My ex-husband lives in an apartment, he moved into this apartment in Aug. 2008. Upon moving in his refrigerator, stove and dishwasher never worked. He informed apt. mgr about issues after moving in and noticing problems. We have 2 small children that spend time with him. After paying his rent on schedule nothing was done to rectify problems with the apartment, so he quit paying his rent in Nov until things were fixed. The landlord finally fixed everything in Jan. Does my ex-husband owe this back rent for Nov. and Dec.

Oklahoma has a repair and deduct law. The tenant must notify the landlord in writing of any repairs needed. The landlord then has 14 days to make the repairs. If the landlord fails to make repairs, then the tenant can hire a repair person himself and deduct the amount from the rent.

The law also states that rent can only be withheld when essential services are not provided. Essential services are listed as heat, hot water & electricity.

Actually the landlord could have started eviction procedures once the rent was late back in November.

So it seems that according to state law, your husband does owe back rent for the months of November & December.

Will agree with Lill to this, he never had a "right" to withhold rent, if he paid to have them fix, but if the landlord fixed them, he owes his rent.

If this was me, I would go see the landlord and try to work out a agreement to the payment, the landlord may be OK with a partial rent.

Yes he does owe rent for the months he lived there and did not pay. He could get evicted if he does not pay.