my landlord disrespects my rights!

[piercejp]

My landlords sold the house I'm renting to their nephew and I went from ideal landlord to landlord from hell. He will go days without returning my calls or pages regarding problems with the house. He does not inform me of times that he will enter the house and I know when he has been there, because he leaves my toilet seat up!

Today, I did expect him, however when I returned home, I discovered him on his back, on top of a favorite quilt that my grandmother had made and I presume his girlfriend straddling him while he "worked". In addition, he goes through my possessions and uses them (i.e. MY TOOLS,etc...).

I have not been able to get a straight/honest answer from him regarding fixing rotting drywall, replacing hot water heater that leaks gas, etc....since he was first made aware of these problems approximately 6 months ago.

Please help me, I am totally freaked out about this heinous situation and would appreciate some advice. I have been a tenant in this house, along with me daughter, for 5 1/1 yaers before he bought the house 6 months ago. What are my options and how do I handle this without it getting too scary. I have held back my last months rent and he has made NO mention of this either.

 

[LL]

If you have no lease obligation, give him 30 days notice and leave, and get yourself a situation with a better landlord.

 

[stormyneedshelp]

I am just an everyday citizen, and have no extensive knowledge of the law, but I don't think it's AT ALL legal for him to enter your home/apt. and go through your possessions, or use them. And I certainly DON'T think it's legal for him to be in your residence with some girl, presumably a girlfriend, 'straddling' him!! Check the tenant/landlord laws that apply to your state, I'm sure you will find several options on what you can do in this situation. Good Luck Hun!!

 

[LL]

You are correct that it is contrary to most landlord entry laws for him to do these things. But what can you do about it?

There is no good solution. You will not have success to have him arrested. You will not likely succeed in small claims court to sue him for money, since you haven't lost any. It doesn't do you any good to tell his uncle on him. No doubt you can find lawyers who will be happy to take on any case they can get, and promise you the moon, but they will soon find that there isn't much money in it.

Assuming that what piercejp really wants here, is to be free to live his/her life without such a nuisance as this, the only real solution is for her to to find a place to live which doesn't have these problems. So long as this landlord owns the property, she is going to have problems.

One piece of insight here is, that it is not the apartment that is desirable or not, it is the landlord that is desirable or not. When one looks for an apartment, they should be looking harder at the landlord than at the unit.

 

[stormyneedshelp]

reply for LL

I agree totally, people should always take a good long look at who they will be renting from, that is a very important point. but, in this case, the original landlord is not there, and a new one has come in and theres not much that could have been done to evaluate him beforehand. but cant she bring criminal charges on him for violating the tenant/landlord laws in such a way? i mean, whats the point of having a law against that sort of thing if theres no recourse? there must be some kind of punishment for this guy for what he did....i agree the best bet is to find another place to live with a better landlord, but there should be some recourse to be taken against this man for what hes already done to keep him from continuing this type of behavior. there has to be punishment, otherwise, where is the lesson here? if no one reports this man's illegal practices, that sends him the message that he can just keep on doing it with no threat of recourse. speak up!!

 

[mary hartman]

HMMMMMM LL & Stormy......every once in a while something sinks in....

You are so right, about interviewing the landlord....if you have any bad feelings, if HIS home looks like a dump, if HE acts like he is doing you a favor to rent to you, if he refuses to give you a lease on the spot, or no reciepts, or wants CASH only, or has clauses saying tenants are responsible for all repairs, OR I walked out of a place years ago, because the Landlord REFUSED to let me plug in and run the air conditioners in March to see if they work....Mumbled something like "you dont trust me.. i tell you it does work ".....what a dumb asssss!

Tenants need to understand the warning signs before renting an apartment.....sad but most have no clue...

UNLESS WE TEACH THEM!!!

[Edited by mary hartman on 05-08-2001 at 10:41 PM]

 

[LL]

{ cant she bring criminal charges on him for violating the tenant/landlord laws in such a way? }

Not likely. Remember, the landlord has some right of entry even if he is not exercising it properly. He has some rights of entry, and the rights are governed by CIVIL law and a civil contract. Thus, what he has done is not considered criminal, but a civil matter. The landlord/tenant laws are civil laws, not criminal. And, even assuming that everything that piercejp says is provable, it is still a civil dispute. It belongs to the civil courts.

{ here should be some recourse to be taken against this man for what hes already done to keep him from continuing this type of behavior. there has to be punishment, otherwise, where is the lesson here? }

Stop and think, what does recourse mean? You're not asking for recourse, you're asking for punishment. And, civil law deals with solving problems. Sorry, again this is civil law, not criminal.

We live in a less than perfect world, as you know. On the other hand, the law and judges know that landlords need to have access to their property, and tenants need their privacy, and most state law strike a pretty good balance. Most of the time, the system works pretty smoothly, without lots of problems. Problems are occasionally caused by landlords, as well as by tenants, and the only real solution to such problems is for tenants to leave. The marketplace will take care of this landlord. He'll lose his tenants, and not make as much money, because in the end, he's not a good businessman.