What to do if my landlord refuses to pay for our heat to be fixed?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
What to do if my landlord refuses to pay for our heat to be fixed?
It says in our lease we are required to maintain a service contract. However, no other tenants we have spoken to have done this in the past and thus we don’t have one. She can’t provide us with the name of the company that previous tenants “supposedly” used. I told her that we would setup a new one, but that according to our lease, she’s responsible for whatever goes over $100 for maintenance and repairs for every instance. Thus we should pay $100 of the maintenance service fee and $100 for repairs – that’s it. However, her response to me was this: “Not exactly, the maintenance contract is your requirement…”.
Asked on December 16, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Virginia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Your lease is a contract: you and the landlord are both bound by its terms. If the lease obligates you to set up and pay the basic charges of a maintenance contract, that's what you have to do--and if the lease says thel andlord pays amounts over $100, that's what she does. If the landlord will not voluntarily honor her contractual obligations, you could sue her to recover any amounts to which you are entitled.
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Your lease is a contract: you and the landlord are both bound by its terms. If the lease obligates you to set up and pay the basic charges of a maintenance contract, that's what you have to do--and if the lease says thel andlord pays amounts over $100, that's what she does. If the landlord will not voluntarily honor her contractual obligations, you could sue her to recover any amounts to which you are entitled.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.