Walk It Through: The Leaky Ceiling
Fit and habitable, no withholding before a judge, and the listed ways out of a lease.
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. Liquidated damages for military tenants, the tenant's own duties, and smoke alarms 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 the landlord makes all repairs needed to put and keep the premises in, complying with building and housing codes and keeping the systems and supplied appliances in good working order.
- Rent withholdingKeeping back rent over the landlord's failures, which a tenant may not do on their own before a court determines there is a right to do so.
- Domestic violenceCausing or attempting bodily injury, placing someone in fear of imminent serious bodily injury or continued harassment, or a sexual offense, against a person by someone with whom they have or had a personal relationship.
- Liquidated damagesAn amount equal to the unpaid wages that the court awards on top of them, unless the employer shows good faith and reasonable grounds.
- Protected tenantA tenant who may end a rental agreement by written notice effective at least 30 days after the landlord receives it, with a copy of a qualifying protective order, criminal order or Address Confidentiality Program card.