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Raleigh lawyer for tenant/landlord issue?

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elquintodeac

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I rented an apt and have had several issues. Landlord fixed the first after my insistence. Other issues have popped up since and I told the landlord. Nothing has been done (or if it has, I couldn't tell and they haven't told me). As far as I can tell, landlord is refusing to call me back at this point and ducking my calls. I don't have the ability to go by their office during the day. Most of these issues were impossible for me to tell when viewing the apt. Clearly, I am not a happy camper.

I would much prefer to get out of the lease but it seems I will need some help even in getting shit fixed.
 
Make a list of incidents/issues, dates, and attempts to notify. Tell them- point blank- they can either term your lease early and let that be the end of it, or you can meet them in court and discuss in front of a judge. Works every time.

But you can't take a day off to track him down?
 
If your lease has less than a year remaining there's probably no sense in getting a lawyer involved unless the place is uninhabitable.

Also, lawyers tend to work during the day too, so you can spend your time and money there or you can go to the rental office.
 
Its a guy and his wife that have several rental properties. As far as I can tell, they are rarely actually in their office. So I haven't taken time off to track them down yet.
 
Don't know the law in NC, but in Georgia you can pay your rent in to the court that would have jurisdiction over evictions. If you can't track them down in their office, spend a lunch hour at the local courthouse and ask one of the clerk's if that option is available to you in NC. Essentially, you are instituting a lawsuit against your landlord to get him to make repairs. By paying your rent in to the court, you avoid being evicted for non-payment and you may get some of your rent back if the judge finds that you have been impacted by the maintenance problems at issue.
 
84Deac said:
Don't know the law in NC, but in Georgia you can pay your rent in to the court that would have jurisdiction over evictions. If you can't track them down in their office, spend a lunch hour at the local courthouse and ask one of the clerk's if that option is available to you in NC. Essentially, you are instituting a lawsuit against your landlord to get him to make repairs. By paying your rent in to the court, you avoid being evicted for non-payment and you may get some of your rent back if the judge finds that you have been impacted by the maintenance problems at issue.
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Pretty sure you can't do this in NC, sadly.
 
What about refusing to pay rent until something is done? I remember we had an issue with our toilet and we complained extensively and they gave us a whole new toilet.
 
BB_Saul_Goodman11.jpg
 
PirateDeacon said:
Why? If they are refusing to perform a service, why should you still be subjected to paying the rent?
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Because they can hit your credit report and evict you. I am not a landlord tenant attorney (read: this is not legal advice), but if there is one thing I learned from my externship at legal aid in law school it was this: don't stop paying rent.
 
I guess it just depends on what the issue is but if he went to court while withholding his rent he could use the Warranty of Habitability Law, which states that you only need to pay as much rent as the place is worth.
 
PirateDeacon said:
I guess it just depends on what the issue is but if he went to court while withholding his rent he could use the Warranty of Habitability Law, which states that you only need to pay as much rent as the place is worth.
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Again, this is terrible advice.
 
yeah, i know better than to not pay rent. they are supposedly coming to fix some things tomorrow.
 
PirateDeacon said:
I guess it just depends on what the issue is but if he went to court while withholding his rent he could use the Warranty of Habitability Law, which states that you only need to pay as much rent as the place is worth.
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I love when undergrads try to give legal advice.
 
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