Is it legal for me to withold my rent if my landlord doesn't fix things, like a leaky roof?

Answer 1

I do not believe it is "legal" to completely withhold rent. What you need to do is look up laws in your state regarding landlord's responsibility. What you may want to do is write a letter and hand deliver it (keep a copy for yourself) to your landlord stating the following:

When the problems were first reported, What is still in need of repair, and that you would like to see action taken in the next X amount of business days, (action being a repair appt made for X date, or item actually getting repaired in those X number of days).

This is were you need to check out laws in your state. If its allowed, you can make the repairs yourself, keep copies of all your reciepts and deduct the cost of the repairs from the next month's rent. If it is legal in your state, also state that you will take this action in the letter. With your next months rent, then you give the landlord copies of your repair bills showing that you paid for them to be done.

If the above is not allowed in your state, you can always file lawsuits, and contact your attorney general regarding your rights. Depending on the laws, you may be allowed to break your lease agreement and move, and have the landlord pay for the expenses of moving if they did not do required maintenance that wasn't on the lease as your responsibility.

Also, in response to the first answer, doing it that way may put you on the "rent free" list for a while, but you may end up owing back rent then once the investigation is complete, so if you go that way, be prepared by saving the rent money for those months.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

most states would require you to pay your rent to the housing court in your county. They would then set up a hearing to determine what the issues are and give the landlord time to repair them in order to receive his rent money.

Answer 3

yes it is perfectly legal.you need to file a complaint with the landlord and tennents act .once you submit this form(it's easy to fill out) then you are on the rent free list until the investigation is complete.