apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Before you do anything, you should notify the landlord in writing. If you fix it yourself, or even if you call the city, he can say he never knew about the needed repair.

I have a rental unit/basement apartment in an 118 year old house. I live upstairs. Stuff happens. I have always told my tenants to tell me about something going wrong and if I can't handle it financially, they get an estimate, get me a copy of it, then pay to have the repair done. We'll then work out a deduction arrangement. For the most part this has worked just fine. Communication has been key.
California has some of the best tenants' rights in the country so I wouldn't worry too much about getting the repair done on your own, if the landlord does not get back to you, and just deducting the rent when you pay it next. Send him a copy of the bill.
He really can't do too much.

Also, make sure you inform him in a letter RETURN RECEIPT, at least once, and give him a very clear time frame in which to respond. That way your ass is covered.

I would call a window guy to come fix it. submit a copy of his receipt with that amount deducted from your next months rent. I would also photograph the window in case the landlord tries to challenge you. but this method has always worked for me here in the city and in brooklyn. ease up on the angry calls and get the problem fixed!

This is a serious liability hazard. If that window falls on someone below, there will be a big lawsuit. Thirty days seems like a long time to wait with an unsafe condition.

I agree with kung fu grip -- annoying him with calls isn't going to help the situation; he probably views you as a problem tenant and is just hoping you move out sooner rather than later, *especially* if you live in an area where rents and young tenants who don't give a shit about poor maintenance are on the rise (Echo Park, Chinatown, etc).

Just get the problem documented, fix it, and deduct the amount.

To clarify, I'm the one who is annoyed, but I'm not trying to be annoying nor am I leaving him angry calls (just very much too the point, detailing why it might be to his interest to fix it). I even waited 24 hours as followup, just too allow a reasonable time inbetween, but my neighbors said he only replies with a combination of voicemails and text messages.

I think he views everyone as a problem tenant, especially some of our older tenants in rent controlled units, and doesn't really regard the upkeep of such an old building an investment. I doubt he really wants us to move out, as we pay him on the upper tier of the rent he collects here, while also benefiting from the free cleanup and renovations (he's used our apartment as an example of what a great landlord he is to the housing inspector before).

It's been a couple of hours now with no response. I'm just going forward with penning a formal notice and will start calling around for a repair solution, as everyone has recommended.

Just be careful Greg - I had a situation before where the entire house where I was renting from got burglarized, they broke in with a crawbar so the locks where shot. I called my landlord all weekend long (the burglary happened on Saturday) he was not around. Besides the shock of being burglarized - all my valuables gone, I had to deal with finding a locksmith and replacing the lock, bcs I couldn't sleep like that. When it came time to pay, and I had the receipt, which I deducted from my rent; his response - oh, why did u use an emergency locksmith, the other girl in the first floor waited till Monday morning and her bill was half of yours. Anyway, he accepted everything after I fought hard - and this was a very nice landlord I had, in 4 months he raised the rent 25% - and I had to stretch a lot financially.

Now the reverse from the Landlord's point of view - 2 years ago my husband and I bought the house I was renting from and became landlords. We promised to treat our two tenants with care and attention, which we have mostly achieved - with the exception that in Jan 2007 I got the worse tenant one can possible immagine. She was so nice in the first two interviews but then she clawed very quickly. She asked as if she could change the lock for security reasons - we agreed - she refused to give us a copy of the key - (landlord or super must have a copy of the key for emergency issues - as per NYS attorney general web page) She refused we demanded, she brought her mother to fight for her - who basically accused my husband that the only reason he askes for the key is because he wants it, to get into her daughter's apartment... How crazy is that.... Anyway, we told her if she did not like the terms regarding the key - the lease is obsolete and she can leave right away. This did not sit well with her, and she started attacking to keep our mouths shut from the real issue. She started telling us that her heating did not work... We checked - everything was fine. 2nd time she claimed no heat, my husband said - I need to take a look at your apartment - see what the problem is - she refused to let him in (remember the one time we entered that apartment after she took residence to place a cover over the thermostat, her mother was standing guard.. So she would not cooperate, and ever since last Feb 2007 we have received 35 heating complains thru the city, the heating inspectors come to check, she is never home.... (our heating controls the heating of the entire house) So here we are two people that live in the same house with 2 tenants, pronto for anything they need, and allshe does is calls 311 to complain - so she has a record - although inspectors never have entered the apartment to verify her claims (inspector entered that apartment one time and found no heating violation), so now she has not paid rent in Dec, Jan, and I doubt Feb, although we sent a letter that we were not going to renew our lease with her at end of Dec 31 2007 and she should look for an apartment. She did not move out and now we are in court.
So this is how good landlords turn sour toward tenants. Now I wouldn't be trusty, I will not do leases and that is that... But it is sad - bcs we had vowed to ourselves not to be like our landlords - slumlords... The otehr tenant - have the most wonderful relationship, anytime she needs something - we are there for her... and vice-versa.

I would agree with Anusha73 on this is that there is definitely 2 sides to the story.

I am a renter in my current place and in the past 4 years we've gone through 2 Apt Managers (on site) and now either have or will be having a new one arrive shortly. I didn't catch what caused the current one to leave, I'm guessing of his own volition after nearly 2 years. Our previous one whom rented my unit to me was fired within 6 months to a year later for apparently not doing his job. Heck I've tried to have him do a few items he'd promised to rectify in getting the place ready for me but never fulfilled.

Then in 2005 I inadvertantly locked myself out of my unit and had to get ahold of the former current manager and discovered that he didn't have the keys to my place, why? because the previous manager replaced my broken door knob on the front door before I moved in, and changed the deadbolt to match and somehow there never was a spare key, or if there was, it went AWOL sometime before he left and the now previous manager could not find it and we didn't even have a key for the BACK door in the kitchen either either and it was never touched during all this, the deadbolt is newer but still has the original doorknob though and no key(s) for either of them.

But I agree that tenants can be part of the problem, but so can Landlords/managers too and good regulations should deal equally with both sides but sadly, that's not always the case and all too often, the tenant loses. Thankfully Seattle has good tenant laws so there is recourse if something should go wrong and I've heard major stories a few years back where landlords raised rents considerably, sometimes well beyond what is technically allowed, pricing people out and often not doing much maintenance/updating to reflect rental pricing at that time (during the dot com bubble) and today, rents are on the rise again due to both condo conversions and people moving back into what remaining rental housing stock left due to the housing bubble bursting.

That said, tenants can and sometimes do think that just because they rent, they can trash the place and so on but good legislation requires that evidence of neglagence on the part of the apposing party be documented by the victim, tenant if the landlord is failing to do repairs etc, Landlord for tenent's neglect etc. In other words, both sides have to be held accountable for the situation and it's often not just one side that's at fault, but both parties, although one will be more guilty than the other.

I've lived in places where we've gone through 2-3 on site managers, and in one case, changed rental agencies in the time I lived there (my studio apt that I lived in for 6 years). I've been thankful that I've had decent landlords/property management companies so on that level, I can't complain but I've heard the horror stories from others though.

Just remember, renting is a 2 way street and there are basic regulations to prevent things like entering a tenant's unit without just cause etc and fo tenants to uphold to the agreements held forth in the lease/rental contract as well

Write it in a letter. Send the letter with signature required delivery confirmation. When your landlord sees that you are creating a paper trail, I would imagine that he will see that you aren't just nagging and are dead serious. If you know the landlord is unresponsive, leaving it at a series of phone calls is just plain lazy. By not creating a paper trail, you are opening yourself up to complications that could drag this thing on for months or longer.

The letter should be business-like, constructive, and polite.