Walk It Through: The Leaky Ceiling
Fit and habitable, repair and deduct after ten days, and thirty days' notice.
Water drips through a renter's bedroom ceiling every time it rains, and the landlord does not come to fix it.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One apartment and one leak. Essential services and substitute housing, lock changes, and treble damages are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Fit and habitableThe condition a landlord makes all repairs to keep the premises in, including running water, reasonable hot water, and reasonable heat and air-conditioning or cooling where installed and offered.
- Repair and deductA remedy for a defect whose reasonable cost is less than $300 or one-half of the monthly rent, whichever is greater: written notice, and if the landlord does not comply within ten days, a licensed contractor's work deducted from the rent.
- Substitute housingReasonable housing a tenant may procure when the landlord deliberately or negligently fails to supply essential services, owing no rent for the period.
- Order of protectionAn order restraining a person from committing domestic violence, issued on a verified petition where there is reasonable cause to believe the defendant may commit it or has within the past year. No fee is charged for filing or service.
- Security depositSecurity, however it is named and including prepaid rent, which a landlord may not demand or receive worth more than one and one-half month's rent.