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Do my parents have a case against the landlord
Anonymous3 views3 answers
My parent have lived at an apartment since 1970. The Landlord hasn't replaced the stove in over 20 years, and has never replaced the countertop, cabinets or painted. She refuses to upgrade the apartment in anyway. Every time a neighbor moves out of their apartment she repaints the apartment and upgrades the cabinets. My parents always pays the rent on time and has never been complained on.
Generally, there is no obligation for a landlord to upgrade an apartment unless it is contracted for in the lease, or the failure to upgrade/maintain over time makes the tenancy uninhabitable, or a health concern. From a legal standpoint, you may want to consult a landlord-tenant attorney to review your parents' current lease and see if there are any provisions that indicate that an upgrade is required, otherwise they do not likely have a case.
Despite the legal perspective, your parents probably have a good negotiating position to receive an upgrade due to their long tenancy and "good" tenant status. But it also depends on whether their rent has been set so low for a long-time that the landlord believes an upgrade would not be warranted without a higher rent increase.
I agree with Attorney Johnson. So long as the apartment is habitable the landlord is under no obligation to replace appliances just because they're old. The remedy is to move or at least threaten to do so.
