Repairs not made

[dd116]

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

I rented a house last year and was promised several repairs would be made. Needless to say nothing has been done to the house. Because of this I havent been able to use about half of the living space. There is an issue with the garage door, there is a huge gap between the top of the door and the house that lets in alot of outside air. This made it impossible to heat the house in the winter. There are also some plumbing problems that havent been fixed. Landlord said he would fix the problems but never shows up when he says he will. Im considering having some of these things fixed and deducting the expense from the rent. Is that legal? I also feel that I have been paying full price for half of the house I was promised. Do I have any recourse here?

Thank you in advance for you help

 

[Zigner]

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

I rented a house last year and was promised several repairs would be made. Needless to say nothing has been done to the house. Because of this I havent been able to use about half of the living space. There is an issue with the garage door, there is a huge gap between the top of the door and the house that lets in alot of outside air. This made it impossible to heat the house in the winter. There are also some plumbing problems that havent been fixed. Landlord said he would fix the problems but never shows up when he says he will. Im considering having some of these things fixed and deducting the expense from the rent. Is that legal? I also feel that I have been paying full price for half of the house I was promised. Do I have any recourse here?

Thank you in advance for you help

Have you put your requests in writing?

 

[dd116]

Im mailing a letter today. I want to say in the letter that I will fix some of the problems and send him the invoice and deduct it from my rent if thats what it takes. Im not sure if that is legal so I was hoping to get that info before sending the letter.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

The steps a tenant can take in your state to remedy repairs that are not addressed by the landlord:

West Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Law Law Summary and Law Digest

You are doing the correct first step; notifying the landlord in writing.

Gail

 

[applecruncher]

Im mailing a letter today. I want to say in the letter that I will fix some of the problems and send him the invoice and deduct it from my rent if thats what it takes. Im not sure if that is legal so I was hoping to get that info before sending the letter.

You cannot just arbitrarily decide to fix things and deduct the cost. I sympathize with your situation, but you have to follow certain steps, otherwise you can get evicted. (Actually you should have put repair requests in writing a long time ago.) Check with the Rent Escrow office in your local municipal court. They can intercede and schedule an arbitration meeting within a few weeks. But you have to still pay rent to the court. They will notify landlord and hold the rent.