Landlord-Tenant Issues

Probably, if you can prove that the landlord caused the problem. However, if the overload occurred as the result of another tenant you can sue them instead. Remember, in general, the landlord is NOT responsible for damage to personal property of the tenant, which is why they should obtain renter's insurance.

If they won't leave on their own you may have no other choice. It's a tough call for you but your kids should have more respect for you than to have put you in that position. Don't fall for the old crap about they wouldn't even be in the world if you hadn't had them. While that is basically true, having a child in no way obligates you to a lifetime of providing for them. Best of luck to you.

Once it goes below 65 degrees (?-it's in the 60s). Normally it is Oct/Nov to April-ish

If you pay the landlord for your electricity and it is an agreement in the rental contract and you are in the rears of your payment, it may be legal for the landlord to do so. To be sure, contact a lawyer.

It depends on whether it is set out in the lease agreement. If there is no provision for it then you should be able to get your deposit back. A month to month lease usually has a notice provision for both the leasee and leasor. Best way to handle it is ask the landlord.

Basically speaking, in all states, a month-to-month verbal lease is subject to the laws regarding landlords and tenants in that state. This gives the tenants basic rights under the laws provided that state. Generally speaking, advance notice of intent to vacate the premises is required. If the landlord is holding a security deposit or "last months rent," the landlord may keep such money if the proper notice is not being given.

an unlawful detainer action is part of the process of removing a tenant for non-payment of rent, failing to meet the terms of the lease, or refusing to leave the property. it is the third step of the eviction process:

1. notice to pay or quit served

2. tenant has three days to respond

3. unlawful detainer is filed in municipal court

4. tenant has five days to respond after being served

5. writ of possession granted

6. sheriff sends eviction notice and physically removes tenant if no response within five days

(California Real Estate Principles, 10 E., Sherry Schindler Price)

Depends on how the lease is written: normally the tenant is responsible for painting interior.

It would be difficult to prove that the noise was his fault, or that he could do anything about it. Even if he tried to evict them, it would take about two months in most U.S. states. The proper defendant here is the problem tenant - sue them.

