Withholding Rent?
Looking for input from owners who rent (or others with similar experience) on this board on a situation with my landlord. I agreed to allow my landlord into the apartment to do some work on the bathroom. The work was to last no longer than 3 days which was fine given that I would be…
Looking for input from owners who rent (or others with similar experience) on this board on a situation with my landlord. I agreed to allow my landlord into the apartment to do some work on the bathroom. The work was to last no longer than 3 days which was fine given that I would be out of town for those days. Of course the work was not done upon my return and the bathroom contained no sink, tub or toilet — they were all in the living room. After many excuses and a whole week the landlord finally finished the work recently — six days after it had been promised — leaving me with none of the items mentioned above during those 6 days. Since the apartment with toilet, sink and tub is what I pay for every month I’m hoping to deduct the days off of my monthly rent. This total exceeds what the landlord has offered to deduct ($200 plus another $100 for a cleaning service)
Am I within my rights to deduct the 6 days off of my rent?
If the matter ends up in court it is the landlord’s fault. The landlord’s fault. You know, the person being unreasonable. Anyone suggesting that you lay down is helping to undermine the free society under law we live in.
This is assuming there was only one bathroom, the problem was not an act of god, and $300 is less than 6 days rent. The LL has the obligation to supply a hospitable apartment. I don’t understand why anyone would pay for a service not rendered. That would be like paying for a tree not cut down. Any days the LL does not do so the LL should not be paid. People insulting Oxygen’s post are insane
My spelling is rotten. So spank me.
“The idea is to inform people how ro fix a problem cheaply amd efficiently..”
That would be a clear violation of the Lawyer Code of Ethics.
Meev
Thank you for for taking a simple subkect and complicating everyine;s life on this post/
Let’s not forget the confusion/
The idea is to inform people how ro fix a problem cheaply amd efficiently..
Lawyer here, not a housing or L/T lawyer, but a real estate lawyer who is going to weigh in, but if there are other more qualfied professionals out there feel free to disagree with me. I have pasted the relevant section from the NYRPL below. Keep in mind, courts interpret the warranty very strictly- only conditions such as failure to provide electricity, heat (in winter) or running water for extended periods of time, infestations by pests or unsafe structural conditions will satisfy the strict test.
I agree with Oxygen that more facts are needed because whether or not the warranty was breached is a question of fact. If there is a second bathroom in the apartment, there is no way was a court would determine your your Warranty of Habitability was breached. Certain other factors may lean in your landlord’s favor: (1) you gave your landlord permission to do the work and a court may determine that it’s reasonable to expect delays and unless the landlord was negligent in completing the repairs on time, (2) if your landlord agreed to pay for a hotel stay and you elected to remain in the apartment, and/or (3) if your landlord provided you with access to his/her apartment to use the restroom thereby providing you with an alternate access to plumbing. Basically, I don’t think you have an open and shut case here as to whether a court would determine that your landlord breached the warranty.
What I will say is this, you do not have the right to just withhold rent. Withholding rent is a remedy that is intended to give the landlord financial incentive to repair the condition that renders a unit unihabitable. Generally, a tenant must send a letter to the landlord detailing the offending condition (notarization is not necessary here- no one is going to challenge whether or not you actually wrote and signed the letter; note however, it would be prudent to send the letter certified mail, return receipt requested and save both a copy of the letter and the delivery certification) and then fund the withheld amount into some escrow account pending resolution of the dispute in order to prove that you are willing and able to pay rent and not merely looking for a windfall. Otherwise, a landlord can sue its tenant for non-payment of rent. Then either party or the court would order an inspection of the premises if the condition is disputed and then, depending on the findings, the court would then order the landlord to repair the condition and award the tenant an abatement in rent calculated on the percentage of the premises that were untenable for the given time period.
I don’t think you want to sue your landlord for breach of the warranty and I don’t think you want to be sued for non-payment of rent either. Of course, if six days of per diem rent is significantly more than $300 (plus the savings in court costs and time) and if you don’t care about creating an adversarial and tense relationship with your landlord, that may change the cost/benefit analysis for you. I agree with the other posters who say your best bet is negotiate with your landlord for a reasonable rent abatement with your landlord. But negotiate a concession in advance and agree to it in writing; don’t resort to rent witholding and open up an ugly can of worms when it sounds like your landlord is reasonable.
