Landlord has breached contract multiple times. What can we do?

By Shelby

Our lease is up at the end of this month and we’re in the process of moving, but we just found out that one of our landlords has let people inside our apartment at least 3 times in the last week or so without giving us notice of any kind. The lease clearly states that 24 hours notice must be given, even for repairs.
 
The first time, my husband happened to show up just as the landlord and some workers were entering the apartment to finally fix the flood damage on the ceilings in the living room and bedroom that happened almost 4 months ago (the lease states that severe damages such as that will be fixed within 30 days, or our lease is to be terminated and the prorated amount will be returned). I showed up to the apartment not too long after my husband, surprised to find a strange man who didn’t speak English sitting on my couch and eating chocolate covered raisins next to my open purse, while another unattended man was doing work in our bedroom with my deceased mother’s jewelry in plain sight. 
 
We thought that day would be the end of the violation, but the first day we returned after that, one of our couches was covered with drywall putty and dust and the next phase of ceiling repair had been done. The second day we returned, our couch had been poorly wiped clean and the cushions were all piled up and the ceiling repair had been finished. There were also traces that someone had attempted to vacuum and clean, which leads us to suspect that the landlord has already started showing the apartment to possible future tenants, or intends to do so soon. We left a very large note on the front door stating that we know he has breached the contract multiple times and to stop. At this point, we have not been able to get a hold of him to discuss the situation…
 
Our main concern is that we still had valuables in the apartment. We feel very violated that strangers were unattended inside our house without notice and could have went through or stolen our belongings, and that it took 4 months to fix flood damage that the landlords were very familiar with. What can we do?? 

Edited on: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 7:03 pm

3 Responses to “Landlord has breached contract multiple times. What can we do?”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Shelby

April 22nd, 2011 5:09 pm

Not sure if it really matters, but I live in Salt Lake City, Utah – not North Carolina, as I accidently clicked on the post…


Ven

May 11th, 2011 12:07 pm

What I can say is that it’s the landlords responsibility to give a notice first. File a compliant through RPA.


I agree

May 30th, 2012 12:49 am

Yeah, file a complaint.


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