There is no legal reason why the wife would automatically have precedence over the husband in keeping an apartment when the marriage is in trouble, if both are on the lease. You do not have to move out. If she can't stand living with you, let her move out. If she refuses to move out, then you have the option of simply not separating. Incidentally, there are cases of people who are separated or even divorced, but who still share housing, when it is not convenient for either person to move out. You don't have to be married to share housing, after all. Lots of people have roommates. Answer #2: I agree that absolutely everything stated above is TECHNICALLY correct. However, life has many unwritten rules, and I'd like to refresh your memory on some of them, if I may be permitted to do so. As a general rule, it is wise to remember that people can DO anything that they want to do. Whether or not they have any legal grounds for this is almost irrelevant, given the time and financial cost of "winning" a legal battle in court, so some stranger in funny robes can decide the fate of your life for you, and tell you who was "fair" and who wasn't according to some rules that weren't written by either YOU or YOUR wife. If they are willing to pay the price for the consequences of their actions, people can make anybody's life quite miserable, even up to and including murder, as you are apparently just now discovering. You DID state that you and your wife are separating, right? You have several rational choices, a few of which I will list below. Which one(s) you pick, if any, are entirely up to you. 1. Since you have decided to separate, one of you will have to leave the apartment. The other will have to take over the lease, which means filling out paperwork all over again, and put in clauses that removes the other marriage partner from the legal obligation to pay the lease if the other doesn't make the payments. Yes, both of you are currently obligated to make the payments, but if your wife chooses NOT to, and is willing to push it to the limit, including ruining her credit rating over it, YOU will wind up having to pay for the apartment anyway, whether or not you live there. 2. Since one of you has to leave the apartment in order to be "separated", and since your wife wants YOU to go, why don't you accommodate her wishes? You will, at the very least, demonstrate that you aren't nearly as bad of a guy as she is probably insisting right now to anybody who will listen. Besides, guys can live in any hole in the wall and not be all that much put out by it, so what difference REALLY, does it make to you? Separating is a lot of work to begin with, what is a little bit more? If you decide to follow this course of action, it won't hurt to snag some extra brownie points for your "sacrifice". Saying something along the lines of "Honey, I realize that we haven't seen eye to eye on everything so far, and I truly regret that we have decided to get a separation. However, I loved you once and I believe that we can learn to get along well enough to feel that love once again, and I'd be thrilled if you'd agree to stay here to keep the possibility open of the home fires burning brightly once again for us!" If you MUST gag over telling whopper lies, then do it out of her presence and hearing. This approach cuts out almost all of a woman's ready objections and paints a completely different picture of what her actions really mean. You might be shocked over the effect that this can have on a hardened woman's heart, especially if you can manage to look somewhat sincere while you are saying it. At the very least, you are setting the stage for the possibilities below to take place. 3. It is unclear who is making the decision to separate and what the motivation for that decision might be. You don't indicate any desire to stay WITH your wife, as you seem to be primarily concerned with, and outraged by, the fact that she is acting "unfairly". If it is simply because it is inconvenient to live with each other's irritating behavior, then there really is no problem that can't be solved given sufficient motivation. If infidelity is involved, either on the part of you or on the part of your wife, then things will be considerably more tricky, but not impossible. Having to pay for two places might or might not be sufficient motivation for you to consider investing in some skillful negotiating tactics and attending some "suddenly affordable" domestic training sessions. Consider the inevitable outcome of the following nasty scenario: Your loving wife, faced with your arms crossed refusal to vacate the apartment, picks up the phone and dials 911. She suddenly becomes a consummate actress to the person on the other end of the phone, which you recognize from the LAST time she faked strong emotional responses in your presence, and when the police arrive, you will be escorted to the door WITHOUT any of your belongings. While blatantly unfair, the police are NOT in charge of assessing who is "right" and who is "wrong" on the spot in most municipalities. They have too many pressing calls to attend to. You are two adults, who are acting like little children who can't even solve their own little domestic spat, and so you BOTH must be spanked. If you think that this is unfair, listen to this: I was the one who called the police in a roommate dispute once. It was MY finger that nearly got bitten in half during a wrestling match that spiralled out of control. When the police arrived, it was ME that had to hit the road! Given the undeniable preponderance of women getting beaten, hit and slapped around by the men in their lives, police MUST act as if you are a genuine threat to your "desperate" wife. Lacking any REAL proof that YOU are any LESS of a liar than she is, you will be told by the officers present, what day and time you may come back to pick up your stuff, provided that you have remembered to make an appointment for a police escort to be present to "keep the peace" and then you had better hit the road, if you know what's good for you. This little game played out with the wife and the cooperation of the police does seem to turn on the dim, little lightbulb in SOME men's heads, and they begin to see the picture more clearly. Women are definitely fun to screw, but if they aren't catered to sufficiently to meet their minimum needs, then they can screw you back quite as easily as they can dry their nails, only it isn't quite as much FUN when they do it this way. BOTH of you are unhappy about SOMETHING, and it is quite skillful to attempt to understand MOST CLEARLY what the other person's point of view is, even if you happen to violently disagree with it. THAT in fact doesn't matter so much, however, it is CRUCIAL that you can at least repeat to each other, what it IS that the other person thinks about your current problem. Note, I did not say "problems". Tackle only ONE issue at a time, and quit when you make some decent progress. Leave each session a "winner" and eventually, you will train yourselves to "expect" a positive outcome to your disputes and your discussions about your disputes. Now, given the unpleasant realities that hundreds of thousands of men have experienced before you, you might wish to consider this next strategy. "Nancy, (insert your