Rent allowance

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Hello. I am currently on my third year renting a house. The bathroon, in particular, the shower stall, has been rotten and falling apart for sometime.  I have copies of written notices to the landord regarding the state of the bathroom and that it was in need of repair.  This is no suprise to anyone. Now that it has gotten so bad the subfloor need to be replaced he is finally coming in to remodel the bathroom. He estimates he will need two weeks to do the remodel. During this time there is a toliet and a bathtub in an outbuidling – not attached to the house, and not a proper bathroom with sink, vanity, heat, etc.  – that we can use. This is my question. He is offering 150.00 deduction as a rent allowance.  I don’t think this is enough. Is there any legal precedent or regular method to calcuate a fair deduction? Our ablity to use the bathroom that is within the house and our peaceful enjoyment will be compromised during this time period.  What if it goes over 2 weeks. What then? He has a long history of repair projects taking much longer than he thinks they will. We have waited in good faith for over two years to have the bathroom fixed and now to be told he can only drop the rent 150.00 (we normally pay 1075.00) because that is all he can afford feels like we are getting the shaft. Any advice or similar expereince would be helpful.

Edited on: Monday, December 3rd, 2012 7:03 am

3 Responses to “Rent allowance”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Red88big

August 20th, 2008 6:52 am

One thing I will say is that whatever you agree upon is what will happen. So as a word of advice make sure to get everything in writting before he actually starts the project. The $150 seems like it might be fair on the landlords part, if it only takes two weeks, then in reality you are getting $75 per week. I would suggest you get an addendum (The RPA has these forms available, you may have to ask them to email it to you, or you can try to Google Lease Addendum) … so like I was saying, before the project starts I would suggest having an addendum signed by you and your landlord. In the addendum I would list the deduction on a weekly basis, such as $75 per week will be discounted from rent for each week that we are not able to use the bathroom. This will motivate the landlord to get the repairs done as quickly as possible. Hope that helps! Enjoy the new remodeled bathroom!


Patricia Ray

November 16th, 2010 9:31 pm

I am a first time landlord with a rental house in the state of Georgia. A couple will be moving into it in several months. I have an Addendum to the Rental Lease that states that since they have been granted a $50 per month discount from the original monthly rent amount, that this discounted amount that they otherwise would have to pay to me shall be an allowance for them to do their own repairs on the house, with the exception of major system, appliance and roof repairs, which will be our responsibility. They want to eventually do a Lease Purchase Option in the near future. Is it legal for me to do this in the rental agreement? I read this law for the state of Georgia that pretty much says Landlords are responsible for pretty much all repairs. This to me sounds ridiculous, because we live 8 miles away. Does this mean we have to go over there if a light bulb needs replacing or if a piece of woodwork comes undone?


Kurukshetra

December 3rd, 2012 10:38 am

After 2 years, he is now trying to replace or repair the bathroom problem, that too because now it is on a verge of breaking down. Good is that he is now planning to give you deduction in rent, however as per your saying and his past history of repair works taking a long time. why not ask him in written that say us the exact time and date till when he can finish up the repair work. and also let him know, that using outside bathroom and toilet is really bad and less privacy. For fair deduction and calculation try taking a help of some property mediator or agents help. Looking at the cost it’s less, however try and gets first opinion or estimation of people that would be coming to repair the bathroom. they can give a best estimation time of repair work completion. Hope that helps you


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