Is there any breach of our lease if our landlord supplied a faulty device which may have put our lives in danger?
Question Details:
We are renting a house ans 2 weeks ago we smelled a weird odor when we got home; it was coming from our basement. I didn't know exactly what gas smelled like but I wanted to be safe so we called the fire department. When they got there they found no gas leak but they did find that our furnace was leaking enough carbon monoxide that the gas department had to shut it off. They also found that the carbon monoxide detector that our landlord supplied was 15 years old and not functional. This came to us as no surprise since our landlord is kind of a slumlord. What I am trying to ask, is there any breach in our lease since he supplied a faulty device that may have put our lives in danger. We would really like to move out of this house ASAP.
Landlord / Tenant Law Answers
Whether or not the landlord's possible supply of a defective device for the unit that you are staying in could be deemed a breach of the lease warranting you to end it is not really the issue that I see with respect to the question that you have written about. Rather, the key issue is whether or not the condition of the rental is so unsafe from a living standpoint per the local health department or building and permit department where you need to move out?
From what you have written, it does not seem that the conduct that the landlord did concerning the faulty device that endangered your lives warrant termininating the lease at this point in time. If the landlord is kind of a slumlord, you might wish to consult with a landlord tenant attorney about the situation you are writing about further.
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