I live in California. I just recently rented a house with some roommates, and I unfortunately didn’t do a close enough inspection before agreeing to lease (one of the roommates was desperate to move out of their previous place).
Now I’ve noticed a whole bunch of things are broken: missing/ripped window screens, electrical outlets that don’t grip any plugs (and one that just’s exploded and waiting to electrocute someone), broken light switches, broken refrigerator light and ice machine, broken garbage disposal, broken windows (as in shattered glass), etc.
Fortunately, there’s nothing super expensive that’s wrong, but a lot of annoyances all around the house makes it difficult to enjoy living here. I haven’t yet contacted the landlord, as she doesn’t live in the area.
Just weighing my options first.
Between my roommates and I, I’m confident we can buy the materials and handle 90% of the repairs ourselves. Would it be OK to tell the landlord this and just ask for a credit towards next month’s rent with our itemized receipts? Or is there a better way to handle this?
Never been in a house that’s seen such disrepair Should’ve paid more attention during the walkthrough…
Window screens aren’t exactly a safety issue or any kind of requirement so you’ll probably have to just live with those or fork over the money yourself to fix them.
The electrical issues are a serious safety issue. Your landlord would be an absolute moron if she let you fix that due to the liability issues involved. If the house burns down later and the insurance company finds out that someone who isn’t a licensed electrician touched anything electrical, then the insurance company won’t pay for the damages.
As long as the refrigerator keeps food cool, the landlord can say tough noogies on the light and the ice maker.
A garbage disposal is also a convenience item and not a safety issue so the landlord isn’t obligated to fix that either.
Broken glass is a safety issue. You have a valid complaint with that one.
I have no idea what the laws are in California. As for contacting the landlord to work out some sort of agreement, there’s probably no harm in asking. The landlord is perfectly within her rights to tell you to stuff your offer where the sun doesn’t shine, though you are also within your rights to demand that the safety issues be fixed. As I said, the landlord would be an idiot if she let you touch the wiring, but with the other stuff she might be reasonable about it. Having you fix the stuff for parts cost is a lot cheaper than hiring a handyman to do the same work.
Just keep in mind that the landlord is under no obligation to let you do the work in exchange for rent compensation. You can ask, but you can’t demand. On the safety issues though, you can demand that those be fixed, but again, you can’t demand that she let you be the one to fix them.
Document, document, document. Send photos of the damage to the landlord, while keeping copies of both photos and letters for yourself.
This time next year you’re going to be starting a thread about how to get your landlord to give your deposit back, and all documentation that the damage was pre-existing will help.
Not all landlords are ogres. Sensible ones know that it pays to keep on good terms with their tenants, they also know that it is common for outgoing tenants to leave a lot of problems behind them.
My advice is to talk to her and discuss the best way forward for both of you. The point about electrics is well made, and should be dealt with promptly, but the rest should be negotiable. Yes - take photographs so that you can support your claims.
1] Contact a lawyer, or better legal aid or public defender … your expenses for this help will be returned to you.
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I’m speaking only for my State, however I do believe this is also the case in California. Some of these are habitability concerns, and thank you engineer_comp_geek for laying out which is which.
A] Send a written notice of request that the LANDLORD repair these items.
B] If they don’t fix, withhold rent payment … repeating, you withhold payment … meaning if you wind up in court you better have a stack of $100 bills totaling up to the rent you’ve withheld.
C] You may well wind up in court, please review point #1 above.
Your first step is to talk to the landlord. Be nice and courteous but explain the issues and your concerns. You may find out the landlord had no idea about these issues and is happily willing to fix them. Or not.
As has been stated, some of these issues are more important than others. If the landlord hesitates in addressing some of them, remember to chose your battles wisely. That is, a tenant that goes ballistic over a burned-out light in the fridge is not likely to find themselves on the good side with the landlord. Being on the good side can make the difference between the landlord being willing to help you out with the window screen or telling you that that window screens aren’t covered by the lease. A fridge lightbulb is what, $5? Maybe it would be easier for you to just buy your own lightbult than to put up with a dark fridge.
Finally, do not expect the landlord to let you do any of the repairs yourself. in addition to the safety issues, the cost of maintaining the property is a business expense for the landlord. Most landlords will want to pay a professional for the repairs so they have good documentation of the expense as well as recourse if the repair is not satisfactory.
Of course, if the landlord says tough-cookie on the safety-related issues, you may want to then talk to a lawyer if you feel it is necessary, but talking to the landlord should be your first step.
If the owner of the property hasn’t seen it since before you rented it, I’d give her the benefit of the doubt that she plain doesn’t know about the disrepair. Tenants are notorious for not saying anything. I haven’t figured out why. But I have known several people over the years who complain about stuff wrong with their apartments, yet admit they didn’t tell the landlord. Idiots.
So I think you should take pictures and talk to the owner about the issues. Make your offer to fix what’s reasonable for you to fix (nothing electrical!) and give her a chance to make it right. Also, though, perhaps suggest she would be a better landlord if she made sure the property got checked out a couple times a year, or at least whenever a lease is up. That’s just good business.
Horrible advice. Do not do this. So much ignorance.
First of all, I don’t have the foggiest idea why you would contact a public defender since you haven’t been arrested for criminal activity. I’m not sure that watchwolf knows what a public defender even is.
Secondly, contact the landlord in good faith before you call lawyers. They might not be aware of the problem and may be happy to fix things. Always give people a chance before you call lawyer. In any event, how are you going to “sue someone out of business” when there aren’t damages.
