Landlord left big mess after repair

[jmk420]

I live in a mobile home park. I own my home, but pay rent for the lot. About 4 months ago, a repair had to be done to the water line. The repair is now complete, however, the cleanup has never begun. Here is part of the letter I sent to the landlord:

"I also wanted to inquire about the water line repair in the park. I have not seen any activity, and wondered if the repair was completed. If so, I would like to know when the cleanup will begin. The skirting on the side of my trailer was never replaced when they removed it to dig. It was merely leaned up against the side of the house. Also, there is a mound of dirt outside my rear door, rendering that entrance/exit unusable. Most importantly, however, my back yard now looks like a strip-mine where the backhoe was driven from one side of the yard to the other in order to dig the holes for the water line repair. I wouldn’t even complain, and would try to fix it myself if the damage was minor, however, this is not the case. The ruts in the yard are about a foot wide and over a foot deep in some places. Not only do I have very limited use of my yard, but this is a safety issue as well, as one of my guests severely sprained her ankle in one of the ruts. Also, I had to buy a weed-eater that I couldn’t afford and didn’t necessarily need, because I couldn’t mow around the ruts. If you could spread some fill over the yard and smooth it out, I will gladly seed it and make it look nice again. I hope this matter is resolved soon, as it is already July and I would like to be able to enjoy my yard this summer."

What can I do to "light a fire" under his butt so that he will clean up the residual mess? Can I put my rent money is escrow until it's done? Can I pay someone to fix and and deduct from my rent? As if this isn't a pain in and of itself, for the past 3 weeks, he's had a steady convoy of trucks bringing dirt to fill in his hillside (he lives across the street, not in the moblehome park)-I'm talking AT LEAST 30 truck loads of dirt a day. Isn't that a kick in the butt! He had how many tons of fill brought to his yard, but he can't spread a truckload full in my yard to repair the ruts from his backhoe!

Did you send this leter by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by regular mail with delivery confirmation? You should send repair request this way to get a receipts saying he has gotten it. Wait a week, then send another repair request asking for the yard to be repaired quickly. Ask that he contact you within 10 days to tell yu when work will be done. Send it by the method above. Keep a copy. If he doesn't fix it within 30 days of the date he receives it (as shown on the postcard you get back), then you can post back here with your state and we can tell you what legal remedies you have and how to correctly do them.