tenant rights

Photo by PoPville flickr user Jim Havard

“Dear PoPville,

My pipes froze Sunday and no one in our house (I’m downstairs in the English basemen and there are 5 people upstairs) has been able to use the water or bathroom since Sunday morning.

Our landlord sent a contractor out who determined the frozen pipe is under the ground. She has not offered any solutions except that we need to wait until it warms up…which could be 4 or 5 days from now. When I asked about what we are supposed to do for a bathroom she said to go to a friends house and that there is nothing she can do.

I’m wondering if anyone has any insight on this. Do we have to pay a full months rent even though the house has no running water? Does the landlord need to try and fix the problem or is waiting until it warms up a reasonable response? We have been showering and using the bathroom in Giant and WSC in Columbia Heights.

Would love to hear some opinions!”

Photo by PoPville flickr user nevermindtheend

Ed. Note: Info from the office of the tenant advocate can be found here

“Dear PoPville,

Here’s the deal:

1) I paid two months advance rent and a security deposit, all totalling 6400, to occupy a single family home with an illegal basement unit.The landlord did not have an active license at the time he rented the unit but acquired roughly two months later, after I called the matter to his attention. However, I signed a one year lease which began in August 2014.

2) At the time of renting the place, the landlord said that he intended to rent the basement, and there was an ad for the unit on Craigslist at the same time my apartment was on the market. The landlord said that he would charge me $200 in rent per month to cover my half of the utilities. However, I discovered and brought to his attention that he only had license to rent the unit as a single family home per zoning restrictions for the area.

3) I was in the process of selling my primary residence and so I spent several evenings preparing at my old place, preparing it for sale. Also, the chemicals used to clean the carpet exacerbated by allergies and caused rash breakouts for my 3 year old daughter. While I was away, the landlord entered the property several times without any notice – once to clean the carpet, once to turn out the lights.

4) My house did not close on the scheduled date, and I was a little hard on cash, so I was unable to pay November rent. Just before Thanksgiving, I noticed that the landlord shifted my daughters toys and cleaned the carpet – again wihtout notice.

5) Two days after Thanksgiving, the landlord sent a text message to tell me that he had moved my things to the basement of the apartment. I texted back asking why. He phoned back and told me that he needed to move my things because he had rented the place to another person. He said I could arrange to meet him at the basement to retrieve my furniture and personal belongings.

6) I am scheduled to close on my house on December 5th, and I now have no place to stay because the landlord has moved my things and rented my place to someone else.

And so now…. I am freaked out trying to find another place. I wonder if I have any recourse or what steps I can take against the landlord. I have never been in this situation before, and I would greatly appreciate receiving any help or advice that Popvillians can offer.

PLEASE HELP!!!!”

Photo by PoPville flickr user JEO Photography

“Dear PoPville,

I have a question about landlord responsibilities that I would love the community’s response to. I live in an older building and a few weeks ago, my next door neighbor’s apartment flooded, due to a leak in the heating and cooling unit. The leak spread to my apartment through the walls and floors, and the wood flooring in my unit now needs to be replaced. It’s cracked and bubbling- in some places the floor has popped up as high as 6 inches. The walls also show signs of water damage.

We’ve been trying to get them to replace the floors for several weeks – they’ve made appointments and missed them on several occasions, which is relevant in that I need to have my dog out of the apartment and in day care, which gets expensive. This week, they finally came to inspect the floors and decided that they needed to replace the floors entirely, and we’ll need to move out of the apartment for 48 hours (furniture and all!).

What is their responsibility in handling this situation? I’ve asked to be moved to another unit in the building while they do the work, but that may not happen for a while and I’m concerned about mold. And should I expect a rent abatement as a result of this damage / having to move out of the apartment temporarily?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user NCinDC

“Dear PoPville,

Two of my good female friends in their late 20s are looking for a place in DC. They both have great full-time jobs and excellent references. They went to look at a 2br townhouse apartment yesterday and the landlord weirdly asked them where they were going to sleep, which is totally creepy in its own right. When he realized they are a lesbian couple (neither presents as “stereotypically queer” and he was totally civil until they said they were planning to use the 2nd bedroom as an office) he started talking about charging them all kinds of additional fees and putting on additional restrictions to rent the apartment (a fee for the backyard, unlisted hefty application fee, “for you I’m going to say no pets” when they said they have a small dog even though the listing clearly allowed pets, higher security deposit than what’s allowed by DC code, etc.).

I’ve encouraged them to file a complaint with the DC Office of Human Rights to report the landlord for housing discrimination. The problem is that this isn’t necessarily prima facie housing discrimination, since it’s not like he listed “NO GAYS” in his advertisement and never directly refused to rent to them. Has anyone else had this experience? What did you do about it, if anything? They clearly won’t be living there, but are there other ways to flag this chump so others don’t unwittingly sign a lease and have to deal with his bullshit if they happen to be LGBTQ?”