If and only if the landlord refuses to fix a safety problem should you contact you local housing authority. It’s unlikely to come to this though.
I’m managing a rental house for my father-in-law, and speaking from the landlord’s side, I was not happy one month to receive a partial rent payment with a letter explaining that they used the money on repairs. The house is the landlord’s property, and it should be their call as to how to make repairs. Your first step, without question, should be to contact the landlord and talk to her about it. She may be unaware of the issues (especially since as you say she is not local), and may just fix everything as soon as you bring it to her attention. Don’t start thinking about lawyers and withholding rent until you’ve done the sensible first step.
Wrong … lawyer first … this is a legal duty for the landlord to inspect and repair the rental unit between tenants … either the landlord doesn’t know, or the landlord doesn’t care. The consequence for the OP is indeed dire, if they make one misstep, and lose in court, such becomes a part of their permanent record and they may find ever renting again in California next to impossible.
… that is unless the house burns down and the the failed smoke detectors don’t go off and the OP dies …
Holy shit … exposed wiring at 120 VAC … shattered glass … there’s absolutely no defense for the landlord here … this may well be criminal “reckless indifference to human life”.
Of course … the OP only mentions the obvious stuff. Did the locks get changed, or is there 15 people out there with the key? Was there any mold remediation? Is there a CO detector? The list goes on.
I’m not a lawyer, but I do try my own cases and have so for over twenty years. I’ve sat through a ton of cases waiting my turn. Every once in a while, a judge will refer the case to the District Attorney’s office … for things like exposed wiring and shattered windows …
Lawyer first … the OP must be clear on their rights and obligations …
In my apartment complex, the tenant who has signed the lease is given a checklist of all the unit’s amenities, and a window of opportunity (several days) to inspect the unit and see if anything is amiss or deficient. That absolves the renter for responsibility for anything found damaged at the end of tenancy.
As far as immediate repairs goes, that, like everything else, depends on the integrity of the management. For example, one of my two phone jacks did not work. A maintenance man came over and made a diligent effort to repair it, and could not, and I was told that the lease requires only one working jack, even though two are normally provided.
ETA: In-so-far as these items are within the landlord’s control … obviously if the city water supply is brown and stinky … it’s not the landlord’s responsibility.
The lawyer first approach immediately makes this confrontational and rules out any sort of cooperative approach. If I were a landlord and someone immediately lawyered-up I would do what was legally required and no more, and I would definitely not be open to working with the tenant in exchange for rent adjustment or anything else.
Contact the landlord first. Be nice. If that doesn’t get you anywhere, then you can lawyer-up on the safety issues.
Legally, Can the OP get a quick Renters Insurance Policy?
What if that place burns up while all of his things are still inside?
I’ve heard stories of landlords who skip on liabilities by having more zero-asset shell corporations inside of zero-asset shell corporations than a nesting doll… and its all to make sure tenants can’t recover a nickle.
Right … “talking to a lawyer” as in seeking legal advise from an attorney … not retaining the lawyer for legal services. No way for the landlord to know the OP’s lawyered-up.
The trouble I’m having with what the OP has posted is that this landlord walked through the unit looking for shattered glass and exposed electrical connections … and didn’t see them. Alternately, the landlord paid someone to do this and these hirelings just didn’t look, but still billed the landlord anyway.
When renting in Australia, the landlord or agent MUST provide a ‘Condition Report’ upon commencing a tenancy, which includes photographs and detailed descriptions of everything in every room and grounds of the property. The new tenant is given a copy of said report, and after occupying the premises for a few days, signs the report if it’s accurate, or adds/changes individual descriptions if they are not accurate.
For example, we recently moved to a new property, and one of the things mentioned was the recycle bin said to be in Good Condition. Alas, the bin doesn’t have a lid! When we returned the Condition Report we noted this (also the photo of the bin showed it didn’t have a lid prior to our occupancy, so I have no idea why they said it was in good condition). :dubious:
But anyway, when we finally move from this property, the condition report will be compared to the condition upon exit (excluding fair wear and tear) and provided it is OK, the bond paid will be returned.
Do you folk across the big pond have a similar system?
I’m not excusing the landlord, but the problem can be that one tenant moves out on the last day of the month (and is expected to clean the place before moving), and the landlord, not wanting to miss a month of rent, moves someone in on the first. The landlord may have done a walk-through when there was furniture and/or boxes piled high and not noticed much of the stuff, and the tenant, wanting their security deposit, didn’t say anything. Not the best of business practices, but so many landlords are rank amateurs trying to save a dime managing the property themselves (or hire rank amateurs to manage the property). Since you are new, contacting the landlord will give you a good idea about how he handles problems. Does s/he blow you off, seem compassionate and have no follow-through, or get right on the problem? This will be good to know.
kambuckta, we have 5 kajillion different systems. Each town can be a little different, as long as they meet the city/county minimums, which much meet the state minimums. It is not a national standard (nor do I want the Feds taking yet more power away from the states by taking it over). Are you sure that is national in Australia (honest question, as I have no clue)?
Ours isn’t national as such, but each state and territory has this system in place and they’re administered by a state/territory authority (in my case in Victoria, by the Consumer Affairs Dept). The names change in each state, but the legislation is pretty identical.
I’m not required to use a “Condition Report” right here where I am. However, if I withhold security deposit from the former tenant due to damages and can’t document it as kambuckta describes, I very well could be subject to a triple security deposit judgement from the courts. Not using the kambuckta method is just bad business and reduces earnings.
Should’ve paid more attention during the walkthrough…