wife's name here, you'll be killed if you fail to follow this simple instruction), I've looked up the statistics on couples getting back together after they separate, and I am horrified by what I see! There is almost NO chance that we will reconcile permanently, based on the experiences of many, many other couples if we go through with this separation right now. I care VERY much about our happiness together, and I agree that I have not always been as skillful as I might have needed to be, but if there is any way we can temporarily sleep in separate rooms for a week or so, while we look for ways to get along better and to get both of our needs met on a regular basis, then we will have improved our chances of making our marriage last by over 200%! You know I married you for better or worse, and while we aren't getting along all that well right now, it would be wonderful if we could restore some of the loving feelings and harmony that we had while we were dating!" To keep things real, remind yourself while you are saying all of this, that in fact the main reason you were able to be "loving and harmonious" while you were dating her was because you wanted to get into your wife's pants. Well, pretend that you have to work for that privilege all over again, because APPARENTLY, you DO! It wouldn't hurt to rehearse your lines somewhere off the premises. You want it to come out pretty natural, as though it is occurring to you on the spot. You don't have to have perfect tone of voice, or control of your emotions, but you DO have to get the words right without any hesitating. Shoot for an "in-home" separation, which has several advantages. It does not increase the cost to your pocketbook by whatever hundreds of dollars it will cost you to rent another pad. It could save you thousands more in legal fees for a divorce if you can wind up preventing one. Proximity increases your chances of working things out dramatically. "Out of sight, out of mind", and she might get to LIKE not having you around for a while. You might actually get some, if you bring home a bottle of wine and some flowers tomorrow night (tonight would be even better yet) and your sudden change in behavior would likely show your wife in a way that nothing else possibly could, JUST HOW MUCH it matters to you that SHE is happy! Yes, I know, you really just want to be happy yourself, but it doesn't take a boy genius to see that if your WIFE is happy, then YOUR happiness will soon follow, now does it? Swallow your pride in the same way that you probably want her to swallow your "love juices", and get with the program! Ask her what it would take for her to continue living with you. As husband and wife. Make no promises. Not even one. But stick with your line that "you will do everything humanly possible to work this out so that everyone is happy with the results". When she says an item that she "has to have", say something completely neutral, such as, "I see", or "So, this is REALLY important to you?" and never yawn until she is out of the room. Make a list of her "demands". Do it right in front of her using a pen and a pad of paper. Repeat each of them back to her right after she says it, and ask her if you got it right. Don't proceed until you get an agreement from her that you have it right. DON'T protest if she changes the wording over and over. It just means that she is thinking in a logical fashion about her desires, possibly for the very first time. It also indicates that you are VERY serious about what she has to say. It doesn't SAY that you will change anything, which, after due consideration, you might or might not decide to do, given time to cool off and all that. Don't add any of your own requests until another day. This is HER chance to see you in a new light. Don't screw it up by being the pigheaded idiot that got you both to this point in the first place. If you DON'T take the bull by the horns right now, and make the first move to reconciliation, you might as well start selling off your 401k and planning on making a huge gift of the proceeds to your divorce lawyer. The creep. Remember, you'll have to pay taxes AND penalties on that for "early withdrawal". Kinda ironic, isn't it? 4. If you can read, I suggest you look up Michelle Weiner-Davis and get her "Divorce Busting" book or one of her other ones. The one that talks about how to run "experiments" in finding out what your partner likes is especially helpful. The stuff works better than anybody ever imagined. It only takes ONE person to change the marriage relationship, but if you start now, your wife will join in with your efforts soon enough. Keep in mind that your GOAL is to keep your wife happy. She will keep YOU happy once THAT goal is met. If you insist that she make YOU happy first, because of some misguided notions of "fairness", then you will just wind up shooting yourself in the foot. Look at how much effort, time and expense you went through to get THIS far in your marriage to your wife! Are you really going to throw it all away just over some stupid attitude adjustment you'd rather not have to make? God made you to be a man, the leader of the household, not some whiney brat who can't see how good he has it, if he would just learn to take the time to figure out how to keep the "troops" happy and well fed. Write me back and tell me how things work out for you. I'd love to know the parts that worked and the parts that you had more trouble with. Don't go down and be a another divorce statistic without a good fight! OK, I'm back. I think it is fascinating that you have given such a lengthy and detailed addition to my original answer, and I think that your advice is quite sound. The only objection I have is to the beginning of point #4 where you say "If you can read..." when obviously, the person who posted this question can read. Illiterate people are not able to use this web-site (at least, not unless they have the assistance of either another person or, for the visually impaired, a program that translates written words into spoken words, but in either case, a person who has the means to use this site would necessarily be able to use those same means to read the book that you recommend). Admittedly, I have seen lots of questions posted on this site which suggest that although the people posting them can sort of read, they don't read very well. But not in this case. I have received a message from the person who wrote that question, and he gives me some additional information about his situation, which includes the fact that he is disabled (although he did not state specifically what disability he has). This would certainly have some affect on the way the police would treat the situation if his wife were to phone them and claim that she was being abused. Nonetheless, it is a valid point that there is a risk that an unscrupulous wife can accuse her unwanted spouse of crimes that he did not commit. I will add that police will investigate such claims. If a person claims to have been assaulted but has no visible injuries, the claim will not hold up. So this strategy doesn't always work. But as you say, sometimes it is better to find other options rather than getting into an all-out war with your spouse. I am sure that you have given this person something to think about.

