Renters rights about Maintenance & Repairs?

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ok so the area we live in ( we rent a 2 bd apt) is really nice however the upkeep of the inside dont get much attention ( the spend every bit of their time making the outside and landscape perfect). and about a month ago my DH and i and a few neighbors notice that the stairs were pulling away from the wall . so we made many calls to the office to ask for someone to fix them and they never did. well one day our neighbors were comming home ( they are not small people niether are we) and the husband fell throught the stairs! it broke completely and he fell to the ground. well then they had a maintenance man come fix them and he just put a couple of boards under the step to fix it. however now those are comming out of the wall and the stairs are starting to rock again when you step on them and i am very fearful that i being pregnant and carrying maddy will fall throught the steps and so i call again about a week ago to report it and no one has come out to look at them again. so does anyone have any suggestions on how to get them too take my concern about the steps and actually do something about it and not just put a bandaid and to have them fix it for good. and do i have any right as a renter to ask for an inspector to come out and look at it ?

yes you do by all means call the local building inspector so they can check this out. also you can withhold your rent in an escrow account until the steps are fixed correctly - you must send a certified letter to the landlord first notifying them of the problem and that you will withhold rent if it is not fixed within so many days. Make sure you get that receipt that they got the letter and hold onto it. If it were me I would go the letter route first and the inspector second if nothing is done. good luck

Yes you do have the right to repairs being made. Try calling an attorney who specializes in housing issues. At the very least, they should be able to tell you who to contact. Possibly the health department could help you and definitely mention that a neighbor has already fallen through them.

You'll need to contact the Building Codes department of your local municipality. Most building codes officers will be out that day or at most, the next day. They will issue a citation to the owner and give them a specific time to have the proper repair made and the inspector will come back out to inspect the repair.

Failing to comply with the Codes Dept. demands will land the owner in court to answer to a judge.

I usually don't advise people to go this route but since you have already tried the nice way and your neighbor has actually been injured, its clearly time to start getting serious.

Good Luck

I'm a landlord and generally take the landlord's side against tenants here, but this AIN'T right. You DESERVE a solid stairs on which to walk in order to use your premises.

This landlord/management firm is a few straws short of a full bale. One person has ALREADY fallen through the stairs, and that alone should have been one HUGE red flag. What would these idiots do had your that person fallen 'the wrong way' snapped a vertebrae and become paralyzed ? There is NO excuse for allowing a situation this dangerous to be handled by 'a few support boards.

I agree with the others here. Call your municipality's building inspector and request an inspection of that staircase. Hopefully, he will CONDEMN that staircase and order that it immediately be replaced.

That entire staircase should be replaced without further question, regardless of cost.

Sounds like a lawsuit for the person that got hurt.....

First: make sure they got the bill from all medical expenses and make sure this has been recorded for future use, possibly in a court action.
Second: you can't make them fix it, in fact, they can evict you for harassing them.

If these are the property managers then contact the company or the agents for the company if these people are not the same. I'm saying "go to the top" and tell them of what happen in the past and it's going to happen again. Don't threaten to sue but, keep it in the back of your mind. Make sure you follow through and get all names and dates, costs.

All you can do is ask. maybe they're doing this to get rid of you? I've seen it happen before.