New York State Real Property Law s. 235-b
The Warranty of Habitability
1.In every written or oral lease or rental agreement for residential premises the landlord or lessor shall be deemed to covenant and warrant that the premises so leased or rented and all areas used in connection therewith in common with other tenants or residents are fit for human habitation and for the uses reasonably intended by the parties and that the occupants of such premises shall not be subjected to any conditions which would be dangerous, hazardous or detrimental to their life, health or safety. When any such condition has been caused by the misconduct of the tenant or lessee or persons under his direction or control, it shall not constitute a breach of such covenants and warranties.
2.Any agreement by a lessee or tenant of a dwelling waiving or modifying his rights as set forth in this section shall be void as contrary to public policy.
3.In determining the amount of damages sustained by a tenant as a result of a breach of the warranty set forth in the section, the court; (a) need not require any expert testimony; and (b) shall, to the extent the warranty is breached or cannot be cured by reason of a strike or other labor dispute which is not caused primarily by the individual landlord or lessor and such damages are attributable to such strike, exclude recovery to such extent, except to the extent of the net savings, if any, to the landlord or lessor by reason of such strike or labor dispute allocable to the tenant’s premises, provided, however, that the landlord or lesser has made a good faith attempt, where practicable, to cure the breach. (c) where the premises is subject to regulation pursuant to the local emergency housing rent control law, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, the rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine or the city rent and rehabilitation law, reduce the amount awarded hereunder by the total amount of any rent reduction ordered by the state division of housing and community renewal pursuant to such laws or act, awarded to the tenant, from the effective date of such rent reduction order, that relates to one or more matters for which relief is awarded hereunder.
Thank you.
My advice is to examine the issue and amounts more carefully and then make an informed decision…and AT ALL COSTS avoid taking advice from landlords. Landlord’s will not represent the OP’s best interests.
The housing and civil courts exist to resolve disputes such as these. Judges will gladly inform you of this….that you are NOT wasting their time, it is what they are paid for. This situation…breech of warranty of habitability and withholding of rent, are among the most common housing court cases.
If the OP is not being adequately compensated for damages and the LL is unwilling to remedy this, she should by all means seek resolution in court. There was a oral contract that the work would be completed in 3 days.
Without the complete factual info about what transpired, any specific advice we give is unrelated to the OP’s specific situation.
Next time you are without use of your bathroom (…and your living room) for a week++…based on someone else’s breech of contract, you’ll have occasion to effectively evaluate it’s monetary value to you.
Great advice Oxygen, If you really want to tie up tremendous amounts of your time and the court system for a few hundred bucks….
You have a lease which is a contract. The LL is required to maintain the apartment, ‘warranty of habitability’. Furthermore, it sounds as if essential services were withheld. You were ‘constructively evicted’ from your bathroom and possibly your living room as well. If a LL is going to do repairs that will prevent you from using your apartment, he will generally need to relocate you (in another unit, hotel etc). Yes, your LL is liable to you. It is his fault. If his contractor breeched the repair contract then the LL can sue the contractor, or seek compensation from him…why should you be the one who is screwed? You were informed that the work would not last longer than three days.
The value of the compensation would need to be determined by your rent amount, the services/areas that were not fully usable and the duration. Perhaps inconvenience suffered would also be an issue. If you had rented a hotel room the LL while your apartment was undergoing those repairs, I’d think any judge would easily order reimbursement.
You can either negotiate for what you believe to be fair compensation, initiate a small claims court case, or withhold rent and let the LL take you to court and put in your answer with warranty of habitability defense.
You have to factor in what is reasonable compensation with the effort of court.
Without knowing the type of unit, your monthly rent, etc. it is impossible to calculate an abatement so take any advice given here with a grain of salt (i.e., a $300 abatement has a different meaning if your rent is $500, $1000, $5,000…how can anyone here offer reasonable advice without the essential facts?).
You would do better to consult tenant advocates for advice, rather than landlords.
Go here for a better discussion of the merits of various options then decide what is the best course of action:
http://tenant.net/phpBB2/
Good luck.
They re-install the toilet every night? Wow, that is amazing.