Rent reduction

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The ceiling of my apartment fell in. My landlord was very quick to respond about fixing it, but in doing so evicted me from the apartment for 8 days. The place they offered us to stay was a dingy, basement apartment with a shower that didn’t work for the first 3 days; meanwhile, all our belongings were crammed unceremoniously into the kitchen. Even after the 8 days were over, moving back in and cleaning was a massive, massive project.

I requested a rent break from the landlord, but found out today that she intends to give us nothing. Do I have any basis for legal action? I’m happy to take it, but don’t want to get involved if it’s a case in which I’m clearly wrong. Any advice or knowledge on the subject would be appreciated!

Edited on: Monday, December 3rd, 2012 7:04 pm

3 Responses to “Rent reduction”

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

anonymous

November 13th, 2008 9:50 pm

You may have a case. Nothing else you should be able to get some type of credit or rent abatement during the time the unit was non-occupiable. I would suggest you start by filing a complaint with the RPA, it is quicker and has a higher success rate than court.


Randy Stone

November 14th, 2008 8:32 am

I had to take a landlord to court over a unrelated problem. Let me just say I won’t do that again! He ended up counter-suing me over something else. After the court case I ended up owing my landlord money, when I should have been the one getting money back. It also cost me $228 after I paid the court filing fees and the cost of serving the summons, etc.
Use caution if thinking about taking your landlord to court, they have deeper pockets and can hire attorney’s. For me there are only two real options:
1) Deal with the landlord myself.
2) File a landlord complaint with the RPA.
I have since used the RPA complaint system, it worked good for a problem I had with another landlord that wouldn’t respond to me. My final recommendation is to avoid taking your landlord to court.


uber

December 3rd, 2012 5:04 pm

Hi,

Filing a complaint with RPA is very easy and even I was benefited for my problem of security deposit which was with landlord, the RPA mediating agent which was assigned to me, did a fantastic job and i was successful in taking my remaining deposit from Landlord, For your help here is the filing complaint link: https://www.rentalprotectionagency.com/complaint_center_form.php Good luck to you


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