[kungfuninja314]

A few years ago I had a landlord in Hamden CT. We were renting out a 3 room apartment and had sublet-ted one of the rooms with the landlords permission. The sublet tenants decided they wanted to move out before the lease was up so without telling us they went over our heads to the landlord and asked to leave early. He gave them permission without asking us and we came home to an empty room. The landlord then demanded we pay the difference for their room. He took our deposit because we couldn't afford to (we sued and ended up winning only half)

On to our current apt- We now have a landlord who when we toured the apt she told us it had a new very efficient heating system and apartment. Come fall and winter though we found out otherwise. The heating system didn't work at all. I ended up repairing it myself (because I knew how) after their heating guy came by and said it was working perfectly (despite it clearly wasn't.) Even after I fixed it to get it to turn on, We ended up having to pay $600 per month to heat a two bedroom apartment. An inspector came and told us that the apartment was not insulated, the windows were improperly installed and the heater was VERY improperly installed including pipes made of the wrong metal for the system and it would always waste massive amounts of heat. When we complained the landlord gave us a $100 a month credit for the winter(clearly not enough) and refused to do anything more.

Fast forward to this summer We now have upstairs neighbors who park 4 cars on the street taking up two spaces each and demand a free parking space in the driveway (which we pay for) if we park within a block of the house on the street and the landlord keeps asking that we provide one (we refuse) they also have 3 large loud dogs in a "pet free" building. Our downstairs neighbors while less problematic the landlord told them they could use OUR hot water in the basement to do their laundry. When we found out this had been going on for a month I complained. The landlord yelled about having to pay us for our heat and after I threatened to go to the housing authority said they are now going to shut off hot water to our washer so we can't complain about the other tenants using it and we will have to wash all of our cloths in cold to deal with it.

How are landlords allowed to get away with all of this?... is there anything we can do?

[JayCT]

The first landlord had every right to charge you for the full rent on the apartment. He rented out the apartment to you, not your subleasor. It is not his obligation to noptify you that YOUR subleasor was moving. That is between you and them.

In the second case, I am surprised you are still living there. You can report the problems to the local housing office but there is little else you can do but move out. I think you really need to be more careful where you live in the future. Jay

[kungfuninja314]

I would understand the first one if it weren't for the fact that HE gave them permission to move out without penalty, which was not his to give. The landlord had changed the sublet by requesting that they pay him directly, so we ended up having no authority in it.

I also forgot the detail that they moved out on the first of the month because the landlord told them they could we had to move out because we couldn't afford to pay their rent which the landlord had led them to believe they would be off the hook for, we ended up having to find a new apartment on short notice and moved out on the sixth because the landlord said pay their rent or move out. He then tried to keep our full deposit to pay for the rent of the month we moved out. Which he had originally verbally said he wasn't going to do.

Being careful is quite difficult when you are being lied to.

Also New Haven isn't known for having many good landlords.

[Csiko]

Get things in writing. Verbal agreements mean nothing.

Also, even if he threatens you to pay rent or move out, you don't actually have to. You can't completely withhold payment, but if you put the rent money into a trust until the reasonable demands are met, you are covered and he can't evict you.

As for the neighbors:
Report the dogs to the landlord first. He may have allowed it. Defer to your lease agreement on the parking space. If it's not in the lease, you don't have to do anything.

You should have also sued regarding the heating system. This would be an instance of "fix this or you aren't receiving rent until you do" while you put the money in a trust until it's fixed.

I've had my fair share of bad landlords. The last place was a large organization and handled things very well, but the one prior cost me $850 in a lost security deposit that I just didn't have the energy to fight. Fortunately, my next place involves renting from a good friend who is cutting us a deal and getting a good deal himself since he knows we'll take care good of it.

[parentologist]

Whenever we buy a building, we immediately add insulation in the attic to bring it up to a reasonable amount for today's building codes, because it's just the right thing to do, even though we don't pay the utility bills. We also separate out all the utilities, if it hasn't been done already, and almost always install W/D hookups in each apartment. We often don't have to advertise a vacancy, because our tenants send their friends to rent from us.

You can check on these issues before you rent a place! You can ask the LL to show you the attic - you'll be able to see if there is inadequate insulation. You can choose not to rent where your W/D hookup will be in a place that other tenants have access to. Give notice that you will not be renewing the lease, and start looking for a better place.