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-   -   Paying for invisible amenties (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=553550)

  • Feb 11, 2011, 09:29 AM
    edrobinson82
    Paying for invisible amenties
    I am going on year 2 with my apartment complex and I am paying for amenties that were promised to me in a document and never delivered. The neighborhood I chose to live in wasn't all that great. I don't drive but the complex offered an in building laundry facility. That amenity was the determining factor. That was never delivered along with a couple other amenties that were established a year into my lease. Should I be compensated? How should I go about reducing my rent legally? I have asked them over ten times to look into the status of the laundry room and no one knows a deadline.
  • Feb 11, 2011, 09:57 AM
    JudyKayTee

    It all depends on how your lease is written.

    What is the EXACT wording concerning the "amentities" you are not receiving?

    What you do next depends on the wording. Promises are one thing; guarantees are another.

    A lease is a written document and any changes or additions and/or PROMISES must also be in writing or else they are NOT enforceable.
  • Feb 11, 2011, 10:20 AM
    edrobinson82
    Comment on JudyKayTee's post
    Before I signed the lease, the property manager and I were e-mailing back and forth. In an e-mail, I asked confirmed that there would be a laundry facility on-site. The property manager confirmed that there would be, along with free wi fi and added security cameras.
  • Feb 11, 2011, 10:25 AM
    JudyKayTee

    Unless that is written in your lease it is NOT enforceable. What does the lease say?

    When was this supposed to happen - or was it open ended?

    You can always go to Court and argue but I think you will lose.
  • Feb 11, 2011, 10:33 AM
    excon
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by edrobinson82 View Post
    no one knows a deadline.

    Hello ed:

    You included, my Good Sir, and that may come back to bite you... By NOT acting when your FIRST deadline expired, you may have waived your rights.

    There's a theory in law called laches. It means that an opposing party (you) has "slept on its rights," and that, as a result of this delay, that party (you) is no longer entitled to its original claim.

    excon
  • Feb 11, 2011, 03:04 PM
    AK lawyer
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by excon View Post
    .... By NOT acting when your FIRST deadline expired, you may have waived your rights.

    When OP wrote "no one knows a deadline.", I believe he was saying that no one knows when the amenities will be ready for use.

    Also there is the parole evidence rule: if a written contract (such as the lease, in this case) is completely "integrated" (in other words, seems to include the whole subject matter of the agreement), statements, understandings, writings, (e-mails in this case) etc. extrinsic to "the four corners of" the contact are not admissible to prove the terms of the contract.
  • Feb 11, 2011, 09:24 PM
    Fr_Chuck

    OK, first no the emails mean almost nothing, only what is actually in the contract itself.

    Next most likely it does not allow for reduced rent, but would or may if they were promised specificly in the lease, as a reason to find them in default and be able to move.

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