What can I do about landlord harassment?
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What can I do about landlord harassment?
My girlfriend and I have been renting a house for a little over a year. There have been a couple times the landlord has come over and run his mouth at me and then he also came over and harassed my girlfriend about our dogs, even though pets were allowed in this unit. Recently things have been getting uglier and we asked them to fix the leaking roof when we moved in 15 months ago. The roof is still not fixed and the other day he came in my yard and started screaming at me about harassing his employees when all I did was ask this stranger in a strange truck that was blocking my driveway who he was.
Asked on July 25, 2011 North Carolina
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
You absolutely have a right not to be harassed by your landlord and to enjoy your home. First let's talk about the roof. That needs to be fixed like yesterday. you have been very patient to wait as long as you have but wait no longer. Go to the local landlord tenant court and ask the clerk to allow you to start a proceeding against your landlord that would allow you to pay your rent in to court until such time as the roof is fixed. Also ask in the proceeding for a rent abatement - reduction - for the time that you have lived there with a leaky roof. You landlord will not ignore your requests anymore if he is not being given the rent. As for the harassment, again it comes under your right to "quiet enjoyment" of your rental property. If he is harassing you and coming in other than is permitted under your lease or the law then you need to advise the court of this as well. If it is really bad consider asking to break the lease and move on. Good luck.
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