Home | List of Articles | Submit an Article | Contact Us

Your Responsibility To Promptly Submit Repair Requests To Your Landlord

As a tenant in a rental community, you have some advantages over homeowners. For example, you don’t need to worry about making simple maintenance repairs. What you DO need to worry about is submitting repair requests in a timely fashion. If you wait too long, YOU could be responsible for costly repairs.

Let’s visit Suzy Shmoe - a resident of Hypothetical Apartments. Suzy has a leaky washer. When her clothes hit the spin cycle, some of the water inside ends up on the floor. Since Suzy is a busy woman she keeps forgetting to turn in that repair request to her landlord. So to temporarily “fix” the problem, she surrounds the washer with big fluffy beach towels which she replaces after every load. Sure, it’s a makeshift job... but by the time she gets home from school, its always too late to get in touch with the landlord, and she’s too tired to find him early in the morning. So the problem continues, and replacing wet towels from around the washer becomes more of a routine than a reminder of the leak.

What Suzy doesn’t realize is that the constant moisture on the laundry room tiles is causing them to warp and crack. Slowly, water begins to soak into the cracks and through to her downstairs neighbors ceiling. (Aren’t chain reactions fun?) So, Suzy’s downstairs neighbors submit a repair request to the landlord asking him to look at the water stain on their ceiling. The landlord determines Suzy’s leaking washer is the source of the problem, and now she is responsible not only for repairing the cracked ceiling of her downstairs neighbors, but also the repair costs needed to fix the original problem!

Now if Suzy had taken the extra time to turn a repair request into her landlord in the first place, her washer would work fine, she’d have a cabinet full of dry towels, and she wouldn’t have to worry about dishing out the cost for all of the repairs which now have to be made. Poor Suzy.

So let’s go back to Hypothetical Apartments and say that Suzy DID submit the request for repairs at the first sign of leaking. What if the landlord didn’t make the repair before the downstairs neighbors had a crack in their ceiling? According to the Cleveland Tenant’s Organization, “If a landlord does not meet the duties imposed by the Landlord Tenant law or the local housing codes or the rental agreement or if there are conditions which materially affect health and safety, then... a tenant may give the landlord a written notice to correct the condition. This notice must be in writing and delivered to the person or at the place where the tenant normally pays rent. Tenant should keep a copy of this notice.

“If the landlord fails to correct the condition within a reasonable time, not to exceed 30 days, then the tenant may deposit his/her rent with the Clerk of Courts, or may apply to the Court for an order to compel the repairs, or may terminate the rental agreement.”

In other words, if Suzy did her part as a tenant by notifying the landlord of the problem, the responsibility would move out of her hands and into the landlord’s. So if you have even a minor problem that requires your landlord’s attention, take the extra few minutes to turn in the repair request. You’ll save both you and your landlord from additional stresses.

About The Author

Since 1989 Dan The Roommate Man has helpe 1000's people find roommates. Need help? Contact him at 800-487-8050 or www.roommateexpress.com

info@roommateexpress.com

This article was posted on February 10, 2005

Related Articles:

Ten Tips to Be A More Successful Landlord! - Copyright 2006 David Schneider Use these simple tips to help run your rental business more successful and build positive relationships with your tenants. 1. Create a Profile and Screening Checklist of the tenants that you would like to occupy the unit. Use this checklist to help you select your tenants. For example a profile ma ...

Being a Landlord - Landlords and tenants alike just want a pleasant relationship, so that each can live in peace. No landlord should ever allow a tenant to move into their rental property without first requiring the prospective tenant to completely fill out a rental application. Among the important questions that should be ans ...

Good Landlords Ask The Right Questions! - Landlords and tenants alike just want a pleasant relationship, so that each can live in peace. No landlord should ever allow a tenant to move into their rental property without first requiring the prospective tenant to completely fill out a rental application. Among the important questions that should be ans ...

The Five P’s of How To Be A Landlord And Manage Real Estate! - Copyright 2006 David Schneider Many real estate investors become frustrated with the tenants and the toilets. And when you look at the way they manage, it's no surprise. The most important part of investing in rental real estate is to have a good property management system. In any successful management system there are the five P’s. T ...

Did Your Landlord Re-Key Your Apartment? - Most landlords consider it routine to re-key the locks before renting an apartment to a new tenant. However, this isn't always the case. Maybe the landlord insists that all the keys to the apartment were turned in... but how can you be sure? I heard a humorous story about a man (we'll call him Bob) who lived in a complex which didn't re-key ...

Best Landlord Insurance - Are you looking for the cheapest Landlord Insurance for your investment property? Finding the best landlord insurance does not have to be difficult providing you know exactly what you are looking for. As a landlord, conscious of cashflow, it can be very tempting to opt for the cheapest policy. This is not always b ...

For a Complete list of Articles with summaries Click Here