When The Landlord Will Not Fix It

In North Carolina, the landlord complies with the applicable building and housing codes, makes all repairs needed to put and keep the premises fit and habitable, keeps common areas safe, and keeps the electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and supplied appliances in good working order, repairing them promptly once the tenant gives written notice, except in an emergency.

• §G.S. 42-42

• Unsafe wiring, flooring, steps, ceilings, roofs, chimneys or flues.
• No drinkable water, or no working toilet, bathtub or shower.
• No working locks on outside doors, or broken windows or no working locks on ground level windows.
• No working heat able to warm living areas to 65 degrees Fahrenheit when it is 20 degrees outside, from November 1 through March 31.
• Rats getting in through defects in the structure.
• Excessive standing water, sewage or flooding from plumbing leaks or poor drainage that feeds mosquitoes or mold.

• §G.S. 42-42

Those are the imminently dangerous conditions the statute names. The landlord repairs them within a reasonable time for how severe they are, once the landlord knows or is told, and may recover the reasonable cost of any the tenant caused.

• §G.S. 42-42

A tenant who accepts poor conditions, before signing or after, does not release the landlord from these duties, unless a government body blocks the repair for a set period of no more than six months. The tenant, for their part, keeps their part of the premises clean and safe, disposes of waste properly, and does not damage the premises or disable an alarm; they are responsible for damage in their exclusive control beyond ordinary wear and tear.

• §G.S. 42-42
• §G.S. 42-43