Can a landlord evict you for demanding repairs to be done on a month to month lease

By Mieke van Son

I live in Indiana and have a question about landlord/tenant laws. I moved in in January of 2011. My contract states the repairs they were going to make to the property while we were living there including an existing broken window in the bedroom. I have been begging to have them come over and fix the window and other repairs but they will not do a thing. They either don’t call me back or just give me empty promises.

They were supposed to replace the asbestos siding of the house, replace the carport that blew away by a storm due to their lack of repairs and fix the siding to keep some of the draft out of the home during the winter. They have not fixed any of these things and just put us off longer and longer.

We now have had a broken stove for 2 months, they furnished us with this stove but are unwilling to have it fixed or replace it. I’m sending them a certified letter with the request to have these things fixed within a reasonable time.

What I’m afraid of is that she can throw us out. I have a very sick boyfriend who can not move in the middle of the winter and we still need to save some money. The contract is on a month to month basis but do we not have the right to request for these repairs without her threatening us to throw us out?

Is there anyway to fight this should she try and will this cost a lot of money?

Thanks,
Mieke

The following is the letter I’ll be sending them:

For the last two months I have been asking you to come and have my oven/stove fixed or replaced. The professionals you’ve send over do not seem to think it can be fixed so I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I gave you a call back and you would call the professionals back. Given the fact it took so long for them to come over, I went over there and they stated you’ve never called them back either.

Given the fact you do not answer any of our requests with a call back, I’m going about this the legal way. I have hired an attorney and know about the landlord responsibilities and tenant rights of the Indiana Tenant/Landlord law.

I have attached a copy of our rent agreement to refresh your memory on what has been agreed upon. The rental property was funished with appliances and a carport. The landlord is responsible to make repairs to these matters when necessary. Given the fact I can never get a hold of you and when I do you only make empty promises, here is my request:

I am requesting to have my oven fixed or replaced by October 31, 2012. If you don’t make the repair within that time, I will pay to have the stove replaced and will deduct the cost from my next month’s rent.

I have also been asking for my receipts. After begging for two months to get a receipt you have the heating professionals drop off the delinquent receipts to us or you just don’t at all. Here are the receipts I have not received up till now and would wish to get from you by October 31, 2012:

September 01, 2011, November 01, 2011 and January 01, 2012

I also wish to state that I should not have to call you numerous times to remind you to give us a rental receipt when I pay my rent on time every month.

Please review the contract you’ve set up for us. We have been promised to have our window fixed ever since we moved into this residence. It even states the time frame of when you’d fix this window. I have been begging ever since to get it replaced and you have not made any efforts to fix it.

I have come to know that a broken window is an emergency repair and should have been fixed immediately. We are loosing valuable heat and air due to this issue. I request this window to be fixed by October 31, 2012 or I will pay to have it replaced by professionals and will deduct the cost of labor and materials of my next month’s rent as well.

The carport is also a promised repair that has never been completed. Due to the lack of repairs it blew away by a storm and all our belongings are in the open. You’ve promised us you’d fix this but never did. As you can see within your contract there are also inside repairs you’d take care of that have never been token care off, including a handrail for the stairways for safety measures.

I hope we can get these issues token care of in a civil manner within the set time frames.

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