My roommate and i moved into this house on october first of this year and have been having nothing but problems since we moved in. I know the laws are different in every state, we live in RI. I know there must be some people here with law degrees so below is a list that i wrote for my lawyer. Its a list of all of the problems that we have had since we moved in. We have already signed a new lease and will be moving out in 2 weeks and breaking the current lease. I know the former landlord is going to try to sue us but my lawyer said we might be able to do the same to him for lying to us and causing us all of the hastle of having to move out. What to you think? Does the fact that he did not have permits to remodel a single family home into a 3 family home void our lease? We are sick of getting screwed by this guy. See below: 1 – The house was advertised to us as ‘quiet living in this country setting, relax and write your novel’. We have had no quiet, peace or privacy since the day we moved in. Above us live 2 untrained dogs that run around and bark. Neighbors have to come through part of our apartment to get to the stairs that lead to their apartment. We were not made aware of this until after we had moved in. 2 – We were told that the sunroom was part of our apartment and as stated above, when we moved in we discovered that the tenants above have to go through it to get to their apartment. We were told that the porch on the side of the house would be for our use and private entrance but now we are sharing it with the newer tenants. 3 – The biggest catch to the house for us was the fact that it had a huge back yard. It wasn’t until the park department cut down my clothes line and threw it on our steps that we learned that it was not our back yard, but it was owned by city. 4 – The house was advertised to us as a 3 bedroom. After looking at the house, we realized that it was only a 2 bedroom, but could made into a 3 bedroom by calling the living room a bedroom. Making the living room into a bedroom was ok, other than the fact that roommates would have to go through the room to get to the 2nd bedroom. We were told that a wall would be put up to stop this issue but that would require renovations to the apartment while we were living in it. 5 – The tenants above us work during the day and are awake during the night. They have caused us over 30 sleepless nights since we moved in Oct 1st, 2006. We had complained but it was of no help as every sound they make from walking around, to going in and out of their apartment echo’s through our entire floor and keeps us awake at night. They also have 2 untrained dogs that bark and run around and there is no carpeting or insulation to prevent any noise from transferring to our apartment. 6 – The heat has been a problem since we first started using it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it does work, it only works in select rooms. In my roommates room the heat has never worked. We received an electric heater to use but it does not heat her room warm enough. We were told we that the issue would be fixed and it had not been fixed after a month from the time of the first complaint. 7 – Parking became an issue when an additional 2 tenants moved into the second apartment above us. That totals 6 cars in a driveway that is meant to hold 2. Ami and I have since had to park on a lawn to accommodate the new tenants with a parking spot. Also, when it rains out, the entire driveway gets flooded with inches of water that we have to walk through to get to our cars. Additionally, I have had to park on the street during several occasions when I came home and the parking lot was too full for me to get my car into the driveway and onto the lawn. 8 – We checked with city hall and found that the house is listed as a single family home. There was no permit obtained to make it a 3 family house and the house is not zoned as a 3 family home. Also, even if our apartment were a 3 bedroom apartment, it would not meet zoning standards which would require renovations to be made. If the apartment were renovated properly, we would not be having problems with noise through our ceiling or have to deal with the other tenants having to walk through our apartment to get to theirs. 9 – We have reason to believe that our electricity is not wired properly. Our first electric bill was almost $150 and should never have been so high. We believe that we may be paying for some of the other apartments electricity.
I think your attorney is the best person to answer your questions. A lot of what you posted does not seem to be grounds to terminate a lease. Depending on the length of your lease, you might only be able to dispute what what actually written in the lease. Going into court and saying you think the electricity bill is too high isn't going to carry any weight without any proof. $150 a month doesn't seem very high to me - especially with electric heating. A "big backyard" is subjective - were you actually shown the property line, or did you assume? We're you guaranteed a certain parking space in the written lease? A lot of these issues should have been in the actual lease otherwise it is going to be hard/impossible to prove there was a breach. Without going over the actual lease, it's impossible to judge - which is why you should be consulting your attorney.
ok. i will hope he answers for me. I already told the landlord i am moving and he will be hearing from my lawyer. In RI the tenant/landlord laws are in the tenants favor, always. my landlord only cares about lining his pockets and he misled us. I have all the original ads from the apartment and he clearly lied in them.
You may want to look into some of the property rental and law websites out there. Many of them have forums as well where you can pose the same question to other landlords, lawyers, etc. Sounds to be like you have come across a slumlord -- or a dishonest businessman.
Hi, I am a landlord in PA and i'm on your side. Even if this guy does take you to court and try to sue you, it would take an act of congress for him to actually collect. That is if he wins, which I doubt that he would. I would call the local codes enforcement people and alert them to the fact it's not licensed as a 3 family apartment... I will try to find my landlord tenant law file and post it to my landlord website for you if you like. Good Luck... Rideswitch
I wanted to add that the electric company here in PA did a FREE crosswiring check for me in a 6 unit that I own at the request of a tenant who thought they were paying for others electricity too. So check with your electric company and tell they you have reason to believe your building is crosswired and they may check it for free...
i really appreciate all of your help. I am going to do whatever it takes to get out of this. I wish we could make himpay damages. No one likes to move and we are both pretty pissed off!