landlord giving us hard time

[bbyalex]

We have lived in our apt for about 7 months now. We have told our landlord about problems in the apt but he had refused to fix any of them. So my hubby and I went to the city inspector about the living conditions of the place. The have found bad wiring, mold, ciling fallling down, windows not in right, fire detectors not working at all, floors are wet, wiring hanging out of ceiling lights in the living room and the kitchen, and also installtion hanging out of the bathroom and the closet, also there are pipes in 4 month old baby's room with installtion around it. Right after he got the letter from city inspector he had termated our lease. But we have held back rent until everything was fixed due to we owe him 640 in rent was the reason he used to termate our lease. We have also taken him to claims court due to damages to our property which he refuses to repair. At least 2 last month he had entered our apt without being let in or giving us a 24 hr notice about it. He had done this when we were present in our apt without even knocking on our door. We have called the police and everytime had said nothing could be done. Police first excuse was landlord/tenant problem, and the second was it is a civil case. We had talked to our lawyer about this and she had stated to change the locks which we had done. About 2 days later he had a call from our babysitter who also lives in the apt had seen him drill a hole into our new lock. We came home to see what had taken place and the lock had a hole in it and the landlord was in our apt when we came down. And a few days ago while we were both at work, and when we got home had noticed our a/c gone that he had furnished in the apt. But due to a 4 month old child in the apt with 90+ degree weather. We also have pics of the condition of the apt.

P.S. If any lawyer looks at this and would like to take my case in sueing him for this please e-mail me at bbyalex@hotmail.com
or let me know what i can do for my son living in an apt like this i will be happy to e-mail you the pics if you like. Thank you for your time

Elizabeth Arnold

 

[Michael Wechsler]

To begin, you might do best looking for a new apartment. If the landlord comes after you with an eviction notice, he'll have a difficult time provided you document everything and take pictures. Make sure you get a copy of the city's inspection report (which it sounds like was failed.)

You should report the drilling of the lock to the police as an unauthorized break in and property WAS stolen from you. That is NOT a civil matter although you can sue in small claims. It is theft.

This is likely not a case that a lawyer would handle without being paid. The amount you will receive is likely low and perhaps best handled yourself in either small claims or in housing court when the landlord gets around to suing you for eviction and non-payment of rent. You can withhold rent until the landlord fixes the problems BUT you should first send the landlord a certified letter with all the complaints as well as the landlord's breach of your lease.

HOWEVER, you will likely have to pay rent and a judge might point out that you could always move if the living conditions were so awful and then sue for damages...

 

[Rapunzle]

Landlord is giving me a headache

I have been living in my Jersey City 2 bedroom apartment since February 1 of 2002 and for the past I'd say 2 months I have been asking my ladlord to fix some minor repairs in my apartment. I also asked for an exterminator because I was awakened by a rat the length of a 20 oz cup and the size of a can of soda. He agreed that I could take the payment out of the rent but then I never did I just gave him the entire rent. He then takes me to court for non payment of rent. when the month in question has been paid. He never send me the information pertaining to my security deposit as requested and now he has to make the repairs by a certain date before the city comes to inspect again and fines him.

I just came back form vacation and he and I agreed that the repairs would be made when I return form vacation now I get a letter stating that he is taking me to court for refusal to let him make repairs!

what am I to do HELP

 

[Michael Wechsler]

You go to court and tell them exactly what the landlord told you. You should tell them it is retaliatory. However, I don't understand because it seems that you say you paid the entire rent regardless of the fact that you had a discount.