Ok what is the legal and what is not, when it comes to apartment up keeps? I moved into these shit hole apartments in march and i’ve lost hot water 5 times or more. I call and report it and nothing gets fuckin done about it. I hate this fuckin property management. If anyone out there has any suggestion on how to get this to move a bit faster, i want to hear them.
—Looking for the water kettle
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
Is it the property management with the blue signs?
Cause if it is you’re shit out of luck, dude.
Go to the residential tenancies board. They probably won’t do much because they’re in bed with the landlords in this city, but it’s worth a shot.
You could always break your lease and move and cite this as a reason to break your lease if they sue you? Try a lawyer or legal aid.
I’ve had some troubles lately myself and I will tell you your best bet is to follow these steps:
1)Put in writing the nature of the problem, photocopy the letter and send the copy to your landlord. In this letter you need to give them two deadlines. One is to find the source of the problem and one is to fix the problem. Make sure these deadlines are reasonable or you’ll be S.O.L. down the road. Give them 3-4 days to find the problem and 2 weeks or so to fix it.
2) Call the NS Tenancy Board and report the problem to them. Let them know you’ve sent the letter and retained a copy for yourself.
3) Once the deadlines have expired (which is most likely) call the tenancy board again and register a formal complaint. You’ll have to set up a meeting with an arbitrator who will review your case. (S)he will decide what course of action is to be taken.
It’s best to follow the regulations and cover your ass so the landlord can’t try to sue you for the rent you owe if you ditch on your lease. A friend of mine got screwed over by his cunt of a landlord a few years back and ended up having to pay her almost $5000 in rent because she “couldn’t find a suitable tenant” to rent the apartment to after he ditched on his lease. I know it sucks, but trust me, take the high road on this one. You’ll only end up with your privates in a vice if you try to bail out early.
i would move
Fuck it ditch on the lease. If they try and sue you just never show up to court.
Fuckers will pay so much in legal fee’s they will wish they hadn’t grown up to be slum lords.
I agree with neverwrong’s advice. A lawyer would probably tell you the same thing.
Definitely do not listen to RichieCanuck whatever you do. If you ditch on the lease there can be serious repercussions down the road. Say you do ditch, the next time you apply for an apartment, if the owner/landlord does a check with the Tenancy Board, it will come up showing that you’ve bailed on a lease and have amounts owing to the owner. The Tenancy Board can then stop the owner/landlord from renting to you until you have paid what you owe. There are rules/regulations/laws that cover this type of thing and they generally aren’t biased (contrary to popular belief) towards either side. If you bail on your lease, you could be setting yourself up to be forced into renting from even skeezier slumlords who don’t do leases or deal with the tenancy board and then you’re really fucked. As for the whole “just don’t show up to court” bullshit that RC is recommending, that’s just plain stupid. You can be held accountable for all their legal fees (and most likely will as you’re the cause of the problem, not them) and not showing up won’t change that. Everytime a court date is set and you don’t show, you’ll be fined for not showing and you’ll have to pay their lawyer fees. Eventually your wages can be garnished and you could possibly be penalized even worse. What it comes down to is this: follow the rules and you’ll come out on top. Don’t and you could be seriously fucked over for years to come.