What are my rights? as a renter?

Question

I moved into a house with two friends and those friends have recently moved out and I tried to set up a payment plan with my landlord at his request. I have not been able to contact him. I am sure by now he is filling for eviction. My concern is that 2 weeks ago he came by and took out the switch to the a/c unit. its a switch that just pulls out and it stops the unit from working. I wanted to know if this is illegal...I have a one year old in my home and he is aware of this. Is this illegal? Can he do this?

Answer 1

It depends on your state.   In most states A/C is not a legal requirement.

As long as you are paying your rent the landlord should not evict you.

Answer 2

Both the landlord's and tenant's rights vary from one state to the next.

If you are not on any lease, then you're on a month-to-month tenancy. In New York, the landlord cannot take actions to render the rental property unfit for habitation--but since not every rental is air conditioned, he could probably do this. The fact that you have a little one is not a factor. He has not rendered the rental uninhabitable, just made it less pleasant.

You should probably be packing and knocking yourself out to find another place. By the time the courts might act on this, or an eviction be complete, you'll have melted.

See if you can find a landlord-tenant organization in your area to help you know what your rights are and when he's stepped over the line.

Answer 3

Yup, he CAN do that, if working AC is not a condition of your lease, and state statutes do not consider working AC as a requirement of habitability.  He's trying to cut his losses until he can replace you with a group of tenants who WILL pay as agreed.