WV Rental Laws/New Landlord

[gleasongirl76]

I am a new landlord. My current tennants say that the basement in my home is leaking "badly". When I rented it, the floor got moist only, and I told them to keep the french drains clean. They did not. Is a leaking basement considered uninhabitable? Can they sue me?

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that the courts in Ohio and Arizona have ruled that a leaking basement makes the premises uninhabitable and the tenant make vacate the premises and terminate the lease. The tenant will be considered to have been constructively evicted. Of course, the burden of proof will be on the tenant to show that the premises is uninhabitable and that the tenant was not responsible for the leakage in the basement. You as the landlord will be responsible to show that the tenant was negligent and did not keep the fresh drains clean and the negligence of the tenant was responsible for the leakage in the basement.

AFF

[Friend In Court]

Originally Posted by gleasongirl76 I am a new landlord. My current tennants say that the basement in my home is leaking "badly". When I rented it, the floor got moist only, and I told them to keep the french drains clean. They did not. Is a leaking basement considered uninhabitable? Can they sue me?

In addition to losing your tenant, the leaks in the basement are doing a great deal of damage to your investment. You need to get someone out right away to find out the cause of the water problem and prescribe the remedy to cure it.

Keeping french drains clear, by the way, is something you should do as landlord whether or not they are the problem in this particular instance. You are probably looking at a sealing job for your basement walls. The most common way of sealing a basement is to dig around the permeter and treat the walls.