Negligent Landlord Question?

Question

I live in an apartment with my friend, "Stan". Stan owns the apartment building in which we live. There are two other units in the building besides ours. Not only does Stan own the building, but he is also the "landlord" and is in charge of all repairs and problems.

I've encountered numerous problems in our apartment, and Stan won't do anything about them. Since I live with him and he doesn't charge me rent, I let it go and fix whatever is wrong by myself, with my own money. However, Stan won't fix things for the other tenants either. The one tenant had her door broken by her ex, and Stan waited 3 MONTHS to fix the door, and it was in the middle of winter. Two of the units' porch lights burned out 9 months ago, and they're still not fixed. The one tenant had a problem with ants, and Stan said, "They'll die once the weather gets cold." Now, the other tenant is complaining that the hot water faucet in her bathroom won't shut off, and she wants it fixed ASAP. I told Stan about it, and he doesn't care, he said, "I'll get to it sometime."

How can I get it through Stan's skull that he HAS TO be a better landlord or he's going to lose his tenants and / or be taken to court for being a slumlord? Are there serious legal ramifications for being a negligent landlord?

We live in northeast Pennsylvania (USA) if it matters.

Answer 1

If you wanna be a pal buy him a couple landlording books on Amazon and give them to him. Then just let it slide, you're getting free rent.

Answer 2

Sadly it sounds like Stan is a man that will never change, as for you since you are not paying rent I don't think you have much pull.

Let Stan learn from his mistakes.His tenants will ethier put up with it or move.

Answer 3

Stan's a slacker who may need to learn the hard way. There's not a lot you can do with people like Stan.

Answer 4

Someone will take him to court and clean him out. I think he'll learn that with responsibility comes, huh, responsibility. He is lazy and needs to a hard knock to get him right.

Answer 5

If it comes down to something which could lead to a death or loss of personal property then he could be held liable in court, someone could actually bring charges against him in civil court anytime.  All it takes is one good lawyer reading the contract that renters have signed and then call their own plumber etc, and charge it to him, or pay it themselves and then complain about it and ask to have it taken off the rent, or they call the lawyer.  

I worked for a guy that did things that way with his rental houses, bought houses cheap and put in water heaters, central heat, etc, but did nothing major to the houses unless it required for city codes, we would change out floor boards etc, once we screwed a door shut, because the room he didn't want the renters in, had the foundation shifted underneath it and the floor was rotten through.   Its just a matter of time until something big breaks and he has to pay.

The door issue should have been the responsibility of the person who broke it, I would have been him I would have notified the police of property damage and had him arrested and make him pay restitution for the damage or the current renter would lose the deposit.  

But there is no way of knowing when or if someone will call a lawyer or get smart and complain.

Answer 6

"The one tenant had her door broken by her ex, and Stan waited 3 MONTHS to fix the door, and it was in the middle of winter."

In this case, Stan may have no obligation to fix the door since it was a relation of the tenant who broke it.

"Two of the units' porch lights burned out 9 months ago, and they're still not fixed."

If the porch lights are for each unit seperately, the tenants should be replacing their own porch light bulbs.

The ants and the water faucet should be fixed, but neither are habitability issues.

Stan is a slacker, but nothing mentioned is an unhealthy or dangerous situation, other than the door.