Found an issue on this page? Let us know and we will look into it as soon as possible.
Who is supposed to fix my apartment's mailbox and how long do they have?
Anonymous5 views3 answers
My unit's mailbox door is completely gone. It fell off when I put my key in it over a week ago. This has happened previous times before but the maintanance people have been able to snap it back in. This time there was no way to snap it back in. I gave it to the property manager and she said she doesn't know who to call to fix it. The post office has been holding our mail & when we went to pick it up today they said it was mixed up with all the other mail that they hold and we would be able to get it once our apartment manager fixes our mailbox! Who is responsible for fixing it? It's one of those metal multi unit ones. And is there a max amount of time that they have to fix it?
Ten days. The important thing is that the owner has *NO* duty to do anything until you tell them in writing. I know this is absurd, but there it is. when the manager knows darned well what the issue is, then you can be a little snarky and write, "as you have known for a week [or however long it has been] our mailbox needs to be fixed because the door fell off and the Post Office is holding our mail until it is fixed. Please get us new mailbox doors within ten days". Or something like that. You can research on line to find out who is the actual owner of your building, and I would send a copy of your request to that person, at their real address as well.
Hope this helps you. Elizabeth Powell
Your landlord has a duty to keep the premises in as good a condition as they should have been in at commencement of the tenancy, excluding tenant-caused damage. RCW 59.18.060(5). You also have a duty not to cause damage or make unauthorized alterations. RCW 59.18.130(4). The type of problem you describe requires maintenance, not repairing damage, and is your landlord's responsibility.
You should give your landlord a written notice requesting the repair. The notice should be delivered to the person designated in the lease or to whom you pay rent. The landlord then has ten days to commence action, usually by inspecting the problem, and a reasonable amount of time to repair the defect.
It is the landlord's responsibility to fix the mailbox door. Send a written notice to the landlord to the address required for notice identified in the lease. If that address is different from the property manager's address, then copy the property manager. In the notice clearly identify the problem, and the location, number and apartment number for the mailbox.
