Q: Currently renting a condo. Water damage from an above unit has made my kitchen and bathroom unusable. What are my right
Appliances have been removed from kitchen and master bathroom and kitchen need to be ripped out. Do I have a right to ask for grental credit and how much. This has been almost a month ongoing. Haven't checked for mold yet but water restoration man says there's a lot.
A: According to the warranty of habitability, landlords have to ensure that tenants are permanently benefiting from appropriate living conditions. The warranty of habitability is effective in every U.S. state. Therefore, you will most likely be able to end the lease by bringing up the landlord’s failure to comply with the warranty of habitability. If, however, you are not willing to do so and would like to continue living in the condo, there are two legal self-help approaches you can resort to so as to solve the issue. Accordingly, you can either withhold rent until the landlord properly attends to the water damage or hire a professional company to take care of it yourself and then subtract the cost of their services from the rent. Nevertheless, although both of these self-help strategies are completely legal, they are not codified by state law and you may thus encounter some obstacles while pursuing either of them.
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