Breaking A Rental Lease In Indiana
We are renting a house. When we moved in the 1st of Sept. the landlord said that the roof leaked and that he was going to get it fixed. Also he told us that if we found anything else wrong with the house that he would repair it. 1week after we moved in he said that the 1st week of october the roof would be fixed. It came and went and he is still telling me that it will be fixed in 2 wks. Not only does the roof leak there is a hole in the exterior wall that he said that he would hve fixed it is still there. The basement floods when it rains and the furnace gets underwater. The outlets in my sons room has shots and there is only 1 that works. The ceiling in my daughters room is falling in. I called him again today and he said it would be another 2 wks. He has ran into some problems. Is this just cause to break the lease?
Most likely the Indiana landlord-tenant laws have a remedy. You are certainly dealing with habitability issues. You may be able to withhold rent until the condition is fixed, however, there may be some requirement of written notification that must be followed. Another possible remedy is to have the repairs made and deduct costs from the rent. These are two remedies here in CA. If noone here gives you a definitive response, you might want to get a book on landlord-tenant laws in IN just to keep you on track. If you are in Indianapolis, you can rent from me! I know I will treat you much better!
Regards,
Ed
thanks for your advice! Live in Evansville, IN. I was able to get any something set up with the building inspector to come and inspect the house on Fri.
Dear Jon, Get the Booklet to read about Evictions for the State of Ohio. The fact that you accepted payments after you gave them the notice to vacate this notice is no longer valid. You have to start all over but this time give them notice by evicting them legally, follow the rules step by step by getting the forms from the Court House. Do not accept any more money from them no matter what they say. About the utilities, are they in your name but they pay direct? Here the tenants get the utilities in their name when they move in and if they do not pay the Company does not hold the Landlord responsible. Why is it so in Ohio? If they are in your name they should pay you an advance payment each month. I have one property however where I rent 5 rooms sharing the common areas between 5 www.students.I have the cable, high speed internet and power in my name but I get a utility deposit from them the first of each month to cover them.With the Apartments and houses I make them put the utilities in their name.
Good Luck with yoru eviction.
Thanks Konte.
Good news. The Tenants moved out on their own. Not sure if it was just the threat of starting the court process or what...
All of the Utilities are in their name. But for some reason the water in the township I am in stays with the house. This kind of makes sense to me since I believe it is the only utility that can create a lien on the home...
Thanks again!!
Jon
Good for you Jon you got lucky, the rents you are out just right it of as experience. They will do the same think to the next Landlord in order to live rent free for several months out of the year.
Thanks again for your posts. I have learned a lot with my first eviction. And best of all I think I got very lucky even though I am out some cash, it is better than having a bad tenant in the unit.
-Jon