Landlord won't pay!

[Wet Couch]

I lived in a loft apartment in Dallas, TX. When we first moved in, the guy above is let me know my loft may leak when it rains and the land lord was aware of this. Sure enough when I was out of town, we had a storm roll through. My year old couch was soaked...SOAKED! I let the landlord know this and he said he would take care of it. He even came over to look at it, and when we lifted it water ran out of the couch. Needless to say the couch's integrity is not the same as a new one. I went back to the store I bought the couch and got the pricing for a new one.($800) Later the landlord lets me know he will pay for part of the damage since the couch is still being used. What can I do?

 

[Tracey]

L has admitted liability & is not trying to get out of it. Get his admission of liability & offer to pay for part of the couch in writing, as well as his statement that you are still using the old couch, so he doesn't have to pay for the entire couch. Then write him back demanding the full $800 & stating that he can have the old couch as soon as he pays you the $800.

I L doesn't pay, sue small claims court for $800. You will need to call your neighbor as a witness to show that L knew of the leaking problem & did nothing. The letters you and L wrote will be useful as admissions of liability & as a way for you to argue that L had no good reason not to pay for the couch.

You should also immediately deliver L written notice of the leaking condition & a demand that L repair it. File a complaint with the local building inspectors & ask them to determine that the leaking creates a condition that materially affects the health or safety of an ordinary tenant.

If you like, you can read the TX residential landlord tenant act here: http://www.hyperindex.com/scripts/search.exe/_hits?dn=PROPRTY&show=2&no=736&scope=SENTENCES&host=1&keyor=&mode=TOC



------------------
This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.