What if your landlord refuses to make necessary repairs?

Question

We are currently renting a mobile home and our landlord told us before we moved in that anytime that anything needed to be fixed,to call him and he would take care of the necessary repairs. Well,yesterday I was home with my little girl and our central air unit died and it was 86 degrees outside,not joking!

Anyway,I immediately called my landlord and he told me that it may take a few days to find somebody to come out to our mobile home to fix the problem. As you can imagine, I very calmly but directly tried telling him in a nice way that it was going to be VERY HOT yesterday,and for the rest of the week, and we needed someone to come out here to fix it ASAP,because my daughter and I have some major health issues.

He finally came out here yesterday after we threatened legal action,and our unit got repaired thank goodness! What rights do tenants have if they pay their rent on time,never cause any problems,but their landlord refuse to make any necessary repairs,who do we contact?

Answer 1

I would contact your local attorney generals office and request the tenant and landlords right book.
Each state has them.
I know in the state I live in you can put your rent in escrow. There are several steps that must be done to do so, and each state may be different.

or you can make a complaint to
http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/yourrights.cfm

I hope this helps.
Good luck
and good thing you got your a/c fixed.
stacey

Answer 2

Sorry, but air conditioning is not a "necessary" repair....necessary repairs are mold, leaky roofs, floors that are in danger of collapsing, etc al.

Threatening legal action is a bit extreme considering that if you did take it to court, the judge would throw the case out on the spot (not to mention any respectable lawyer wouldn't take a case).

Please, get a clue about the difference between a necessary repair & a luxury item. Your ancestors did just fine without air conditioning & survived just fine.

Answer 3

Your landlord didn't refuse to make the necessary repairs, dear. He just didn't do it on the timetable YOU thought was appropriate. Lack of air conditioning is not considered an emergency issue in a rental. While it may be uncomfortable, it's not a crisis.

Sounds to me like your landlord responded appropriately, and you are expecting far too much in this situation.

Answer 4

as long as you supply the tenants a 24 hour word, you may enter the valuables. That legal professional of course does not understand what he/she's talking approximately, or in keeping with probability there became some form of fake impact between you 2.

Answer 5

Get the repairs done yourself, deduct the amount from the rent, and send a copy of the bill along with your payment.