Most owners try hard to make sure their tenants are happy, but some are just bad. Find out here what to do if you have a bad roommate.
What you will find out:
How can I stop a bad landlord from being a bad landlord?
Can my boss get rid of me?
What happens if I do not respond to a Notice to Quit or a lawsuit?
Can I replace the locks on my doors to keep my landlord out?
If you have a bad employer, your life can be very hard. Tenants can use the law to protect themselves, whether the problem is a common one, like fixes not being done on time, or a really creepy one, like the landlord coming in without warning. If your employer does not keep their end of the deal, knowing your legal rights can help you deal with them.
How can I stop a bad landlord from being a bad landlord?
You might be able to go to court if your owner makes your life hard. But before you go to court, you might want to look at your Lease Agreement to see what part of the lease is being broken, and then send a Complaint to Landlord. If there are things that are not safe or healthy, you may want to give your owner more information. If you send a written report to your owner, keep a copy for your notes. It may help the police or the court to see it.
If writing letters of complaint is not working, talking to a lawyer can help you figure out what to do next. If rules are being broken or there is a local rent board, the officials may be able to help.
Can my boss get rid of me?
No, an owner can not just throw a renter out of an apartment. A owner needs a court order to kick out a renter, and even then, law enforcement has to do the kicking out. If your owner tries to kick you out without a court order and law enforcement, you may want to call the cops yourself. It is important to know that, based on state and local rules, the same removal process may not apply to hotels, hostels, short-term vacation rentals, business rentals, and other types of rentals that are not homes. But even if the place is not a home, owners usually still have to call the police to physically kick people out.
A owner must go through the official eviction process in order to get a court order to kick out a renter. Most of the time, this means that your landlord has to give you an Eviction Notice and file an eviction case. At each step of this process, the renter can try to stop the eviction from happening. For example, if a renter gets an Eviction Notice because they have not paid their rent, they may pay the rent they owe. Most of the time, a renter can avoid being kicked out if they fix the problem that was written about in the Eviction Notice.
Even if your owner is bad, you need to take an Eviction Notice or a case seriously.
What happens if I do not respond to a Notice to Quit or a lawsuit?
If you ignore an Eviction Notice or a case, you will probably be kicked out of your home. If your roommate or another renter is keeping these things from you, you may not have much you can do about it. But if your owner did not give you either the Eviction Notice or the case, you may still be able to fight the eviction.
It can be hard to fight an eviction. If your owner made up false claims or caused the problem by not cashing rent checks, renters usually do better when they act quickly and ask a lawyer for help. If your owner lies, takes advantage of the law, or just does not do things right, you may be able to fight back.
Can I replace the locks on my doors to keep my landlord out?
Even though changing the locks so your owner does not have a key may seem like a good idea, it may be against your lease. If a renter changes or adds a lock, the lease often says that they have to give the owner a copy of the key. Also, owners may want to accept any changes to the property before they are made, including adding locks.
If your owner has been breaking into your home without giving you notice in the past, you may have other legal options to stop them. Even if the property is owned by a landlord, it may still be illegal to go in without permission. The same might be true if your host bothers you or does other things that are annoying.
