Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

Re: Withholding rent due to lack of repairs-more specific!

Georgia Law favors the Landlord generally, and is no exception in this case. Most of the time it's due to the fact that the landlord prepares the lease and the tenant simply signs it without legal advice. In certain, very specific situations, you can withhold rent and have the repairs made with the money. It appears here that you did not make the repairs but simply withheld rent. There's also the issue of whether the landlord "did" something or if the premises were in substantially the same condition when you rented the property. In any event, the first requirement is that you give notice (and you must be able to prove it) and that the premises were "untenantable" not just uncomfortable. It is clear that you have been denied some enjoyment of the property and the issue with the door and the mildew seems to be a factual issue that a judge or jury might have to decide. If you can get an expert to agree that the mildew is posing a health problem and a security expert to agree that the door is a security issue then you might be able to withhold rent, then present your case to the judge during the dispossessory hearing. It might have been to your advantage to attend court and present photographs and other evidence to the judge in hopes that he would force the landlord to correct situation. You're rolling the dice though and might be put on the street. Moisture problems are very difficult to fix. If you can find a friend in the construction business who can give you some estimates on the repairs then you could confront the landlord with a certified letter demanding that they be fixed and enclose a copy of the estimate. If he refuses or ignores you then you could have them fixed yourself, then when your lease terminates move out and file an action against the Landlord to recover your costs based on the experts that will back your story up. Be sure to read your lease carefully and see if there's anything else you might be able to do. And lastly, you could file an action in small claims court to try to force the landlord to repair the premises, but again you must have good collaboration from other impartial witnesses. If you anticipate an action, be sure to keep a daily log of problems, phone calls, resolutions, and also take a lot of pictures. It's not enough just to prove someone did something wrong, you also have to prove damages.