my wife and i moved into an older type double wide trailer 5 month's ago (in august) my wife initially talked to the landlord and signed the paperwork when we moved in before i really had a chance to look at the place and find any posible problems. anyway, we were told that it could be a rent-to-own situation when we come up with $1,000 down payment. Well, here's the problem(s). we have been having and finding more and more problems as time goes by. first off when we moved in there was a non useable stove. it was gas and this is an all electric house. he wanted us to get a propane tank but i told him i didnt want to do that. he did replace the stove with an electric one. we had no air conditioning which he finally did bring over a small 110 window unit which does nothing to cool the house. we have been givin a 220 but have no way of hooking it up. we had a pretty major roof leak over the hall bathroom and one of the bedrooms. at first i asked him to bring some stuff over to patch the leak but then a portion of the ceiling started caving in and was leaking much worse. i told him i had the knowledge to repair the roof but i had no time to do so as i am a truck driver and am rarely home. he sent a so called handyman to replace a few shingles and some rotted plywood. well the roof still leaked. i then looked at what the guy did and realized he had absolutely no clue how to repair or replace shingles. well being in construction before i started driving, i informed him that i would take time off to fix the roof myself. well without going into too much detail, i did so. also prior to that, we had a problem with the front door not latching and locking properly. the (handyman:biglol: ) bandaged the problem with a paint stir stick, which of course didnt last. then the door wouldnt latch or lock at all, so he put a hasp and a $2 lock on the door. i ended up putting a dead bolt on the door myself. anyway this is the main issue. after moving in, i was looking up under the trailer and noticed that all the duct work for the heater was laying on the ground and some of it missing. (he told us we had electric heat when we moved in) i told him about this and he just seemed to skate around the issue. i did tell him we had a kerosene heater and an electric heater that we could use, but as the temps get colder, we are finding out that they are not sufficing. see, the problem is, the landlord is an older man and told my wife when we moved in, and discussed the rent-to-own thing, that he couldnt do alot of work anymore and couldnt do all the repairs needed on this place. he seems like a really nice man and i'm trying to be patient with him but my patience is starting to wear a little thin. we are also experiencing a black mold problem. i havent discussed that with him as of yet. i'm afraid to call the health dept as they might condemn this place. my wife said i shouldn't pay the rent till he gets things fixed, but i told her that we cannot withold rent. there are other problems such as, broken windows, rotting floor joists, broken and missing vent registers(floor) and other minor problem. i just need to know what i can do without getting too nasty with him. apparently, he is on probation or something with a housing issue on another property he owns. i just don't want to put a down payment on this place and end up spending thousands of dollars to fix it.
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have a problem with landlord wanting to fix things, like HEAT for one thing
- Thread Starter rseigart
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Gail_in_Georgia
Moderator
No offense but you guys didn't see ANY of these problems when you checked out the place?
What...exactly...do you wish to do? See if the lease can be terminated? Negotiate a lower cost to purchase this place (since it appears you are a handy person, albeit with limited time to fix things up)? Have the place condemned?
Let us know and we can give you suggestions.
Gail
P.S. I'd suggest bringing up the claim of black mold unless you can actually prove this is what this mold consists of. Doesn't mean you can't mention the mold problem to your landlord.
What...exactly...do you wish to do? See if the lease can be terminated? Negotiate a lower cost to purchase this place (since it appears you are a handy person, albeit with limited time to fix things up)? Have the place condemned?
Let us know and we can give you suggestions.
Gail
P.S. I'd suggest bringing up the claim of black mold unless you can actually prove this is what this mold consists of. Doesn't mean you can't mention the mold problem to your landlord.
bluemann33
New Member
well I know he must supply some type of heat to the rental property. The black mold would be the first thing i wanted taken care of, that stuff is dangerous. I would try to work out some kind of deal to where you fix some of the problems in place of rent and go from there.
Gail_in_Georgia
Moderator
I've attached information on options a tenant in Georgia has regarding requests for repairs that a landlord does not address:
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/housing/HousingDevelopment/programs/downloads/landlord/repairsmaint.html
After notifying a landlord of repair issues, the tenant must give the landlord a reasonable amount of time to respond. If they do not respond the tenant cannot simply withhold rent; they can, however, go the "repair and deduct" route where they handle the repair issue themselves and deduct the amount they paid to do so from the rent. At this point, the cost of repairing the roof and adding the deadbolt yourself can be deducted from your rent.
In the OP case it actually appears that the landlord has addressed many of the repair issues they have brought up. He did change out the stove, bring over an air conditioner and have a handyman address the leaking roof and door lock (albeit poorly).
Again, it would be of benefit if the OP would indicate what route they wish to take in regards to terminating the lease, fixing the repairs themselves and deducting the amount off the rent, etc..
In regards to the black mold issue; again, it has not been determined that out of the thousands of possible strains of mold this is the infamous "black mold" (i.e., Stachbotrys) strain. Unfortunately the "mold card" has often been overused by tenants who mistake any type of mold (pretty common in Georgia in moist areas such as bathrooms) for dangerous black mold. Until fairly expensive testing is undertaken, one cannot assume this is the strain that can be linked to health problems.
