I’m normal and go to doctor appointment’s and well management has even told me that since my mom cause so much drama that I didn’t have to give a 30 day notice just for me to clean it up and turn in my keys before the first of the month and I did and had 5 other friends help me clean it up and make it look brand new again and it did now that I have been moved out since 09-29-2014 I got a letter to where they said I owe them for cleaning up the apartment and maintenance costs to fix things and well I can assure you it was perfect when we left and never was anything ever broken at all… So what I would like to know is what am I to do with the management and business in regards to getting my deposit back as well as who is held responsible for all items that were taken from my apartment building also another reason for me leaving was because I lived in a area that has a ton of gang members and well I was being approached by several people in response to my mother harassing them at all hours of the night… You can contact me asap please help me solve this issue and just so you know management had legal verify the power of attorney she said she had and they said it would not give her the right to enter into the residence where I lived at and clearly she went into the apartment and I was told in front of manger and my girlfriend who works in the law library in Madera ca so please help me out thanks again for everything….nova269@hotmail.com Davidlama4120@yahoo.com

The post Landlord let another person in my apartment who didn’t reside there when I was out of town… appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

landlord wont follow rental aggrement

RUSSELL HARRISON — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 03:09:59 +0000

HELLO I ASKED THE LANDLORD TO TURN ON THE GAS AND IT ON THE LEASE AGREEMENT. I HANDED HIM A WRITEN REQUEST AND HE IMMEDIATELY SAID THAT I HAD 24 HOURS TO GET OUT

The post landlord wont follow rental aggrement appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

Does landlord pay for bed bug infestation

Barbara Young — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:25:55 +0000

I contacted my my apartment manager to report that we had a bug infestion and I felt it was probably bedbusgs. He informed me that they were have it fumigation for a cost of approximataly $1,500. Do I have to pay for that: It would seem that should be a building management responsibity. Help!

The post Does landlord pay for bed bug infestation appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.

if i have bedbugs in my apartment do i have to pay rent? and who is responsible for replacing beds & furniture, if i didnt have them before i moved in?

charlotte rivera — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 16:37:20 +0000

The post if i have bedbugs in my apartment do i have to pay rent? and who is responsible for replacing beds & furniture, if i didnt have them before i moved in? appeared first on RPA Tenant Rights Blog.