Landlord LAW?

[flying_babyb]

Ok I moved into this lovely aparment and am having a few issues. Is a landlord required to keep a refrigrator placed in the aparment by him in good repair? Also if the aparment was built in 1950 is there a law about number of outlets in a room? I ask because I have contacted my landlord about the freezer not freezing Three times now and hes sent mantiance twice. Maintance hit the refrigator and sprayed a part (and my food) with silocone. I have ice growing on the fridge. Im mad because I just lost 40 bucks worth of frozen food due to this. Also we have two outlets in the living room, two in my room, none in the second bedroom and one in the kitchen. IS this legal?

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Ok I moved into this lovely aparment and am having a few issues. Is a landlord required to keep a refrigrator placed in the aparment by him in good repair? Also if the aparment was built in 1950 is there a law about number of outlets in a room? I ask because I have contacted my landlord about the freezer not freezing Three times now and hes sent mantiance twice. Maintance hit the refrigator and sprayed a part (and my food) with silocone. I have ice growing on the fridge. Im mad because I just lost 40 bucks worth of frozen food due to this. Also we have two outlets in the living room, two in my room, none in the second bedroom and one in the kitchen. IS this legal?

Tenant/Landlord law is state and local law, so it depends upon your state as to what the landlord is required to do, however, I CAN say that I've never heard of a state with a law about how many outlets a room has to have.

 

[flying_babyb]

I know my state, wisconsin has one, cause our old landlord got busted for the outlet thing. ITs not really that that im pissed about its the food.
Right now im looking at buying a freezer off of amazon, But where would I plug it in. Heck theres no outlet to plug in my stove either.

 

[Cool-Beans]

LOL, we had a place that had almost no outlets. Annoying!

Lucky for us, a friend worked for the electric company and put a bunch in for free...well, for beer and pizza, which is damn near free. Before he did that, we had all these extension cords everywhere...it was ridiculous. DH even drilled a hole into the floor and "spliced" something to run a cord for the microwave from the basement. I forgot all about all that.

I have no idea if there is a law. I never thought to complain.

 

[DISUNC]

I know wherever I rented (NY & PA) if the Fridge comes with the apartment, then its the landlords responsibility to fix it. However I always had my own.

As far as the outlets....You rented the apt with the lack of outlets...so you have to live with that.

I learned that the hard way with my first apartment at 19. I had extention cords all over the place. However now I am a outlet counting fanatic.

BTW I know in PA there is a law that every 6 feet there must be a outlet. You can build a fireplace in the middle of the bedroom surrounded by shag carpet with no fire protection...but as long as you have outlets every 6 feet...you are good too go!

 

[bumbershoot]

You can build a fireplace in the middle of the bedroom surrounded by shag carpet with no fire protection...

I hope that was a real place and I hope you'll post pictures.....

 

[barkley]

you can find out landlord tenant laws for your state usualy by doing a google search. as for the outlet situation you would probably need to find out what your state as well as your local jurisdiction set up as the minimum requirements for habitability on rental properties. just a heads up though-in lots of places even if current codes say that a room has to have so many outlets and they have to be done in a certain manner, older buildings are often grandfathered under the codes in existence when they were built, so unless a property owner does some major renovations or repairs they don't have to comply with what the current criteria is (we owned a home built in the 50's and the last couple of years we were hoping our water heater did'nt give out because to replace it would have entailed big $$$ to comply with the current day codes).

if there's no outlets in the second 'bedroom' though it sounds like it may not be a room that was originaly set up as a living space-could it be a room that was added on at some point (like a converted patio or other outside space?)-in which case it may have never been legal for residential use let alone be legal for occupancy now (had a friend in this situation-she found out that while the house her apartment was in had a certificate for occupancy, the space designated as her 'apartment' was a converted attic that was illegal to live in let alone rent).

before you buy a new appliance you probably want to see if your rental agreement permits you to do so and if the current electrical situation won't be problematic or dangerous. my first rental was in a victorian house and we had a fridge that probably dated back to the 50's (sucker was HUGE and had chrome fixtures and decorations on the front)-when it finaly died the landlord had a heck of a time finding a new model that would work with his totaly legal electrical set up, and they would'nt permit us to bring in our own appliances because they did'nt want to deal with any liability hassles if our fridge or freezer caused something to happen to their electrical, defrosted and caused damage to the floors (all hard woods throughout) OR his electrical did something to our fridge/freezer.

 

[bicker]

I know there are laws in place requring outlets certain distances apart for new construction. I have never heard of any law that requires landlords to retrofit occupied apartments to comply with new construction code.

 

[jonestavern]

If the apartment was built in 1950 it would be interesting to see what the official Electrical Code recommended as the minimum number of outlets in an apartment situation should be. It may be, according to 1950's code, all on the up & up.
It could also be in violation of the national (or state, local) codes.
Some state, local regs demand that commercial properties, especially apartments, be periodically brought up to code due to evolving safety concerns. There are cities that feel that too few outlets become a fire hazard due to tenants stringing up too many extension cords in order to make up for a lack of outlets.
This is such a local/state thing you'll want to check out the statutes that apply to yr building. In our town that would be asking the building inspector. The fire chief could be helpful also. A licensed, reputable electrical contractor could also be of help.

When I was young I once rented a lovely little apt. Come to find out it was illegal. That is the landlord had never applied for an apt occupancy permit for the unit I leased. I had 30 days to vacate. In a landlord's market, needless to say, I was up a creek & not a thing to do but move. Have no idea what the laws are in yr neck of the woods, you might want to keep that in mind, tho'

We used to be landlords and, at least in RI, there are detailed legal specifications of what constitutes a bedroom.

Have you signed a lease? Does it outline the landlord's responsibilities to you? Often those docs will say what the landlord is to provide such as a functioning stove, 'fridge etc.


Good luck!

Jean

 

[bicker]

I seem to remember a lot of code changes going into effect (at least in some parts of the country) in the mid-1970s. I think that's when they started requiring GFI on outlets near sinks, too.

 

[flying_babyb]

Have you signed a lease? Does it outline the landlord's responsibilities to you? Often those docs will say what the landlord is to provide such as a functioning stove, 'fridge etc.

I signed a crappy lease that didnt say much. Im thinking of getting one of those dorm freezers. The refrigator works just fine, but the freezer wont freeze and the landlord gets his knickers in a knot if I dare turn it up past C because OMG it may cause the mecinism to stick. Im getting very mad since its now 10 am and I havent heard a thing about the freezer (hes been at his office since 8). WOW scratch that email just poped up

I think this place is haunted. Its just that simple. Three refrigator calls, One chipmunk call and one sagging porch call... In 6 weeks