property mngr didn' make repair and other

[charlie]

I rented a condo in HI for 13 months. Property mngmnt changed midway. Old property mngr assured me new one would address issues still remaining to be fixed..running toilets, soap scum build up on master shower (hence only used guest shower), faulty a/c, and blinds with broken mechanisms.
New property mngr agreed verbally and in writing to fix 4 items .. per HI law she had to initiate the repairs w/in 12 business days..a month later only one item was fixed.
I wrote and explained the statute to her and she responded saying that only pertained to things that caused health problems. (In fact that is not true, health issue related repairs have to be done in 3 days.)
She then wrote me and told me she had changed her mind and would not be addressing any of the remaining problems.
Recourse was to fix myself and deduct max $500 from rent; repairs cost more. so I did not do this.

I also requested a copy of my lease and never received it.

Then a job relocation; so I wrote a note to her saying in light of her lack of good faith in fixing necessary repairs she breached our lease; and because she never supplied a copy of our lease agreeement, she breached our lease..so she could retain our sec. deposit as Nov rent and we would not be paying Dec or Jan. We relinquished possession on 11/21.
I had the condo professionally cleaned.

She said she would not use sec deposit as rent; it was up to her to decide the use of it and that would be after a final inspection. She never scheduled one with us even though we told her we'd be leaving in Nov.

Now their atty has written asking for 3 months rent, late fees and electricity payment ( I paid it through Nov). No mention of our sec. deposit.
Side- by HI law she must also notify us within 14 days of lease termination the status of our sec. deposit...never heard from her in Dec on this or in Feb on this issue. Original lease ended Jan 31, 2008.

What do I do?
I now live in TN; this occured in HNL..where landlords 'walk all over' tenants on a regular basis...few tenants fight for themselves.
I have everything in writing from the property manager re promises to fix and then decision to not fix without explanation.
I also wrote the owner of the property mngmnt company and he only passed the letter to her to handle my complaints. Of course, they remained unattended to.

I maintain she breached 'warranty of implied habitability' (leaking toilets, soap scum, faulty vertical blinds) and we did not have enjoyment of living there once she became prop mngr..the relationship was all about her not fixing items....very stressful and upsetting, as I was home all day.
This apt rented for 2600/month. With broken blinds, half of our view was always blocked ( of ocean and mtns). I expected a better quality/standard of living than I rec'd as this is one of the top properties on Oahu; also I expected a more professional handling of the issues from the new property mngr whom is employed by a well known property mngmnt company, though mostly commercial real estate.

Do I respond to this attorney or let him try to collect... I don't think I should pay given her lack of 'show of good faith', failure to make repairs, failure to supply a copy of our lease, and failure to inform us regarding security deposit status.

Please help..
Thanks!

[OHlandlord]

You have some problems with your defense. First, you broke your lease. Job transfer is not a legal reason to break a lease I'm afraid. Next, you failed to pay your last month of rent. The PM is correct, by law no LL can use a deposit for rent during your tenancy. The deposit is not to be touched until AFTER you vacate; it is to be held in case of damages to the unit.

You had possible remedies other than repair & deduct that you failed to use. Hawaii Revised Statute 521.78 allows you to rent withhold with the court to have issues repaired. This is normally for habitability issues - which the A/C unit MAY be able to be claimed as one in hot states (you could have tried to claim it as habitability). You could have requested the court to issue an order to the LL or management to repair. You could have asked for an inspection from code enforcement or the city building inspector to have the A/C fixed. You could have done the repair & deduct for the toilets. (Normally a running toilet just means the flapper is worn. 2 flappers cost less than $20 and take about a minute to install!). You could have done the repair & deduct with the blinds. If these are the normal mini-blinds, they cost about $8 each (less at a discount store or Walmart) and if you measure carefully, you don't even need to change any hardware. Just remove the 2 clips and snap the new ones in. (The soap scum is a cleaning issue and you could have cleaned it with any bathroom product. You took the unit as is and this was your responsibility to clean.) You didn't take any of those steps. These issues are not a breach of habitability as you proved when you continued to live in the unit. (If it was uninhabitable, why did you still live there?) They did not make the unit uninhabitable.

Additionally, it is up to you to schedule the inspection with her, not her job to schedule it with you. The inspection is to protect you, not her. I hope you took pictures of how clean it was when you left.

Weren't you provided a copy of your lease at lease signing? Did you ask for one then? If you were provided one, and then requested another, it is not a breach of the lease not to provide you another copy. (Even if you never received one, this doesn't breach the lease.)

I'm sorry, but you really didn't protect yourself very well here. Although they didn't do all the promised repairs, you didn't take all possible steps to get this remedied. Thus you can't terminate your lease over them. (You must take steps to fix these issues or a LL-friendly court would not allow you to terminate.) You failed to pay rent. You didn't get an inspection (but hopefully you took dated pictures). You broke your lease without just cause. You would be liable for rent until the unit was re-rented, advertising fees, utilities (in some states) if your lease said you were responsible for them, agent fees if the LL uses an agent to find another tenant, the difference in rent if the LL has to take a reduction to be able to get the unit rented (possible in December especially), plus any damages to the unit beyond wear & tear. Expect the LL to file a case against you to get a judgement for these charges. You will have to return to HI in order to appear in court or they LL will win automatically. You may be able to get an attorney to represent you so you won't have to go back.

Your one saving grace is that you didn't get their deposit statement (which needs to be sent to you within 14 days). You did leave a forwarding address in writing with them, didn't you? You did do a change of address kit to have your mail transferred, right? (In some states, if you fail to give a forwarding, this eliminates the need for a LL to send you this statement.) If so, when they file against you, you can countersue for your deposit (plus any damges allowed by law) based upon their failure to send this. Expect them to say they did send it. Good luck. In future, check out the law before you attempt to terminate. Most all states have steps and statutes to protect the tenant if they use them properly.

You should send a certified letter to the management company stating that you never received the deposit statement as required by law. Insist on a copy of it so you can see whatt charges you have against you deposit and exactly where they got the amount of the bill they are pursuing you for.

[charlie]

thank you OHlandlord.

My only response is to say regarding the 'soap scum'; when the lease was originally signed, it was done so noting the 'build up' with the agreement I would try to remove it and if I couldn't the property manager would do so. (This was the first property manager).
I couldn't get it off...too many years of 'yuck'....I repeatedly asked for it to be cleaned and was told...'it is too expensive a procedure'.

When the property changed hands to a new agent this issue was again brought up and the new agent agreed to take care of this (in writing to me).
So I was happy!

Then as time progressed and items weren't fix, I became frustrated; the harder I tried to get promised repairs taken care of the more angry the new agent became until she finally reneged on doing any repairs, except the a/c.

Re the blinds: these aren't mini blinds; these were floor to ceiling verticals. The second manager told me because of the cost she had to get the owners' permission. She never did and then she finally reneged on addressing this promised repair as well.

These blinds blocked one half of our view (our flat had wrap around windows in the lr/dr area.

I understand what you say about not protecting myself very well.

I considered doing repairs myself, but the blinds and soap cleaning would have amounted to over $500 and I had been told that $500 was the maximum I could deduct from my rent in a 6 month period. So I felt my hands were tied and felt the property manager demonstrated a 'lack of good faith' by agreeing to do something and then not - without an explanation.

Regarding the lease: yes the original property mngr gave me a copy. However, when she came to do a 'walk through' before turning the property over to the new property management company, she inadvertantly took my copy.

Hence I requested one from the new property management company. But never received one.

I will request a copy of the letter as you indicate regarding the security deposit. And yes, a forwarding address was left which is how the attorney found me.


Thank you!