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jasonkl
Dec 2, 2011, 12:03 PM
For two months now I have not had a oven rack, just bought one and the fridge has went out for the second time and all food went bad, after 4 days for no calls back I went and bought one and replaced all the food. Typed up a letter with all the totals and subtracted it from the rent and paid the diff. Then they came out and put a note on the door that they are not going to except the letter I need to pay the rest of my rent and they have not been out to do anything still after 2 weeks! What do I do?

JudyKayTee
Dec 2, 2011, 12:06 PM
Do you have a lease? Month to month?

Did you notify the landlord IN WRITING that you had an emergency situation (and I know it's not always possible).

Have they taken a look at the old refrigerator to verify it could not be repaired?

You can go to Small Claims Court and sue THEM for the "improvements" - the oven and refrigerator. Or you can wait until you are evicted and sued for back rent and then countersue.

Or you can attempt to negotiate a settlement.

I've been a tenant. I'm a landlord. I see both sides of this situation. It's a difficult "call" to make. A lot will depend on what a reasonable person would have done - call a repair person, replace the appliance, something else.

joypulv
Dec 2, 2011, 12:08 PM
You need to tell us what your lease says about appliances.
There is a reasonable expectation about things not in a lease, but appliances that are not affixed (stoves are considered more of a fixture than an easily removable fridge, for example) are more iffy in court. You do not have the guaranteed right to subtract purchases of new appliances and food, sorry. It will depend on the court. You might want to sue the landlord in small claims, since it sounds like you are about to be evicted. I hope you sent all your notices about what was broken in writing.

twinkiedooter
Dec 2, 2011, 05:41 PM
Did you call a repairman to declare the fridge unfixable or did you just go out and buy a new one without the repairperson's looking at the appliance? If you just went out and bought a new fridge, then you probably just ended up buying your landlord a new appliance that may or may not have been needed.

And oven racks are cheap enough to buy on your own.