Apartment Leak Problem

Hey Cheryl,

Leaking roofs is enough to make anyone mad! If you have given your landlord a chance to fix it and he hasn’t, it could be considered a breach of agreement. The problem is that you cannot just stop paying him rent. That’s not allowed by contractual law and would put you at fault. Most likely your landlord doesn’t have the money to replace the roof properly, so its not like you will be able to get him to do it. So, that really leaves you with the option of moving or dealing with the leak.

To terminate your lease agreement legally so that you don’t have any penalties will require some type of legal aide. You must not be real familiar with the RPA (this site) so let me explain.

On this site there is a complaint center where tenants can file complaints against landlords or apartments. To file a complaint you will need to pay a $35 processing fee. (that’s the only required fee) Once you file the complaint and make the payment you will receive a case number which gets assigned to an RPA Mediation Agent. The Agent will then mediate to resolve the problem, in this case a fair lease termination. The agreement reached is legally binding. So, if its bugging you enough– spend the $35 to get some legal help. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it for that fee. I had a tenant once file a complaint against me… I was so impressed by the way the Agent handled the complaint that I become an RPA Approved Landlord. (application process that requires landlord to meet certain criteria, commit to fair rental practices, etc)

I ended up working with my tenant on his complaint more than I probably would have if he had just come straight to me. Its funny how when its official, it makes people take it more seriously. I was probably worried more about my record and possible negative mark– so I took the extra step to see that my tenant was taken care of. By the way– the tenant and I have become good friends since the complaint.

So, to answer your question. If you want to legally break your lease, you will need to get some type of legal assistance.

Good Luck!

Ive rented a two bedroom apt for almost a year now. When we first moved in the kitchen started leaking. A couple of weeks ago the BABYS room started leaking really bad, in three different places when we had a big storm. The ceiling is still split down the middle. I took videos of all of the leaks, one was pouring through the light fixture, one through the AC vent, one split down the middle of the ceiling and one little leak right above the baby’s crib. When we realized what was going on the baby had been drenched in this nasty brown colored water. The maintenance guy eventually came and wouldn’t even put a bucket under the leaks because he said the other end of the apt complex was worse and there was a foot of water in the attic. When I went to talk to my landlord she told me flat out that I was not a first priority, that other apts needed to be fixed first but they would eventually get around to it. The carpets were still wet after a week and the baby’s room smelled so bad that hes been sleeping in our room-I got her to agree to have the carpets cleaned but when she sent the guy over he refused to move the furniture. She said she would send a maintenance guy and she never did. That was 3 weeks ago. The ceiling is caved inwards. We are leaving at the end of Sept. Is there anything I can do to get compensation or something? Im just bitter about the whole thing and feel like shes just swept me under the rug.