Landlord Refusing to Fix A Major Repair

TBone

TBone

New Member
I rent a home and 16 days ago I noticed a sink hole in my back yard. On the 15th day, the landlord decided it was serious enough to have somebody come and evaluate the situation. My septic has collapsed, leaving a huge sink hole and is now creeping up towards my home. The company doing the evaluating indicated that my deck has sunk approximately 8". The landlord calls today indicating he doesn't have the $8,000 to repair it. He proceeds ro ask me to pay for it. I don't own the home; therefore, I don't feel obligated to pay it. He yelled at me on the phone this afternoon that he was going to have me kicked out. I feel this is a retalitory action.

Does anybody have any legal advice as to how I should handle this situation or who in the county (Calvert) I could call?

Thank you in advance.
 
struggler44

struggler44

A Salute to all on Watch
TBone said:
I rent a home and 16 days ago I noticed a sink hole in my back yard. On the 15th day, the landlord decided it was serious enough to have somebody come and evaluate the situation. My septic has collapsed, leaving a huge sink hole and is now creeping up towards my home. The company doing the evaluating indicated that my deck has sunk approximately 8". The landlord calls today indicating he doesn't have the $8,000 to repair it. He proceeds ro ask me to pay for it. I don't own the home; therefore, I don't feel obligated to pay it. He yelled at me on the phone this afternoon that he was going to have me kicked out. I feel this is a retalitory action.

Does anybody have any legal advice as to how I should handle this situation or who in the county (Calvert) I could call?

Thank you in advance.
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Live as normal as long as you can; with a collapsed septic tank it won't be long...make sure your ready if your accussed of causing it to collapse
 
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ylexot

ylexot

Super Genius
First, I'd say look at your rental agreement and see what it says about who is liable for what repairs and on what grounds you can be kicked out.
 
T

tc_girl

New Member
he can't expect you to pay for repairs to his home. I don't think he can kick you out for that reason either, so I do believe you have a legal ground to stand on in that instance. I would look into it if I were you.
 
H

hammishsqueak

We're all mad here.
ylexot said:
First, I'd say look at your rental agreement and see what it says about who is liable for what repairs and on what grounds you can be kicked out.
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Agreed.

Side story. When I was trying to get a place outside of College Park for school, I found a condo room for rent. It seemed like a good deal until I started reading the lease and notice that it stated that if her pipes went bad, the oven broke, etc. I would have to pay 50% of the cost of replacement or repair even though I couldn't leave at the end of my lease without taking 50% of, for example, the oven with me. I think that there was even something in the lease that if she decided she wanted to put down new flooring I'd have to chip in, too! Needless to say, I didn't end up living there. The woman who wrote the lease was supposedly a law student, but I'm not sure how legal it is for the landlord to ask you to pay for these things.
 
A

aosmiles

New Member
Call the housing authority. Could lend to constructive eviction-if it does create a huge mess and the house becomes unliveable. See if there is anything that can be done. Do read your lease-some indicate that you have to pay some repairs; most don't make you pay for major repairs like that. It is not like you caused the collapse.
 
desertrat

desertrat

0_0
TBone said:
I rent a home and 16 days ago I noticed a sink hole in my back yard. On the 15th day, the landlord decided it was serious enough to have somebody come and evaluate the situation. My septic has collapsed, leaving a huge sink hole and is now creeping up towards my home. The company doing the evaluating indicated that my deck has sunk approximately 8". The landlord calls today indicating he doesn't have the $8,000 to repair it. He proceeds ro ask me to pay for it. I don't own the home; therefore, I don't feel obligated to pay it. He yelled at me on the phone this afternoon that he was going to have me kicked out. I feel this is a retalitory action.

Does anybody have any legal advice as to how I should handle this situation or who in the county (Calvert) I could call?

Thank you in advance.
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I don't know who to call, but tell him good luck in finding another renter.
 
A

aosmiles

New Member
And, as an aside, he has nothing to gain by "kicking you out." You did nothing to cause it so it is his responsibility.
 
mAlice

mAlice

professional daydreamer
GWguy

GWguy

*
TBone said:
I rent a home and 16 days ago I noticed a sink hole in my back yard. On the 15th day, the landlord decided it was serious enough to have somebody come and evaluate the situation. My septic has collapsed, leaving a huge sink hole and is now creeping up towards my home. The company doing the evaluating indicated that my deck has sunk approximately 8". The landlord calls today indicating he doesn't have the $8,000 to repair it. He proceeds ro ask me to pay for it. I don't own the home; therefore, I don't feel obligated to pay it. He yelled at me on the phone this afternoon that he was going to have me kicked out. I feel this is a retalitory action.

