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Hi
I am in Illinois and I am having some problems with my Landlord. I have
lived at my current address for nearly 7 years. The first year I had a
written lease.
during the 7 years there has been almost no upkeep of the property by
the landlord. I have talked to the land lord numerous times concerning
broken appliances, electrical problems, rotten floor at the backdoor.
He has done nothing to rectify the problems.
On May 3rd the landlord decided he was going to actualy fix somthing.
There is termite damage along the outside bottom walls of the duplex.
He sent his son over and started weedeating my flowers down without any
notice. He was going to nail boards over the damage.
I asked the son to stop weedeating and leave, so I could remove my
flowers. We got into an argument. Later that day the landlord came by
and cussed me out. He demanded his rent. I had made an agreement with
him six years previous when the original lease expired that I pay on the
10th of every month. The landlord said I had two days to leave. After
he left I wrote a check and a letter detailing all of the problems in
the house, I mentioned that I would be going to Zonining and inspection
office in the court house to make a complaint, which I did. I mailed
this to the landlord.
Two days later the landlord came back with a 5 day notice for eviction
claiming he never got my rent. He knew about the zoning and
inspections. He gave me a copy of my original lease, He had highlighted
that rent was due on the first and that the duplex was rented "as is"
and if appliances broke or work was needed I was responsible.
When I signed the lease I could not read these terms. I had to get a
magnifier to read them now.
Since the landlord was adimant that he had not receive the rent I tried
to give him another check, he refused it.
My questions are, Is my orinal lease still valid, I can show that for
six years my rent check was always paid around the 8th to the 10th, not
the first, and I have never had a late fee.
Can a landlord really rent "as is", some of the problems here are
probably not real important but several are certainly code violations,
and are dangerouse. Can I be held responsible to fix these?
Thank you Carol
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inspections. He gave me a copy of my original lease, He had highlighted
that rent was due on the first and that the duplex was rented "as is"
and if appliances broke or work was needed I was responsible.
When I signed the lease I could not read these terms. I had to get a
magnifier to read them now.
Since the landlord was adimant that he had not receive the rent I tried
to give him another check, he refused it.
My questions are, Is my original lease still valid, I can show that for
six years my rent check was always paid around the 8th to the 10th, not
the first, and I have never had a late fee.
Can a landlord really rent "as is", some of the problems here are
probably not real important but several are certainly code violations,
and are dangerouse. Can I be held responsible to fix these?
Okay, one quick thing about your landlord evicting you - he has to
give you more than two days' notice. In most places its 30 days'
notice, and in many others its "be out by the end of the month."
Beyond that, I'm not sure what to tell you about the eviction other
than he does not have "good cause" to evict you given your track
record.
As for the lease saying the place is rented "as is", that is
meaningless. There is something called the "implied warranty of
habitability" which applies to ANY residential property in ANY city in
ANY state. If your landlord is refusing to fix certain things to the
point of them being dangerous code violations, this is against the law
on his part, and tenants cannot be held responsible for such repairs.
In fact, even if a tenant wanted to be responsible for such repairs,
they could not because the "implied warrant of habitability" is
non-waivable by the tenant. What tenants can do, no matter what the
lease says is "repair and deduct", meaning have the appliances fixed
at their own expense, then deducting the same amount from the rent,
sending the appropriate documentation to the landlord. In some
states, tenants can simply withhold the rent until the repairs (lack
thereof causing code violations) are made. The "as is" clause, at
best, applies to the property's overall aesthetics, things like
peeling paint, worn-out carpet, weeds in the front, etc.
Good luck.
---Chris J.
Disclaimer: No attorney-client relationship exists here and posting is
in the matter of general legal advice only. Persons are advised to
contact their own attorney.
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