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I've been renting a house that is also a horse ranch for the past 6 years. The landlord has never wanted to fix anything. No water treatment system on a well, pump issues, double garage door falling apart for 5 years and subject to storm winds, rain and varmints. Replacing and fixing more minor things as faucets, pvc, fencing, pressure switches, etc and taking the price of these items off rent has gotten me the threat of eviction.
For a known Fact, the landlord has not ever paid local, state or federal taxes on this property as a rental, but only as a feed lot for horses.
Do I have any rights and avenues I could consider legally?
I've been renting a house that is also a horse ranch for the past 6 years. The landlord has never wanted to fix anything. No water treatment system on a well, pump issues, double garage door falling apart for 5 years and subject to storm winds, rain and varmints. Replacing and fixing more minor things as faucets, pvc, fencing, pressure switches, etc and taking the price of these items off rent has gotten me the threat of eviction.
For a known Fact, the landlord has not ever paid local, state or federal taxes on this property as a rental, but only as a feed lot for horses.
Do I have any rights and avenues I could consider legally?
Do you have a written lease? Read up on your state laws, some states give you more rights than others. The first sticky thread in this forum lists links to most states laws. You can search for yours using the search button on the top left of the thread when you open it.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 11-16-2015 at 08:07 PM..
Since you are the tenant/customer... you hold all the cards.
If the Landlord is failing to deliver I would simply choose to severe the relationship.
Why continue paying for substandard service?
Not sure how the feedlot angle comes into this unless the argument is the home is not habitable?
Surely the county tax man knows what's on the property...
That said... your relationship is defined by the written rental agreement and applicable laws.
It could very well be all the owner sees is a feedlot and is unwilling to invest in improvements and maintenance to an illegal structure?
Take some time and decide what it is you want and go from there...
I have a friend that rents a very old home on acreage the owner plans to develop and would just as soon bulldoze the home... it has no value to him... my friend is getting a heck of deal and a place to keep his horses knowing this... it's been 3 years of well below market rent and he knows eventually he will have to move... for now he is pleased to be there given the alternatives... and the owner is glad to have someone living on site and not bothering him...
If you aren't happy with what you are getting for your money, move. It's that simple. The property is what it is--either rent it or don't. You can't rent a bargain-basement unit and complain that it's not The Ritz. And if you are paying Ritz prices for a turd, your only choice is to move as soon as you realize your folly.
Last edited by StPaulGal; 11-17-2015 at 03:59 PM..
If you aren't happy with what you are getting for your money, move. It's that simple. The property is what it is--either rent it or don't. You can't rent a bargain-basement unit and complain that it's not The Ritz. And if you are paying Ritz prices for a turd, your only choice is to move as soon as you realize your folly.
You clearly don't know what you are talking about. With few exceptions almost all states have some minimum standards regarding what the living conditions and repairs the landlord is obligated to provide. Every renter should learn what those are and pursue those corrections when appropriate.
You clearly don't know what you are talking about. With few exceptions almost all states have some minimum standards regarding what the living conditions and repairs the landlord is obligated to provide. Every renter should learn what those are and pursue those corrections when appropriate.
Of course there are minimum habitability thresholds. But I do not know of any jurisdiction where crummy fences and garage doors would render the place legally uninhabitable. You don't just get to live somewhere year after year after year and then sue the landlord because maintenance wasn't better all those years. Perhaps the landlord should have done a better job keeping up the property--perhaps even a MUCH better job, if things were as bad as the OP implies. I certainly wouldn't put up with such a careless landlord. But this person lived there for over half a decade. At a certain point they become complicit in the situation by continuing to rent there as year after year passes.
It seems obvious that the terms here are "landlord doesn't spend much time or money maintaining the property." Accept the terms or leave. Is it a good enough deal that you are willing to overlook the shortcomings? If so, carry on and don't waste your time wringing your hands over it. If not, what are you still doing there? Give your notice and take your rent money elsewhere.
The issue isn't the house, the issue is the eviction threat for withholding rent. You can't just withhold rent because you feel like it. There is a process and you failed to follow this process.
You've lived there for 6 yrs fully accepting the condition of the home and property and now that the landlord is rightfully threatening legal action, the place is a dump.
Pay the rent you owe, break the lease and move.
What he does, or doesn't do, with his taxes is none of your business. Pay what you owe and go.
I beg to differ with your opinion that tax evasion is none of my business. It should be all of our business. I am a local small business owner and fly by the letter of the law. Good, bad or indifferent. It's the law. Would You consider people taking advantage of the welfare system that you pay into as none of your business? Or what they do doesn't effect me or anyone else in this country? How but uninsured drivers? Certainly they don't effect any aspect of what you pay on insurance. Please respond with an educated answer to what I have just asked you. The country you live in freely has its laws that are to be abided by. Unless you like the owner of this property feel they are above.
I beg to differ with your opinion that tax evasion is none of my business. It should be all of our business. I am a local small business owner and fly by the letter of the law. Good, bad or indifferent. It's the law. Would You consider people taking advantage of the welfare system that you pay into as none of your business? Or what they do doesn't effect me or anyone else in this country? How but uninsured drivers? Certainly they don't effect any aspect of what you pay on insurance. Please respond with an educated answer to what I have just asked you. The country you live in freely has its laws that are to be abided by. Unless you like the owner of this property feel they are above.
If his tax situation is well known to you, a tenant, then don't you think your local govt already knows he's behind on his property taxes? I'm thinking they do. If your local govt knows he's behind on his property taxes, then Uncle Sam probably knows he's behind on his federal taxes as well.
You need to focus on the eviction that will be granted for non payment of rent..you can't withhold rent just because you 'feel' like it. There is a legal process to follow, I'm surprised someone so 'law abiding' didn't bother to research it first.
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