I have no idea where else to put this, haha! So, I guess I'll put it here since it is kind of whiny. Does anyone know what a tenants rights are as far as getting repairs done in their apartment? My roommate and I rent an upper apartment in a very old house. On Christmas day, I came home to find that part of the ceiling on a vent had fallen - one piece of it - and that the hose that hooks into the dryer had been chewed and pulled from the wall. My previous roommate, current roommate, and myself had reported hearing squirrels or some kind of critters in the vent. It looked like the ceiling just gave way and the squirrels, or whatever, had chewed through the dryer hose it was pulled off the wall. I don't know if a damned squirrel is capable of that, but that is what I came home to that night. Anyway, we have three cats (one stays in my room) so I know if a squirrel got into the apartment, then one of the cats will kill it. I called the landlord to report it and he said he would send someone out to repair it on Monday. (I called on Sat.) No one came the whole week. I figured it could have been because of New Year's or something. Well, it has been getting very, very cold here at night. We have gas heat and radiators (very old house) but it stays cold in the apartment because of the gaping hole in the ceiling. I called the landlord again today and he said "It's on our To-Do List" and that it will be taken care of this week. So....I'm partly writing this to just bitch and whine, but I'm also curious as to how long I should wait before the asshole gets this done. As long as the hole is there the apartment is extremely cold (the wind doesn't help) and any kind of small animal could get in. What are landlords obligated to do and not to do? I guess that's the point of this in a very round-about way.
i'm thinking that a big hole in the ceiling is on the list of things the landlord is obligated to take care of. man i had a problem once where i needed the landlord to fix something, and i learned all about what you can do about it, and what to do if they don't fix it, but that was 10 years ago, and i've forgot what it was. i think in the state where i live you have to notify the landlord in writing that something is broke, and if they don't take care of it within a month you can pay for it to get fixed yourself and withhold that amount from your rent payment.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/HomelessnesstoHomeownership/PDFs/Landlord_Tenant_Handbook.pdf
Okay, I looked at the lease. There's nothing in it that states he's not obligated to make repairs. Yes, the hole is still there and it's really quite cold in here. Now what can I do? A friend of mine told me that if a landlord runs/owns less than 10 units, that state laws do not apply to them. It just so happens my landlord only runs one rental property - ours. So...probably not going to get that hole fixed, am I?
try finding a tenant/landlords' hot-line, i used one here, it's helpful to know your rights as a renter. you can get it fixed, keep the receipt & deduct it from the rent or send him the bill. it's a violation of housing standards.
Yes I would call and tell him if its not taken care of you will call a contractor in 48 hours and have them fix it and deduct from the rent. This will probably motivate him, or tell them a contractor is coming to do a estimate tomorrow, that will really motivate him. Or if you know how do it yourself and charge him a 100$ plus materials. Its really not very hard to do maybe 10 hours on the outside if you dont know what your doing. 5 or 6 if you do.
Stuff an old pillow in the hole for now. You don't have to just let the cold pour in. Make a layer w/ masking tape and a plastic bag to go over that. Somewhat related, there are also little dryer boxes that blast the hot air over water to catch airborne lint to heat your house while drying clothes. I have one and have never done so much laundry. ****** It has to be an electric dryer, natural gas models would be deadly***** I had to specify for saftey.
