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Fire extinguishers in rental property.

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gregg6170

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin
Is the Landlord required to provide fire extinguishers in a rental home? If so, who's responsible if there is a fire and no extinguisher is present? Is this cause to break a lease.

Thanks in advance.
 


Shay-Pari'e

Senior Member
gregg6170 said:
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin
Is the Landlord required to provide fire extinguishers in a rental home? If so, who's responsible if there is a fire and no extinguisher is present? Is this cause to break a lease.

Thanks in advance.

He is required to have smoke detecters, not extinuishers. That is your job.
 

sperts

Junior Member
Shay-Pari'e said:
gregg6170 said:
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin
Is the Landlord required to provide fire extinguishers in a rental home? If so, who's responsible if there is a fire and no extinguisher is present? Is this cause to break a lease.

Thanks in advance.

He is required to have smoke detecters, not extinuishers. That is your job.
dont forget the batteries:)
 

justalayman

Senior Member
I'm kind of interested in hearing the story behind the question.

I want to know how having or not haviing a fire extinguisher would change who was responsible for a fire.
 

gregg6170

Junior Member
Fire extinguishers

The reason I'm asking is that when we rented we informed the landlord we wanted to rent for a year and we were then going to look for a home. After a year the landlord said that if we give notice we could break the lease. Unfortunately she passed away and the family does know of our agreement, (Yes, There was nothing written). Well we had a grease fire and the firemen stated that the law requires the landlord to provide extinguishers.

I'm buying a home and The family is trying to collect on the remainder of the lease.

We also informed the landlord that we had a renter to move in after we moved out but they decided to put the house on the market and sell it, they are in know hurry to sell since they thing they have 3 months of payments left.

Thank You
Gregg
 

justalayman

Senior Member
gregg6170 said:
The reason I'm asking is that when we rented we informed the landlord we wanted to rent for a year and we were then going to look for a home. After a year the landlord said that if we give notice we could break the lease. Unfortunately she passed away and the family does know of our agreement, (Yes, There was nothing written). Well we had a grease fire and the firemen stated that the law requires the landlord to provide extinguishers.

I'm buying a home and The family is trying to collect on the remainder of the lease.

We also informed the landlord that we had a renter to move in after we moved out but they decided to put the house on the market and sell it, they are in know hurry to sell since they thing they have 3 months of payments left.

Thank You
Gregg
OK

grease fire: your responibility. fire extinguisher may have lessened the damage but ultimately the damage is on you.

extinguisher: there may be local codes that require it. if so, call the fire marshall and report it. the cheap and simple fix is the LL will put one in. Not justification to break the lease.

breaking the lease: are you allowed to sub-lease? If so, rent to the gut what wants to for the remainder of the lease, then it is up for grabs but you are out of it.

If you do leave early, with nothing written, it will be a tough row to hoe in court to prove the verbal agreement. If you do leave, the LL has to try to re-rent which would mitigate the damages. If he reufses to re-rent, he cannot claim the loss of rent against you. The fact you have a ready renter (is this renter acceptable to the LL though?) it would seem your liabilities would be minimal; Loss of deposit, plus normal moving out espenses (cleaning etc.)
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
I think what OP meant was that he had found a replacement tenant, and the LL rejected since he wanted to sell the house. Which to my mind should mean that OP should NOT be responsible for the rest of the lease because LL did not allow replacement tenant to be rented to.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
ecmst12 said:
I think what OP meant was that he had found a replacement tenant, and the LL rejected since he wanted to sell the house. Which to my mind should mean that OP should NOT be responsible for the rest of the lease because LL did not allow replacement tenant to be rented to.
my belief as well, but the LL may be able to get out of that by disqualifying the possible tenant.

So ultimately it comes down to what the LL does if the tenant breaks the lease. The fact he is selling it does not prevent him from re-renting, as a matter of fact, it is often a plus if the buyer is buying it as a rental.
 

Who's Liable?

Senior Member
ecmst12 said:
I think what OP meant was that he had found a replacement tenant, and the LL rejected since he wanted to sell the house. Which to my mind should mean that OP should NOT be responsible for the rest of the lease because LL did not allow replacement tenant to be rented to.

A LL is NOT required by law to accept just anyone into their rental unit. Additionally, it is upon the tenant to notify the LL of a propective tenant in WRITING to prove that they actively serached and gave the LL possible leads... Otherwise the LL can deny ever talking to the tenant and did not know they were trying to find a replacement. It would turn into a he-said, she-said argument.

As long as a LL gives "reasonable" effort to find a replacement, be it ad or fliers, they do not have to put anyone in the rental unit...
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
gregg6170 said:
What is the name of your state? Wisconsin
Is the Landlord required to provide fire extinguishers in a rental home? If so, who's responsible if there is a fire and no extinguisher is present? Is this cause to break a lease.

Thanks in advance.

**A: what type of rental? In a single family home there is no requirement.
Most apartment buildings are required to have extinguishers in the common areas.
 

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