A 1099 is a miscellaneous income tax form. Unless the tenant was an employee of the landlord, there would never be a need for a tax form.

This is somewhat you mean by owing rent. If you were evicted for nonpayment of rent than the landlord could sue you for the money you owe in back rent. Since there was no lease involved, your landlord cannot sue for future rent.

It's under the ground of the property, yes. It's deemed a fixture of the property and must be repaired at the expense of the landlord. The issue would lie if such a provision existed in your lease stating that such responsibility is that of the tenant. However, a court would more than likely toss this provision as unconscionable because a tenant that is renting is not assuming the likelihood of damages to something that could not have reasonably inspected (you can't see through the ground).

Not in the United States. This is a clear violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Act.

Probably. If this info was untrue, and it caused the tenant some financial loss, that would be slander. But, otherwise, the law expects us to put up with some amount of insult. Some information - like a social security number - is protected by law.

18 in the state of Pa, but without legal guardian or co-signore the practice is considered Questionable by courts

When a tenant signs a lease for a rental property it is for a finite term such as 6 months or a year. Under this lease agreement the tenant agrees to pay the property owner monthly rental payments as agreed to.

This question seems to be asking how one files a "pro se" counter suit in which you act as your own lawyer. Otherwise you would simply contact a lawyer to do it for you. So I will proceed from that perspective.

First caveat. I am not giving legal advice, simply passing on the education I received in the subject.

Most often, a counter suit is actually called a "counter claim", and is filed by adding it to Brief filed in response to an original or modified Complaint. Depending on what level of the Courts you are in, you must first find out the proper form of such a response Brief, the page format, font, spacing, service requirements, time limitations and other such rules.

If in the District Court of the State, you would consult the Uniform Rules of Civil Procedure. You should also find out if the Court has local rules they apply as well.

Often all of this can be found on the State Website for the Law Library, and many even have fill in the blank forms for such filings. The information can also usually be found on the State Website under the Annotated Codes of the state, in their legislatively spelled out form.

Finally, I have found it invaluable to go to the Supreme Court of the state involved and search on the subject i am involved with to read what opinions have already been given in the areas I wish to make claims in. I.E If I wanted to argue that age was of no importance in a case concerning when a person can become a citizen, I would search on the keywords "age" and "Citizen", and read all the opinions that fit this. You might find someone has already set the precedent you need to cite to win, and as most states also have the Briefs online, you could get a template to use for your own Brief complete with the argument already written out.

One final Caveat. It is often stated by Judges or Lawyers that "a person that represents himself in Court has a fool for a Client". They truly believe this, as the rules of procedure are indeed complicated. However, if you study the rules of procedure, you can learn them. Then, since all Courts must give Pro Se litigants as much room for error and as great a learning curve as possible in their own defense BY LAW, you can represent yourself, and win. Mostly Lawyers really don't want to go to trial, and most cases are settled long before a case comes to trial. Lawyers make more money for less work when they negotiate settlements.

Trials are expensive for those who pay lawyers, and many litigants don't want to get that far into debt if there is a chance they will lose and have to pay all legal fees. If a trial gets length so the Court can give the Pro Se litigant the legal leeway they are due, (which costs the Pro se litigant nothing for the extra time, but costs much for the person paying the lawyer), is a thorn in the foot of any non Pro se litigant and their Lawyer.

Note! Several good websites with forums full of people that represent themselves in court, exist. The one I like best is www.suijuris.net but there are many. "Sui Juris" is another way of saying "I represent myself", same as Pro Se. So is "In Propria Persona" or "In my Proper Person as Myself".

Good Luck!

This depends on your local housing codes. This would seem like a cosmetic issue and would be in the landlords best interest to do so, but he may not be lawfully required. He can rent the apartment in any condition as long as it meets the definition of "habitable" and meets local house and building codes.

You have a few options, either don't rent the place or reach an agreement in writing with the landlord about the carpets. You may try an agreement such as "I will have the carpets professionally cleaned and whatever that cost is, you deduct it from next months rent."

Finally, should you sign a leasehold for the apartment, you should note in the initial walk-through, the condition of the carpet and takes photos of it. This protects your personal interests should the landlord attempt to blame you for the damage to the carpets (and incidents such as this have happened in many jurisdictions).

No! that is a civil matter and the police can not enforce civil law, you must settle it in a court. The police, however, can stand by to keep the peace if the other party is willing to let you remove the property.

Yes! If the back rent and repairs are less than the deposit you have to give them the remainder of the deposit. But you could always makeup some bullcrap fee to eat up the rest of it like most landlords do.

Your answer may depend on the terms of the lease and the number of people whose names are signed thereon. The number of people who occupy the unit is another matter.

Any 'over-population' issues that may exist in a community must be handled by concerned residents, the board and the owner who rented the unit.

This is official notification that you, the Tenant, have three days to pay the rent or vacate the premises (a landlord can't give you three days' notice just to vacate). If you don't vacate the premises, or you don't catch up on your rent (including any late fees if applicable) by then, the landlord can file eviction proceedings against you (take you to court and ask a judge to force you out of your home).