Can my landlord do this?

[southrngurl]

Ok. woooosaaaa. I'm trying to calm down at the same time find out my rights. I have a few questions. Myself and a roommate(both names were on the lease) moved into my apartment a year and 6 months ago and signed a year lease (which is up if you can do simple math. When we first moved in we both had to pay a deposit along with first and last months rent. After the first 6 months my roommate moved out. My landlord at that point stated that he was not getting his part of the deposit back because he had broken the lease, however I continued to stay and pay the rent. 1st ? Can he do that even though I am still paying the rent? My landlord also advised me that my roommate was not obligated to continue to pay his half of the rent even though there was a lease, but it was my obligation. 2nd ? Can he do that? I continued to pay the rent. Simular to the 1st ?

To bring you up to current day, the entire time I've lived here there has been issues with the electricity and the breaker. I would plug an iron in or anything and we would lose power/blow the fuses. The breaker is in the basement, which we don't have a key for and have to call the landlord to come. At which point he would scream because we should know what we can plug in and what we can't. One HOT August day I plugged my straightening iron in and...low and behold..blew the fuses. I had no electricity. I called my landlord who advised me he was out of town and would not be back for 2 days to see if the girl downstairs has the key to let me in the basement. The girls weren't home all that evening or night so I went with out power and AC! The next morning I go and the girls give me key to try to open the basement. The key isn't working. I knock on their door again and the girl and her brother come out to try to help me. They couldn't get the door open after attempting for 30 mins. It's an old door which doesn't even have a handle, just a deadbolt. Her brother got a butter knife to try to move the...thing between the door and the frame...not sure of the name. He finally got it open. I get a call from my landlord now saying that it was breaking and entering and we broke the plate and we have to replace it. After he was swearing and yelling at both me and the girl on the 1st floor. Yes...he is a classy man! I explained the situation to him and told him even though it's such an old door and we couldn't get it open, I will pay to replace the plate that is on the frame. He comes back to me saying I owe him $207.00!! He not only replaced the deadbolt and the plate, but had someone saw a circle in the door and added a handle with a lock. 3rd ? Am I now obligated to pay for him upgrading and the labor for drilling the new hole or just the metal plate that goes on the frame? He called me today and asked me when i was going to pay it. I told him I was willing to pay for the plate like I had agreed to initially pay for but I don't think it's fair I pay for all of the upgrades and the door handle lock. He yelled at me and told me he will take it out of my deposit and GET THE F OUT!! Am I obligated to pay the full amount. Isn't it a legal right of a landlord that electicity, heat and water should be supplied for the tenant? I've never had any issues before and even knowing we couldn't originally get in because of the OLD door and lock, I agreed to pay for what he had originally thought we damaged, but I feel he has been taking advantage of me and the entire situation. Shewwww. I do feel better after venting) Please HELP!

Thanks!!!

On the first part, if both rommates are on the lease, both are separately and jointly responsible for all terms of the lease. That means if you stay, you can be held accountable for the whole rent amount. He could also pursue the other roommate for the rent wgile you are both under lease, but it is the LL's option. Of course, he's going to insist that the one who stays pays for it all. You could have sued the ex-roommate in small claims for his/her share of the rent and utilities for the period after they moved out while you were both under lease. S/He owed that money to you.

Next, deposits stay with the LL until the unit is vacated. Since you stayed, the unit has never been vacated and no deposit is due yet. He has not inspected for damages and would have no way to know, until it is vacant, of what deductions are to be made from that deposit. Once you leave, he will have to do deposit statements to the tenant(s) to say what was deducted from the deposit.

As for the rest, your electric needs to be repaired. Do a written request for repairs to the LL, send it certified, rrr, and keep a copy. All repair requests should be in writing to start a paper trail to prove negligence if he refuses to repair. (Read other posts on this forum for a prospective on why this is important. For now, trust me- it is very important to have a paper trail!)

Why didn't you have your own key to the basement where your fuse box is located? You should have been given this at lease signing so you had access to that area for emergencies. You shouldn't have jimmied the door open, but called the LL back and told him that your unit was unlivable since there was no electric (no power, no hot water, etc.) You could have stayed elsewhere and received a rent credit for the period when you were unable to use the unit for lack of power. The LL could have called a locksmoth to open the door. You do owe the repair to the door (the plate). But not for any additional work done to the door (you aren't responsible for adding a second lock - an improvement). $207 is way too much for even that. Adding a new plate and a new door handle that locks is about an hour of work. A plate costs only a couple dollars and a new entry handle can be bought for about $30. That leaves over $150 for an hour's labor??? I could install a whole new door for that amount. Price the piece for the door that you broke at a hardware store, and add about 15 minutes of labor (about $10-20 at most) and pay that amount. Write a statement that you are not responsible for the improvement of adding a new exterior entry handle to a door where none existed previously. Send this certified also. He should have had a working door lock so the additional lock expense is on him.

If you have no lease, he can give you notice to vacate within your state's required time period. If he tries to take more that what you owe out of your deposit, sue him in small claims court for the rest. In fact, go take a photo of the piece you broke (what you were responsible for replacing) and the new door lock now. And get a signed, dated statement from the other tenants that the door handle did not previously exist and that you only broke the one piece. This may come in handy if he tries to take it from your deposit later.