Should I Pay Rent?

Question

Me and my sister moved into this house which was great. however our landlord kinda abondon us. our fridge went out which is in the lease the water never transfered into our name so our water got shut off twice. (its off now) and we have a serious mold problem in the crawl space. we have tried emailing him going to his office hes never there leaving him notes and calling him he never answers and his voice box is always full. our fridge went out recently and we lost 200 dollars of groceries and we had to pay 100 dollars for a part for the fridge becase we don't have a reeipt he has it what should we do do we not mail rent until he contacts us or is that bad someone please help
!!!!

Answer 1

have you tired to contact the landlord? If you complaints are falling on deaf ears, I would not pay rent BUT I would write down every single thing that went wrong and note down what and how much you lost. For example, On oct.10 you lost $200 in groceries because fridge wnet out.... I woul document everything.

Also, make complaints in writing and keep a copy of it as evidence

Answer 2

According to your lease you have to make payments. As far as the water you should take it upon yourself to have it transferred into your name. All this time someone has been paying (or obviously not paying) the bill that you owe. As far as the groceries being lost that really isn't his fault. Things like that happen and it couldn't be predicted. The $100 he should reimburse you for but if he doesn't pay it you will most likely have to take him to small claims court.

On the other hand I suggest you send him a certified, return receipt letter stating (politely) the problem with the mold and the $100 for the fridge repair. Mold is dangerous and if he doesn't fix it then you have a safety issue that will stand up in court if he fails to fix the problem and you decide to move out. Health and safety are the only reasons a tennant may break a lease legally.

Above all else, you must pay the rent and give the landlord a reasonable amount of time to fix the problems. But, you must inform him in writing for your claims to be taken seriously in small claims court.

Answer 3

yes, you will have to pay rent as long as you stay there. is he soley responsible for major appliances going out? double check your lease. sometimes leases will state that you are responsible for the first $xxx before he will cover the rest. as far as the water being cut off you will have to contact the water company to get it switched over to your name. some places you can not get the water transferred over into your name as the renter but it will still be in the owners name and you would pay him or pay the water company directly. as far as mold goes maybe you should check around for more information. you may have to prove that it's a health to your hazard to be able to get out of your lease or to get something done about that. I really have no knowledge as far as mold in houses. is there a way to meet him at his home or job? find out the details and go from there.

Answer 4

A mold problem will endanger your health. Do you want to still live there? Check with your attorney and find out if an uninhabitable space voids your lease.

Answer 5

well u can be evicted for non payment. contact the state and make a complaint, they will force him to make the repairs, int he mean time open a seperate interest bearing account and deposit ur woul,d be rent money into the account and do not turn over the money until the repairs have been made. ur within ur legal rights to do that but not withold payment.

Answer 6

Visit your state’s website and look for landlord laws and/or a tenant’s bill of rights.

If it gets bad enough, contact HUD www.hud.gov and/or your state/county/city housing authority.