What does a tenant do when

A. Heat has not worked "half the time they have been there"

B. Now water leak flooding front yard and city turned off water at meter bc on house side.

Landlord told about it last week, said was calling his plumber, tenants called again and landlord said plumber is on another job.

So many issues here.

I don't know what advice to give because if it were my house I wouldn't let that go. So nobody has ever had to beg me to fix their water.

I never had those issues when I was on the other side of this tenant landlord coin.

And what about the tenants water bill?

Where do they start to get this resolved?

Withhold rent?

Put rent in escrow until resolved, and how do they initiate that?

Call someone else to repair and withhold from rent?

They are a young couple with minimal funds, so I don't want to get them into a worse issue. But they need water to shower and go to work, and everything else. It's not like their cable is out. ;)

Where do they even start?

Every little thing in a tenants world is an "emergency".

I have had more no heat and no hot water calls because of miss use IE they are playing with stuff in the furnace room and don't know why the Navien stopped working. Or they don't pay the gas bill and the heat is turned off.

If you have a leaking water service the landlord needs to get someone to fix that ASAP. If they lack contractors on call they need to bite the bullet and pay the expensive big boys like Roto-Rooter.

"Grab rainwater to flush the toilet."

I am a landlord in AZ.

The tenant is my friend's daughter in OK.

I am guessing, since they are young, that they don't know any better and may not have funds to move.

As for the heat situation, that is not today's issue, so I don't know the specifics. Like, does it not get warm enough, or does it not work at all. Has it been off and on, like an old unit that needs perpetual maintenance, or has it been continuously off?

That is relevant, but not the main problem today.

Today they have no water. I think the yard flooded Friday and the landlord was calling his plumber. I think she said Monday they checked back and were told the plumber was on another job. Somewhere in there they called the city and the water was shut off at the meter. They had to take showers so they turned it back on and the yard flooded again.

I despise hearing about tenant advocacy groups that help jerks get out of leases for no reason or that want to screw the landlord, but in this case, THIS is what an advocacy group should be doing. So, I told her to check her area for one.

Do you enjoy banging your hand with a hammer?

“They” called the city? Why?

“They” turned the water back on at the street? How?

“They” need to move. A tenant’s advocacy group is not going to get their water back on before the next time they need to go potty.

If you really want to help them, let them live in one of your units or give them the move in money for another place.

Although the story is only semi-coherent: T needs to make WRITTEN demand to LL for repairs.

If LL does not make the repairs, T needs to:

1. withhold rent and deposit the rent with the Court.

OR

2. Follow state law as to T's right to make repairs and pay for the repairs out of rent money.

OR

3. Move.

Important thing is to follow state law.

I feel their pain.

My heat only works half the time I'm here because I use the thermostat correctly.

My front yard (and back yard) is underwater. Well, technically snow is aerated frozen water, then it rained all weekend, pooled on the ice and then froze again today.

Sometimes, third party reporting is like a game of Chinese Whispers.

The fastest way to fix the water problem is to have the tenant get on the phone with the landlord and demand that the problem gets fixed. If it's not fixed in 2 days, have them terminate the lease due to whatever habitability rules the landlord is violating and find another place.

The other option is to have them call a plumber. If the leak isn't too deep or hard to find, it's probably only $300-$500 fix. Then negotiate with the landlord.

I am a landlord and have been on this site since the early 2000s. I'm guessing 2002?

I am just an upstanding landlord and would never find myself in this situation, so I am not sure what the exact procedure is in this situation.

I'm not sure what advice to offer my friend's kid who is about a year out of the house and probably very naive and clearly being taken advantage of. Unfortunately she is 3 states away and trying to figure this out on her own.

I remember HEARING about situations like this, but didn't take notes since I will never be "that landlord" who would knowingly let the yard flood for days or have tenants go without water because his plumber is on another job.

Thanks Mike45 for the concrete advice. I'm still not sure how they start that escrow process at the court though, but let's assume this is common and if they just get down there, the clerks can help.

I am a landlord and have been on this site since the early 2000s. I'm guessing 2002?

I am just an upstanding landlord and would never find myself in this situation, so I am not sure what the exact procedure is in this situation.

I'm not sure what advice to offer my friend's kid who is about a year out of the house and probably very naive and clearly being taken advantage of. Unfortunately she is 3 states away and trying to figure this out on her own.

I remember HEARING about situations like this, but didn't take notes since I will never be "that landlord" who would knowingly let the yard flood for days or have tenants go without water because his plumber is on another job.

Thanks Mike45 for the concrete advice. I'm still not sure how they start that escrow process at the court though, but let's assume this is common and if they just get down there, the clerks can help.

I am a landlord and have been on this site since the early 2000s. I'm guessing 2002?

I am just an upstanding landlord and would never find myself in this situation, so I am not sure what the exact procedure is in this situation.

I'm not sure what advice to offer my friend's kid who is about a year out of the house and probably very naive and clearly being taken advantage of. Unfortunately she is 3 states away and trying to figure this out on her own.

I remember HEARING about situations like this, but didn't take notes since I will never be "that landlord" who would knowingly let the yard flood for days or have tenants go without water because his plumber is on another job.

Thanks Mike45 for the concrete advice. I'm still not sure how they start that escrow process at the court though, but let's assume this is common and if they just get down there, the clerks can help.

Right. Especially it doesn't work out from the advice you give them, you'll be the bad guy.

My state has a set procedure for the remedies a tenant is permitted to take if a land lord fails to make repairs. I recommend telling your friend to search for those: they can try Google first, and if that fails contact the office of the State Attorney General.

I bring this up because some posters above are saying things like "just move out" or "hire someone to do it and withhold rent / escrow with courts". While I appreciate their spirit, they may be 100% wrong and setting your friend up for an eviction. MO judges do not look kindly on tenants who make up the rules as they go along, at least not in my town. I sat thru one procedures where there was literally a toilet falling thru the bathroom floor. The judge ruled in favor of the "Slum" LL because the tenant did not follow the correct procedure.

There are several things that must happen in my state: tenant cannot be the one who caused the problem, written communication of the problem sent to land lord, allowing "reasonable time" for the repair (14 days, less if an emergency), the amount withheld cannot exceed $300, the repair must be done in a "workman like manner" (no, drunk uncle Bob can't do it), etc. VERY specific. My guess is your state has laws too that should be followed.

"And what about the tenants water bill?"

They may be able to deal directly with the utility company and leave the landlord out of it to get this resolved. In my county the water co. will give you a break in the bill for a one time incident like you're describing.

These systems were alright when the girls moved in.......so what happened?

If it was good then and everyone was happy - something must have happened.

It would be nice to hear both side of the story but at this point you are asking input after we get the story after at least second hand probably third hand news.

If the tenants are not happy somewhere, they need to go elsewhere or make sue the LL knows what makes them happy. Please understand, that if the LL believes the tenants are the cause - I would be the first one to ask them to go....NOW.

I helped her edit a written letter to be sent certified mail detailing the problems, the landlord's inaction, their notice of intent to terminate the lease, and a request for the landlord to supply repair docs required by the city in order to make an adjustment on their water bill.

Turns out there was a week in November, 2 weeks in December, and 1.5 weeks in January with NO HEAT apart from a single space heater for over 1000 sq ft house!

Her mom (my friend) mentioned in passing that her daughter (the tenant) had problems with the heat, but I had no idea how bad it was or that it had been ongoing!

Luckily her daughter and I recently ended up facebook friends and I saw the question she had posted asking for advice. I never thought "normal" people had to deal with such BS! What an eye opener!

And being young and away from home out of state, her support system was not there to catch on to what was happening.