My friend is waiting for her landlord to finish her bathroom. What should she do?

[lookingfortruth]

I have a friend who is living in this apartment for 10 years. Her Landlady killed herself about a year ago and the apartment she lived in and the attached house finally sold to a guy who knew the attorney that was handling the estate of the landlady.


The new landlord has my friend still paying rent to the attorney anyways the guy manage to look at the property when my friend called the attorney's office to let them know toilet was leaking. Guy took some picture for the attorney to show them how bad it was (bathroom is carpeted so that just adds to the mess.) Never heard anything more about the toilet until a few months later. The guy-now landlord- bought the house. The main focus was to get the attached house cleaned up (Landlady killed herself and family so there was still blood there.) Guy also plans on to expand my friend's bathroom into the house so that she actually has a full bathroom and not have to go down to the basement to shower. Anyways Guy gets house ready and rented and kept saying to my friend he'll get over her side to get the bathroom going and to raise the house because the whole apartment slants. It is amazing her book shelves don't tumble over.

Well long story short. after months of the landlord telling her he'll come this day to work on it and he NEVER shows up. He seems to do this every week and doesn't show up. So about 2 weeks ago Friend goes up to attorney's office and ask if the secretary speaks to the guy because the toilet was leaking very badly and black mold was in the toilet. Secretary said if he didn't show up in a week give her a call back and she'd let him know
That day landlord showed 3 hours after they stopped at the attorney's office. He pulled the toilet which leaked on the kitchen carpet and hand to tear up the floor completely because it was that bad. Almost fell through at one point. He had to lay a wooden floor (He needed to call a friend to help him lay it because he screwed up the cut 3 different times.) and then they put in the toilet.

Landlord also took out the sink and broke through the one wall to see how well everything lined up with the other wall they built.

Landlord's buddy who does help with a lot of the work had a wedding so they expected that this week they would show up and start working on things. Again he said he'd be there Wednesday. Didn't show up Friend's husband called landlord who said got tied up with something would be there to finish it Thursday and Friday. DID NOT show up either day.

They don't know what to do. They are just getting frustrated and not sure what to do next. Friend's husband is beginning to wonder if this guy really doesn't know how to do what he promised and if that is the case they just want the bathroom fixed or if he does know what to do they want it finish. They are finding that their basement is flooding after heavy rains and they hoped the landlord would be there to see how it is flooding so the problem could be corrected because they have a washer and dryer in the area being flooded and don't want to lose those things as well.

Anyways what I'm getting at is What should my friend do because she doesn't want to keep running to the attorney's office.

[elleng]

1. If she's paying rent through the attorney,

the attorney has a responsibility. DON"T deal with the Secretary, but with the attorney directly; WRITE to him, explain the problems clearly and briefly, and ask for/demand immediate satisfaction.

[HeiressofBickworth]

2. Depending on the Landlord/Tenant laws in your location

you may be able to withhold the rent until the job is finished OR you may be able to contract the work and deduct the costs from your rent. Bathrooms and water damage are issues of sanitation and need to be dealt with immediately.

[pipi_k]

3. Don't know if

it's the most correct thing to do, but I would contact the local Health Department, have them inspect, and then proceed from there with whatever suggestions they might have.

[davsand]

4. I agree. This is possibly a health code violation.

Dunno what the laws and codes are like where the friend lives, but there is no way here locally that a landlord could leave a renter without basic sanitary facilities. The city would be all over that as a violation of health code.

The problem the friend faces, however, is that if the city gets involved she may end up with a pissed off landlord. Dunno what her lease looks like, but I could see a scenario where the landlord just terminates the lease and she's left with very minimal recourse.


I'm hoping she has a signed lease...




Laura