Walk It Through: The Toilet And The Furnace
A minor defect repaired and deducted, then an essential service gone in winter.
The toilet in the only bathroom keeps running, and the landlord has not come to fix it.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One rental with two problems. The landlord's own duty to keep the unit habitable, mold and other conditions outside the minor defect rule, and how damages are measured 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.
- Minor habitability defectA defect that can reasonably be fixed for not more than $300, such as leaky plumbing, a stopped up toilet or a faulty light switch.
- Repair and deductThe tenant's remedy for a minor habitability defect the landlord fails to fix after written notice: having it repaired in a workmanlike way by someone other than the tenant, and deducting the actual and reasonable cost, up to $300, from later rent.