How can I have a landlord deemed a SLUMLORD? The three family home that he rents out has become uninhabitable. There are rats, no hot water, black mold in the home and in the basement, electrical problems and he want make the proper repairs just patch work.

I don't know where you live, but around where I live, all someone would have to do is to complain to city officials who are in charge of the inspection of rental housing. They would come and do an inspection and the owner of the property would be fined if things where not brought up to code.

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Originally Posted by Clough

I don't know where you live, but around where I live, all someone would have to do is to complain to city officials who are in charge of the inspection of rental housing. They would come and do an inspection and the owner of the property would be fined if things where not brought up to code.

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I live in New Jersey... And he knows people that come out and do the inpections, especially for the city anyway. Who else can I contact?

You need to go to whatever governmental authority oversees rental housing in your area. If the inspectors don't take action or he ignores the violations, you can then sue or take it to the media.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

You need to go to whatever governmental authority oversees rental housing in your area. If the inspectors don't take action or he ignores the violations, you can then sue or take it to the media.

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Thanks I'm not sure what's going to work maybe I will do both. I'ts ridiculous, because, he's know about these problems and he waits until a judge says he has to fix the problems in my apartment by the set date that he had given him. And I am to pay him rent. But I decided not to because I knew if I was to continue to pay him the rent, he would continue to let the problems stand as he has. But of course he just came to my apartment to fix the ceiling in my bathroom and fix the wiring in the bathroom so the light would work once again which was destroyed from a leak. And which also caused mold to form on the ceiling in the bathroom. And he thought that if he just cut a piece of the ceiling out that had the mold the most noticeable that it would solve the problem. But it hasn't. Not only has the ceiling began to leak again, the plaster or whatever they put up there is starting to crack and drop off and there is still mold up there as well in the basement of the apartment which he said had nothing to do with me, which is crap because I live on the first floor with my children and the basement (full) is right under my apartment and there is mold in every part of it.:eek:

Have you called your State Health Department? Black mold is a serious condition that can can serious health problems. Black mold - there are buildings that have to be condemned because of it.

You say this guy has ties to the people who inspect the buildings - then call the highest authority you can think of - go over the city officials if you have to. Going to the media is a great idea - local and even beyond (someone like Oprah or Montel). Take the guy to court - you can do that via the media too with Judge Judy or the People's Court.

You can't just withhold rent, that can get you evicted. What you need to do in a case like this is send a notice to the landlord detailing all the repairs that are needed. Give the landlord a time frame to get them repaired. Advise that if the repairs are not effected by then, you will be withholding rent payments putting them into an escrow account until the repairs are made. Further advide that if the repairs are not made by a later date, that you will use the rent monies you have deposited in escrow to hire someone to make the repairs.