Does anybody have any legal advice as to how I should handle this situation or who in the county (Calvert) I could call?

Thank you in advance.
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I would think that the landlord woulod be resonsible for all repairs, but that should be defined in the lease agreement. If not, contact a lawyer.

And note what I bolded above. NOT your house. NOT your septic. AVOID saying that to ANYONE or you may wind up having to foot the bill solely on what you 'claim' is yours, the landlord might use that against you. It is HIS septic, and HIS house. You just rent.
 
unixpirate

unixpirate

Pitty Party
struggler44 said:
Live as normal as long as you can; with a collapsed septic tank it won't be long...make sure your ready if your accussed of causing it to collapse
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When mine collapsed and I owned the home, they told me we couldn't live in the house because the septic was going into the ground. So we left for about a week till someone came out. Check your laws and call the health department.
 
cattitude

cattitude

My Sweetest Boy
Maryland Landlord Tenant Laws from the Annotated Code of Maryland

Legal Resources

On the left, go to Real Property..wait for that to come up and then go to Landlord Tenant..it will bring up each Section.

Like Unix said, call the Health Department and get a report and then go to the court.
 
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RPMDAD

RPMDAD

Well-Known Member
Agree with other posters, read your lease, and be ready to move.
In parts of Calvert at one time they used metal septic tanks and over the years they rust away and collapse, at that point septic is going in to the ground and backing up in to the house if bad enough. This would definitely make the house unrentable and in most cases unsellable. I think i read earlier that the quote was $8,000.00, and if that is the case he must know somebody. I have a buddy who had property, with a similar situation and i think it ended up costing him closer to 13,000.00 to have the metal septic tank dug up and replaced with another tank and drain fields put in.
 
RPMDAD

RPMDAD

Well-Known Member
cattitude said:
I used to work for a Landlord-Tenant attorney in Prince George's County. You can pay your rent into escrow until repairs are made..see the procedure here.. Do you have a viable lease?

Maryland Attorney General - Consumer Publications - Landlord and Tenants
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Agree with cat on this one. You could set up an escrow acct. until repairs are made. The only problem is you can't really live there with a failed septic system.

14. rent escrow What is and what triggers it?
It's a dramatic way to get a landlord's attention in a time of dispute: instead of paying your rent to your landlord, you put it into an escrow account at a bank until the landlord comes to terms. It is not an action to take lightly. The courts will set up a rent escrow account only if your landlord fails to make repairs or improvements to serious or dangerous deficiencies in your home. In addition to serious health or fire hazards, problems worthy of rent escrow can also include:

Lack of heat, light or utilities.
Lack of proper sewage disposal.
Rodents.
Lead paint.
Structural defects.
A rent escrow will not be created to force landlords to make what are essentially cosmetic repairs.
 
K

keepsmiling

New Member
Calvert County Government 410 535-1600, ask to speak with Code Enforcement, if they can't help you they will know who can. Good luck.
 
Beta84

Beta84

They're out to get us
aosmiles said:
And, as an aside, he has nothing to gain by "kicking you out." You did nothing to cause it so it is his responsibility.
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:yeahthat:

If they kick you out there isn't a chance in hell anyone else would rent it (at least for what you're paying), so they'd not only be forced to pay for the repair but they'd also be losing out on rent.

I'd start looking around for possible places to live in case the person is a complete moron. It's also possible there's something in your lease that discusses if the place is unlivable where you could leave without it being a breach of the lease, since that might come to pass if they don't repair it soon.
 
sockgirl77

sockgirl77

Well-Known Member
I'm just going to go out on a limb here and assume that the OP doesn't have a lease to rental agreement.
 
Beta84

Beta84

They're out to get us
sockgirl77 said:
I'm just going to go out on a limb here and assume that the OP doesn't have a lease to rental agreement.
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no rental agreement means they don't need to pay for the repairs and they can find another place to live. simple enough.
 
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