Found an issue on this page? Let us know and we will look into it as soon as possible.
Unresponsive landlord
Anonymous2 views1 answers
My son and 2 friends moved into a rental house in Washington, DC last week. The landlord is a Maryland criminal defense attorney. The kids emailed a list of needed repairs (all downstairs windows will not open, broken faucet, broken fence, etc) to the landlord shortly after they moved in. Because the house has no AC, they want to put in a window unit downstairs but can't because the windows won't open....and it's getting hot in DC!
They called the landlord and emailed him. So far he has not responded to their email or phone messages. What can they do?
If the violations are serious enough, contact the building inspector and after an inspection the landlord will be ORDERED to fix serious conditions, (and may be fined). In general, tenants can make the needed repairs or contract for them, (at reasonable prices), and withhold that amount of money spent from the rent. BUT BE PREPARED FOR A FIGHT if you do this. FIrst, notify the landlord, second, tell him you are going to have the repairs done if he doesn't, third, send him a copy of the receipt/work order and keep one for yourself, and lastly be prepared for retaliation by the landlord. It's illegal, but extremely common. Better to get the building inspector involved or to threaten the landlord with having the repairs done yourself. (Also the landlord could argue that you paid an excessive amount for the repairs and you would have to justify the amounts by showing several estimates, etc).
