Walk It Through: The Complaint
No retaliation for a complaint, out only by court order, and a listed cause for eviction.
A tenant reports a broken heater to the city housing inspector, and soon after the landlord sends a notice ending the tenancy.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One apartment and one complaint. The notice for each cause, unpaid rent, and fixed term leases 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.
- 14 day notice to pay or vacateThe notice for unpaid rent, utilities or recurring charges, in the form the statute sets out, giving 14 days to pay or vacate.
- Cause for evictionOne of the causes the statute lists, without which a landlord may not evict a tenant, refuse to continue a tenancy, or end a periodic tenancy, apart from narrow exceptions for qualifying fixed term leases.
- Eviction summonsThe summons telling the tenant to appear and answer by a deadline; its form says the court may appoint a lawyer without cost to a qualifying low income renter.
- Repair and deductHaving the work done by a licensed or responsible person and deducting the cost from rent, after the landlord does not start repairs in time and has had a chance to inspect, up to two months' rent per repair and in any twelve month period.
- RetaliationA landlord's eviction, rent increase, reduction of services, or increase of the tenant's obligations against a tenant who in good faith complained to a government authority or asserted the tenant's rights.
- Unlawful exclusionA landlord's removing or excluding a tenant without a court order, which is unlawful; intentionally cutting a tenant's water, heat, electricity or gas, except briefly for repairs, is too.