'normal wear and tear'

[bradedup]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WI

My main question is this, but I ll have a few others after this.

I got a bill today for about 250$ to fix a few things in my apartment. I was charged about 100$ to fix a step that had cracked and fallen through. This is the third time in the past 12 months that a step has broken in my house and the SECOND time this exact step has broken. That exact step had been repaired (obviously not well) a few months prior. I called my landlord and complained because I think this should be normal wear and tear, plus it should not break anyway, it is a blatant safety hazard. He won't budge, claiming we have broken three steps, and that there is no way it is from normal traversal of the steps. As a 300 lb man, I assure him I can walk thru his thin unsupported board steps, but he claims we must be abusing them somehow, so the charges stand. Shouldn't this be normal wear and tear? Or a violation of building code?

Also on the bill, we were charged for a damage inspection which was 1.5 hours long. The inspection occurred because when they did a posted carpet inspection they deemed are apartment to be unclean/unsanitary. The stove was dirty and there was calcium build up in the shower (hard water). There was also tac on the wall from posters that we took down. So anyway, they gave us five days to clean...and then if we didn't they were going to evict us. So after five days they came to inspect and charged us 35$/hour for inspecting it. Can they do that? Doesn't 1.5 hours seem lengthy?

Anyway, I was just wondering what my rights are and who I should contact to file a complaint if my rights have been violated.

Thanks much for reading my lengthy post and your information is valued.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Broken steps are not normal wear and tear.

On the other hand, I've never heard of a landlord/management charging for what appears to be a move out inspection.

Gail

 

[FarmerJ]

Before doing anything else I would suggest calling building inspections desk in your city /county and asking them if someone can inspect the stairs general condition since so many boards broke, IF they do inspect and find the stairs to not meet code ( especially the boards that were not replaced ) make sure to get a written report of the findings ,THEN refuse to pay the bill ,your LL will either carry thru with the threat to evict or wait until your lease is over and tell you to move out then hold money back from your deposit. If your LL attempts to evict based on your refusal to pay then in court offer to the court your inspections reports. charging you a inspection fee seems like a very unfair policy , the court may agree with you on that. If the stove is dirty clean it. As to the mineral deposits in the shower , there are products available that get rid of them.

 

[bradedup]

Broken steps are not normal wear and tear.

On the other hand, I've never heard of a landlord/management charging for what appears to be a move out inspection.

Gail

Well I guess 'normal wear and tear' isn't the right term. I just don't understand why it is the tenants responsibility to fix something that shouldn't have broken. Especially three times. I wasn't aware that 300 lbs is over the apartment weight limit; I shouldn't have to tiptoe down the stairs.

What if the stair had broken and I had consequently fallen down and smashed my face into a wall? Is that my own fault?

 

[bradedup]

Before doing anything else I would suggest calling building inspections desk in your city /county and asking them if someone can inspect the stairs general condition since so many boards broke, IF they do inspect and find the stairs to not meet code ( especially the boards that were not replaced ) make sure to get a written report of the findings ,THEN refuse to pay the bill ,your LL will either carry thru with the threat to evict or wait until your lease is over and tell you to move out then hold money back from your deposit. If your LL attempts to evict based on your refusal to pay then in court offer to the court your inspections reports. charging you a inspection fee seems like a very unfair policy , the court may agree with you on that. If the stove is dirty clean it. As to the mineral deposits in the shower , there are products available that get rid of them.

Yeah after we got our notice about being unclean, we took it very seriously. We immediately went to home depot and spent 150$ on specialty cleaners and we even fixed and cleaned a lot of stuff not listed. Our place was immaculate and we passed the five day inspection; that is all done and over.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[FarmerJ]

Brade the reason I suggest to call inspections is if your LL has used standard thickness board for stair tread instead of thicker board its possible that would not meet code and be the sole reason for them breaking. BTW even with regular cleaning using things like lime away type products in some places the water is so hard its not funny. I work with many people who live in the upper Saint Croix river valley ( Burnette county area ) and no matter what they do it seems they are not able to get rid of the mineral deposits.