My sister in law recently rented a detached studio apartment from an aunt. They had no written contract, but the gist was that she was to pay $75 every two weeks. When she was moving in, the studio had no heat,or air. It had water and electric, but in this part of MO she is on a 24/7 boil order, due to lead. She was told by the aunt that a new water heater, and window air unit were going to be put in, and that the gas was going to be reconnected.
Fast forward 4-5 months, and we have a problem. The gas/water heater/air conditioning has still not been installed. Sister in law has now refused to pay rent because of this. Her father went out to the property and fixed the gas line so that the gas could be turned back on, and she still does not have gas, and in addition, a tornado has gone through, damaging her car in the process (on the aunt's property). The relatives will not make a claim to their insurance regarding her car, and they now refuse to fix the problems with the rental property, they are now claiming that Sister in law has to pay them rent before they fix anything.

Currently, Sister in law has been evicted. Aunt told her to get out, gave her a week notice, and changed the locks.- I know that in MO this act in itself if unlawful... they have to go through the courts in order to evict her. Sister in law is now being harassed by Aunt to pay the rent she owed.
My questions are: Who broke the contract first- the aunt by not bringing the property up to safety code levels, or the sister in law for refusing to pay rent after asking them to fix said items. Who is liable for the car damage- it happened on Aunts property, but this has also been 4 months ago- is it too late to submit a claim? And finally, is sister in law Legally obligated to pay the past due rent, or was the ORAL contract broken by the aunt before the refusal to pay rent? Also, is the aunt in danger of being able to be charged with harassing because of the calls and threats to sister in law?

I'm sorry this is so long, I'm just trying to help this girl out- she's young, not a lot of money, and just starting out- the aunt started this as a goodwill gesture, and it's turned into this mess. I'm just trying to answer some questions for myself, so that I can help sister in law out without hurting her more. I believe that under MO law she was not supposed to refuse to pay rent, but I need to know if the aunt has a case against her, or if a judge will throw the case out, if it came to that
Thanks in advance!

Your sister may have been within her rights to withhold rental if she did it correctly. She needed to give written notice to the landlord that, if the repairs were not made within a specified time frame she would be withholding rental. She should then have paid the rent into a savings account.

The aunt was definitely out of line in changing the locks. And that is going to make her look very bad in court.

As for the car, insurance may not cover it at all. But if it was parked on the aunt's property it makes sense to put in a claim against her insurance.

, and in addition, a tornado has gone through, damaging her car in the process (on the aunt's property). The relatives will not make a claim to their insurance regarding her car, and they now refuse to fix the problems with the rental property, they are now claiming that Sister in law has to pay them rent before they fix anything. !




Comprehensive on the car should pay for the damage to the car - the aunt's homeowners may very well have a clause which excludes damages to vehicles on the property. Mine does but I'm in NYS.

If a claim is to be made against aunt I don't see her liability - what she either didn't do or should have done that caused the damage. Appears a good chance it's an act of God.

Girl should check with her own insurance company, familiar with the laws in your area, and ask.

Otherwise, Scott addressed it all 100%.

If it's not a legal apartment, the aunt is in the wrong for even thinking of renting it out.

The car is iffy. Unless the aunt did something that made it more likely to be damaged in the tornado (had an unsound carport, for example, that collapsed on the car), I don't see her being at all responsible for the damages. It was an Act of God, and should be covered by the car's insurance. If you don't carry comprehensive insurance, that is the risk that you run.

But my biggest question is why someone is boiling water due to lead. All that's going to do is increase the concentration of the lead in the water, and make the situation worse.

Thank you for your answers- It helped me clear up my mind a little!
I agree the car damage was due to an act of God- it's just that with the rest of this mess things get a little out of hand!
This was not a legal apartment. It's a room attached to the garage with a kitchenette/bathroom.
As for withholding rent, she did give written notice, but in the end did stop paying rent. The best I can tell is that both parties were in the wrong at some point, and this is just another example of why family shouldn't rent to family without a written contract.
As for the water boiling- in some towns in MO, it is a 24/7 boil order (I believe... the more I look this up, I don't understand why a boil order for lead either). Most families buy drinking water, and only use the tap water for cooking/bathing. This is only secondhand experience for me, since we live in a different town, but due to the heaving mining activities that happened in this area, most of the wells are contaminated. Again, most families do buy drinking water, and some have heavy duty filtration systems to remove as much as possible.
Once again, thank you all for your time and advice- it really has helped me to collect my thoughts and straighten out my advice to my sister in law!