Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Iowa

My husband received a text message on his cell phone from our landlord advising us that he was deaming our 12 month lease as invalid and was placing us on a month to month rental contract due to a late payment and a returned check - both have been resolved and late fees were paid. We received no formal written 3 day or 7 day notices to cure at any point. In fact at this moment in time we are actually $350 ahead on the rent. We paid that amount in advance this month and will pay the rent as directed in the signed lease.

Also, he stated that he is placing the house up for sale. He did ask if we wanted to purchase the home. We believe that all of this is as a result of a city inspection that he was required to have done. In Polk County, IA, a landlord must have a valid rental certificate which he did not have on the home that we are living in.

An inspection was done and the city found numerous violations including missing smoke detectors which my husband took care of and that issue has been resolved. Also, the roof needs to be replaced, screens are missing from windows, windows that need to be painted, and the most unsafe violation was with the circuit breaker box in the garage. The city inspector told my husband that he was getting high readings from the wiring that showed that it wasn't wired properly and it isn't secured properly to the wall. A report was sent to the landlord giving him the violations and advising him if the violations were not taken care of, the city would fine him. Our landlord had someone come over to the house to take photos. We assumed that it was to fight some of the violations.

The inspector came back out to re-inspect the house. The roof has not been dealt with, nor have the screens, the windows, and he hasn't done anything about the wiring/circuit breaker box. The city inspector told my husband that the city is taking the landlord to court and he is facing large fines for ignoring a court order to fix the violations. The inspector also told my husband that the agent that our landlord had come over to take the photos had told the inspector that it wasn't necessary for the city to do a reinspection because the landlord was evicting us. The inspector advised us to get legal advice because of our landlord refusing to fix the violations and the lack of a valid rental certification.

Again, we have received no written documentation about any potential eviction. Can he legally evict us when we have not broken the lease? It is still valid until August 8, 2011. What is our legal obligation given that there is no valid rental certificate? I believe from what I have read that we can legally withhold rent when there are repairs that he is refusing to make on the home.

We are looking to find another home to possibly move in to though I really don't want to move again. I want to know how to respond to his text messages. I have already told my husband to keep all text messages from our landlord and not to text him back. That any response we make will be in writing and we will keep a copy and send a registered letter to our landlord with our intents.

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