Landlord Problems No Problem With Pre-Paid Legal Services

November 3, 2008 by Curt Siters

If you have ever had a landlord you know that for the most part you need to be careful on the property - after all it isn’t your property. You have certain responsibilities to not destroy the place. You know, by law, that when you leave there is a certain amount and type of damage that is considered “normal.” This is, for example, where you insert hooks for hanging things like pictures and such. Some landlords will even allow you to paint the walls as long as you repaint them to the original color when you move.

But what about the landlord? What kind of responsibilities do they have? Do they have the right to take your rent/lease payment and NOT perform upkeep on their property? What about keeping the property clean (outside of the rental unit(s))?

Rats, mice and cockroaches don’t always come into a property because food. If they find a place that affords them shelter and safety from predators they will lodge there, if it is close enough to a food source. Does the landlord have a responsibility to ensure that a habitat that is safe for these pests does not exist?

What about drugs and prostitution? Should the landlord ensure that these do not happen on his property?

While perusing the election news I cam across a story about ACORN helping some residents of an apartment complex fight for the landlord to take care of the property. Here are the first few paragraphs:

East Oakland ACORN Members Win Lawsuit for Tenants' Rights
October 29, 2008

California ACORN members march for fair housing in Los Angeles April 25.

EAST OAKLAND, Calif. – After a nearly three-year struggle, ACORN members have settled a private lawsuit against the previous owner of an apartment building where low-income tenants have been fighting slum conditions for many years.

Each of the 27 member families of Oakland ACORN's Tenants United building union will receive monetary compensation for damages according to the terms of the settlement. One tenant will receive $10,000 while the others will receive $14,000 each.

Residents of the 61-unit, 2-building complex in East Oakland organized with ACORN beginning in January, 2006, to press their landlord to respond to complaints of rats, cockroaches, mold, neglected repairs, and prostitution occurring on the property. Despite dozens of attempts to negotiate with their landlord, residents' needs continued to be neglected. …

If you find yourself in a similar situation do not take matters into your own hands. You have probably signed a lease, and unless you are an attorney, you may not know what is legal and what is not, or, for that matter what is binding in the agreement and what is not.

Laws may have changed after the agreement was signed and some things that weren’t illegal then are illegal now - sometimes retroactively.

I don’t know. I’ll bet your landlord doesn’t know either. I’ll bet your landlords attorney does know. I’d be willing to bet that the landlords attorney also knows what is in any grey areas that they may get away with (because of interpretation of the laws.)

If you don’t have an attorney review your agreements and contracts before you sign you may never know exactly what it is you are signing. If you don’t think you can afford legal representation on an ongoing basis think again. Pre-Paid Legal attorneys are here to help 5 days a week (and 24/7 in an emergency with our Legal Shield option) at an extremely affordable rate.

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Curt Siters is an Independent Associate for Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. He is also aYoung Living Essential Oils Independent distributor and publishes articles on YourWebReference and at TheVeryEssence. He also does web work such as website design, website maintenance and SEO for websites.

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