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Hello all. Firstly, I would like to apologize in advance for posting this seemingly silly question, however, I was curious to know. OK, so we moved into our rental house at the beginning of December. Upon doing the move-in checklist sheet we found issues. Some of them have been taken care of but not all.
One issue is the blinds. We have vertical blinds throughout the entire house. On pretty much every section, some of the slats are held in-place by tape and glue. So when we open the blinds or move them back and forth on the tracks, some of them will fall of. We now have several sections that are missing the vertical slats.
Another issue is that one burner on the stove does not work 100% of the time, and during cooking, the burner would just go off if we so much as slightly move the pan, making for a challenging cooking session lol. This burner is the only large burner coil we have, the other 3 are the smaller types. We have had maintenance over to check out both issues. He says that the burner connection is faulty, and needs to be replaced. As for the blinds, he says that the owner of the property will not replace them. As of today, it has been two weeks since the maintenance man has been by.
I did look at the tenant and landlord rights and this doesn't seem to come up. Any advice on our rights to get these two issues fixed would be great. Thanks all.
Make your request in writing. Mention your previous attempts to resolve the matter and that it has been two weeks with no communication. State that you are offering to have the repairs done yourself with the cost deducted from the next rent cycle and will do so if they don't fix it themselves or object.
That puts you in a good position. They either have to fix it themselves, decline your offer, or stay silent and allow you to assume that they accepted your offer.
The stove is definitely something the LL has to fix but I doubt you can legally deduct for replacing the blinds and particularly since the LL has already declined to do so. Is this a furnished or unfurnished house? If you can live with the blinds as they are then take dated photographs of them so that when they completely fall apart you can demonstrate that they were already damaged when you moved in. If you can't live with them, take them down, pack them up and store them away and replace them with something else to your liking (which you'll take with you when you leave).
The stove is definitely something the LL has to fix but I doubt you can legally deduct for replacing the blinds and particularly since the LL has already declined to do so. Is this a furnished or unfurnished house? If you can live with the blinds as they are then take dated photographs of them so that when they completely fall apart you can demonstrate that they were already damaged when you moved in. If you can't live with them, take them down, pack them up and store them away and replace them with something else to your liking (which you'll take with you when you leave).
Doing it the way I suggested constitutes just a simple offer on the tenants part. It gives the landlord the chance to fix it themselves or have the tenant do it for them...or they could object (in writing presumably) and really look like jerks.
If one were to get technical, there absolutely is an argument to be made that the blinds are a cost that could be deducted for. Since they have put blinds up and blinds are a privacy/enjoyment issue, one could easily argue an implied warranty. But that's pretty pointless at this point.
Well thanks for the advice. I'll be pushing them to repair the stove. As for the blinds, in a couple of areas it is a concern for privacy. Some of the slats we have to lean against the windows to keep people from looking in. It's becoming a pain in the butt as the slats will fall at the slightest breeze.
The stove is definitely something the LL has to fix but I doubt you can legally deduct for replacing the blinds and particularly since the LL has already declined to do so. Is this a furnished or unfurnished house? If you can live with the blinds as they are then take dated photographs of them so that when they completely fall apart you can demonstrate that they were already damaged when you moved in. If you can't live with them, take them down, pack them up and store them away and replace them with something else to your liking (which you'll take with you when you leave).
Here's the thing. I took initial pictures of the house. I didn't take pictures of the blinds. I know I should have, but I didn't. There was just so many issues that I just focused on the larger areas of concern. If I took pictures now, since it has been over a month since move-in, is it too late? I did document EVERYTHING.
Make your request in writing. Mention your previous attempts to resolve the matter and that it has been two weeks with no communication. State that you are offering to have the repairs done yourself with the cost deducted from the next rent cycle and will do so if they don't fix it themselves or object.
That puts you in a good position. They either have to fix it themselves, decline your offer, or stay silent and allow you to assume that they accepted your offer.
See what happens.
Some state laws have very specific requirements that must be met before a tenant can do the work themselves and withhold the cost from the rent. This may not be an option on some states at all. The OP should verify what their state laws say on the matter before deciding to follow this course of action.
Some state laws have very specific requirements that must be met before a tenant can do the work themselves and withhold the cost from the rent. This may not be an option on some states at all. The OP should verify what their state laws say on the matter before deciding to follow this course of action.
This circumvents that provision though and invokes a different area of contract law that is usually used in commercial sales but is still generally enforceable in consumer areas.
Here's the thing. I took initial pictures of the house. I didn't take pictures of the blinds. I know I should have, but I didn't. There was just so many issues that I just focused on the larger areas of concern. If I took pictures now, since it has been over a month since move-in, is it too late? I did document EVERYTHING.
Take the pics now - just in case. I very much doubt there's anything you can do if the LL just doesn't want to replace the blinds but at least if, when you move, any attempt is made to charge you for damages to them you'll have proof of what they were like a month from when you moved in which should be more than adequate if needed.
The last place I lived in was only for a year but there were blinds in there that were very old, ratty and dysfunctional. The landlady didn't want to replace them (the place was unfurnished and they'd been left there by a previous tenant) but it was fine with her that I removed them, wrapped and put them in her storage area and then purchased a couple of my own. When I left I simply put back the ones which were there when I moved in and took the new ones with me as they were a standard size which would fit elsewhere.
This circumvents that provision though and invokes a different area of contract law that is usually used in commercial sales but is still generally enforceable in consumer areas.
Seems pretty silly to persue that route without first finding out what your states laws say about "repair and deduct". If the landlord tenant laws already describe specific steps to be followed, it would make good sense to do so.
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