Landlord Tenant Lawsuit

[larbroad]

I am in the State of Tennessee, County of Blount, City of Maryville. I rented an apartment from a friend in July of 2011 and have been living there since. During the 2012-2013 winter (actually October - February) my heater was broken inside my apartment and I contact my landlord and asked her to fix it. I was away during the month of November on a business trip for quite some time (roughly 3 weeks) and I figured she would have had it repaired while I was away. Much to my surprise it was not repaired when I returned and so, as anyone would do, I went and talked to her about it. I gave her a letter stating that it was not working before leaving and she did indeed say she would have it fixed. It did not get fixed in November, December or January. My utility bills more than doubled over this last winter and I asked her on a weekly basis if the part they needed was available yet and each time I was told the repair person still could not get the part that was needed for my heater to function properly. I used the emergency heat as well as small space heaters in order to make it through the winter. This was a woman who, when we moved in, was a very good friend so I figured she would get it fixed right away. Eventually, in February, I called my landlord's husband and told him that I would hire my own repair man and take whatever he charged me out of my rental payment for February. The next day (literally) while I was at work, the heater was fixed and when I returned home it was working. I asked my landlord and sent a letter requesting reimbursement (out of my rent of course) for the overage in utilities, but only for the amount it was above my last winter's utility bills. She kept denying this and I kept paying my rent, like a good tenant. In April, she approached us and wanted to act friendly, but we were still upset over the extra money we had to pay out. Being self employed, coming up with that extra money for our utilities was very difficult and hurt our business. She asked us during this event why we hadn't been down to speak with her and we told her that we were upset over a friend not fixing our heat and making us, her "friends", survive through the winter without heat in our apartment! She left crying, most likely feeling bad about ruining our friendship, and I sent my partner, who lives with me, down to calm her down and make her feel better. However, we continued to feel anger for the winter without heat. In May, we told her that we would not be paying any more rental payments until she would come to an agreement with us about what would be done in order to compensate us for the winter months. She did not respond and instead evicted us in June. Our last day at the apartment was July 9, 2013 and she is now suing us for the time that we spent without paying rent. Do I have a case? It is her responsibility to provide the basic utilities and under TCA (Tennessee Code Annotated) I found a clause that says that I am allowed to receive compensation under the law for any period in which the landlord did not provide these "utilities". I cannot afford a lawyer and I am looking for any kind of help I may be able to receive! Thanks!

Anthony

 

[sandyclaus]

I am in the State of Tennessee, County of Blount, City of Maryville. I rented an apartment from a friend in July of 2011 and have been living there since. During the 2012-2013 winter (actually October - February) my heater was broken inside my apartment and I contact my landlord and asked her to fix it. I was away during the month of November on a business trip for quite some time (roughly 3 weeks) and I figured she would have had it repaired while I was away. Much to my surprise it was not repaired when I returned and so, as anyone would do, I went and talked to her about it. I gave her a letter stating that it was not working before leaving and she did indeed say she would have it fixed. It did not get fixed in November, December or January. My utility bills more than doubled over this last winter and I asked her on a weekly basis if the part they needed was available yet and each time I was told the repair person still could not get the part that was needed for my heater to function properly. I used the emergency heat as well as small space heaters in order to make it through the winter. This was a woman who, when we moved in, was a very good friend so I figured she would get it fixed right away. Eventually, in February, I called my landlord's husband and told him that I would hire my own repair man and take whatever he charged me out of my rental payment for February. The next day (literally) while I was at work, the heater was fixed and when I returned home it was working. I asked my landlord and sent a letter requesting reimbursement (out of my rent of course) for the overage in utilities, but only for the amount it was above my last winter's utility bills. She kept denying this and I kept paying my rent, like a good tenant. In April, she approached us and wanted to act friendly, but we were still upset over the extra money we had to pay out. Being self employed, coming up with that extra money for our utilities was very difficult and hurt our business. She asked us during this event why we hadn't been down to speak with her and we told her that we were upset over a friend not fixing our heat and making us, her "friends", survive through the winter without heat in our apartment! She left crying, most likely feeling bad about ruining our friendship, and I sent my partner, who lives with me, down to calm her down and make her feel better. However, we continued to feel anger for the winter without heat. In May, we told her that we would not be paying any more rental payments until she would come to an agreement with us about what would be done in order to compensate us for the winter months. She did not respond and instead evicted us in June. Our last day at the apartment was July 9, 2013 and she is now suing us for the time that we spent without paying rent. Do I have a case? It is her responsibility to provide the basic utilities and under TCA (Tennessee Code Annotated) I found a clause that says that I am allowed to receive compensation under the law for any period in which the landlord did not provide these "utilities". I cannot afford a lawyer and I am looking for any kind of help I may be able to receive! Thanks!

Anthony

You've pretty much shot yourself in the foot here by withholding your rent. Tennessee LL/T law does not allow for rent withholding under any circumstances. You are essentially blackmailing your LL to pay up for your excess electric and energy costs by using the rent to pay for it, and that's not something you can unilaterally choose to do. Only a judge might be able to issue an order that the LL pay part or all of the excess costs, and allow you to use your rent to offset that - and since you haven't even gone to court over it yet, you have no legal authority to do what you're doing.

Your LL is well within her rights to sue for the unpaid rent, and given the circumstances under which you are operating, she will almost certainly get what she's asking for.

 

[larbroad]

well, that's unfortunate

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I know it was wrong to do so not paying rent, but the reality of the situation is that I could not afford it! Winter months are very difficult for the retail market and I literally had to borrow money from a family member in order to pay my utilities and rent at my apartment because of the hike. I know this does not make a difference and I understand that I should have really tried harder to pay it, but I literally could not in order to pay back my family member during the month of May. I had only asked to borrow it for a few weeks and it ended up being several months! I wouldn't have had to borrow this money if my bills had been normal and all I asked was for her to fix the heat. I hope this makes some difference in the morality of the ordeal, but I appreciate your response knowing what to expect.