Renters Question: Am I Out Of Luck Here?
Question by guardianofthemoon: Renters Question: Am I Out Of Luck Here?
Ok, I just moved into a house that I am renting. I have 3 daughters. When we moved in the landlord insisted there would be a stove and fridge, as I am having a difficult time, that was a concern of mine.He did tell me that he was going to replace the existing stove and fridge with other ones, his exact words were “We can do you one better” and I told him after moving in that we were very happy with the ones we had, and that we would prefer to keep them, yet he insisted.
So Saturday, he has some guys come and take the old ones out. Now, he tells me that in total this move will take an hour max, so to put my food on ice and it should be fine. Well, the guys come and don’t come back for 4 hours, I lost everything I had. At least $ 100 worth of food, and my income can not sustain that at this time.
When “his boys” do show up, the stove is older but it’s fine, it works yeah! But the fridge is disgusting. First, it came out of his garage and is covered with mold all around the door edges, I took bleach and tried to clean it, but to my dismay it won’t come off. I called him, he basicaly tells me that this is what I agreed to, and as to the food, sorry about my luck.
I was furious and hurt. I sent him an email stating that unless he would like me to take the rent money and buy a new fridge, he better give me a) either the old one back or b)supply me with one that was just as good.
Now, my question is, am I in the right to withhold rent for this situation. It is awful and no one would want to eat what comes out of this fridge. Here we are with the holidays coming up, and I have no way to store food. A new fridge is going to cost a lot, and even if I buy a used one, it is still going to cost me.
Does anyone else have any alternate suggestions. Or, am I doing the right thing? PS> this crappy fridge is also leaking water all over the floor. Really it is unusable.
Thanks
Guardianofthemoon
Best answer:
Answer by rojo
You dont have the right to withhold rent. He will sue & win. However, if u were to sue then maybe u could get that money back, but that again costs money & time. The funny thing is, u didnt really “agree” to new fridge he insisted. Its not right but if u just withhold rent youll be even worse off. Heres what I think he did. He wanted that fridge & stove for his own place & swapped them & made it seem like u were getting an upgrade. He scammed u. Find a new place & move out.
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January 24th, 2012 at 5:43 am
Geeze he sounds like a sleaze. Tell him the fridge is leaking and that the appliances you saw when you signed the lease were what you expected or better. Deduct the amount of lost food and use of the apartment detail the issue in a letter to him with your payment. In the letter state that if this is not rectified in the next few weeks he can expect a further deduction next month and that this letter will be forwarded to the local housing authority if he has not resolved it by that time.
Do not withhold the entire rent only the amount for your losses.
Rent: X $
- 100 for food
- X for cleaning supplies
- X for loss of a functioning fridge.
Take pictures. document…document document.