Gail
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/housing/HousingDevelopment/programs/downloads/landlord/repairsmaint.html
After notifying a landlord of repair issues, the tenant must give the landlord a reasonable amount of time to respond. If they do not respond the tenant cannot simply withhold rent; they can, however, go the "repair and deduct" route where they handle the repair issue themselves and deduct the amount they paid to do so from the rent. At this point, the cost of repairing the roof and adding the deadbolt yourself can be deducted from your rent.
In the OP case it actually appears that the landlord has addressed many of the repair issues they have brought up. He did change out the stove, bring over an air conditioner and have a handyman address the leaking roof and door lock (albeit poorly).
Again, it would be of benefit if the OP would indicate what route they wish to take in regards to terminating the lease, fixing the repairs themselves and deducting the amount off the rent, etc..
In regards to the black mold issue; again, it has not been determined that out of the thousands of possible strains of mold this is the infamous "black mold" (i.e., Stachbotrys) strain. Unfortunately the "mold card" has often been overused by tenants who mistake any type of mold (pretty common in Georgia in moist areas such as bathrooms) for dangerous black mold. Until fairly expensive testing is undertaken, one cannot assume this is the strain that can be linked to health problems.
Gail
well thats what i told my wife about the mold but it's not just in the bathroom it's in the bedrooms as well, but i told her i think it's because of the lack of air circulation and heat. the kerosene heater we have can only do so much and as heat rises (and escapes thru whatever openings) the floor level is where we're getting the mold problem. there is no lease except for being month to month. as i stated, i didnt get a chance to check the place out before my wife sealed the deal and signed the paperwork. at the time we were in desperate need of a place and were in a hurry to get something (cheap). we do like the land it's on, but like i said, if we "rent to own" the place, i don't want to have to put $10,000 into the place to fix it up where it's habitable. i'll put that much into add-ons and such but as far as having the basics, like heat, i'd like fixed first. as i said, we told him about the duct work under the house being in disrepair but he skated all around the issue.
Gail_in_Georgia
Moderator
Your options...
1. Since you have a tenancy at will (i.e., a month to month lease) you can provide 30 days written notice to the landlord and find another place to rent if you wish.
2. You can contact the local code inspector regarding the lack of heat; they will likely give the landlord a warning that adequate heat must be provided by a certain date or the home will be condemned (and you will have to move).
3. You can notify the landlord in writing of the need for an adequate heat source and, if none is provided within a reasonable period of time, get this installed yourself and deduct the cost of such off the rent.
Option number 3 is something many folks looking to "rent to own" might check into.
Please be aware that a month to month lease (also called a "tenancy at will") is nothing more than a lease that starts at the beginning of each month and ends the last day of the month. Unlike yearly leases (where the landlord is "locked into" the rent rate) landlords can increase the rent each month the lease renews.
Quite frankly it sounds as if you needed a place to rent cheaply and unfortunately, such places often come with a whole host of repair issues. If you are a handy Mr. Fix It it may be worth it for you to continue to try to deal with the issues on this rental.
Gail
1. Since you have a tenancy at will (i.e., a month to month lease) you can provide 30 days written notice to the landlord and find another place to rent if you wish.
2. You can contact the local code inspector regarding the lack of heat; they will likely give the landlord a warning that adequate heat must be provided by a certain date or the home will be condemned (and you will have to move).
3. You can notify the landlord in writing of the need for an adequate heat source and, if none is provided within a reasonable period of time, get this installed yourself and deduct the cost of such off the rent.
Option number 3 is something many folks looking to "rent to own" might check into.
Please be aware that a month to month lease (also called a "tenancy at will") is nothing more than a lease that starts at the beginning of each month and ends the last day of the month. Unlike yearly leases (where the landlord is "locked into" the rent rate) landlords can increase the rent each month the lease renews.
Quite frankly it sounds as if you needed a place to rent cheaply and unfortunately, such places often come with a whole host of repair issues. If you are a handy Mr. Fix It it may be worth it for you to continue to try to deal with the issues on this rental.
Gail
that is what i told my wife about calling the health dept or code inspector. i'm afraid they would condemn the place. we really don't want to have to move. we like the area and land that it's on (which comes with it). i'm not too worried about the rest of the problems, which like i said, i can fix eventually. i just need for him to fix the heat problem first and foremost. as far as he knew, there was working heat when we moved in, but like i said, i informed him almost immediatly that there was damaged and missing duct work, which he did nothing about. i just confronted him about it again yesterday and told him we need the problem fixed ASAP. i said he needs to get somebody right away to come look to see about fixing it. The temps have been down in the teens here lately and our kerosene heater just isnt cutting it. well he just told me, maybe we just need to find another place to live. i said we couldnt do that right now. then he said that if he had to put alot of money into it, he would go up on the rent. well anyway, after a little bitchin, we finally agreed to find someone (either he or I) and look to see how much it would cost to fix. i said if he didnt have the money to pay that i would pay it and deduct it from the rent. but he said he needed to agree on the price. but im telling you now, it aint gonna be cheap because they are probably gonna have to replace all, if not most, of the ductwork. i just wish there was a way to get him to do the work without having all this hassle. i mean, i thought that that was one of the requirements for renting anyplace is having a working heating source.
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