Landlord Question and Answer Forum

A single family rental property; is the landlord responsible for extermination in making the home habitable of interior and exterior areas whereas infestation of insects, rodents, and other pests are a problem. If so, by right if some areas have been addressed where & why the problem is occurring but, have not been repaired or fixed and the problems still exists; is it by right that the tenant can hold rent payments until the problem have been resolved. These conditions have been bought to the landlord's attention verbally and in writing, in one breathe the landlord agrees to have the problem(s) fixed and on the 2nd note; the landlord refuses and states "the house came as is". The landlord now refuses to accommodate and pay for any other problems in the house saying "he did this as a courtesy" of paying an exterminator and handyman on several occasions because the landlord has put too much money into the place before and after it was rented. Now it appears he is retaliating because of all the problems the home is having and he do not want to put any more money out of his pocket to take care of the problems and sends a threatening text to say if the money is not in the account he will file for an eviction.

Generally speaking, laws exist in most states which governs residential rentals and asserts that regardless of what a lease says, the landlord must provide premises that are safe and liveable (habitable) at some basic level. Problems with essential building services and cleanliness are often breaches of the implied warranty and the landlord will be required to correct them.

Posted by Donna , NC on Thursday, July 28, 2011