Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Louisiana

renting

i have been in my apt for a year now and never received pest control monthly nor has the alarm system ever been activated which was included in the lease. what can i do? also had ac problems for 3 months and finally a new unit was put in after flooding my apt, missing work to have it fixed and my electricity bill went up over 100.00 and they only want to offer a one time credit of 100.00. the next bill is due and is over the norm again because of all the trouble. what are my rights?


Asked on 8/15/08, 9:06 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Adam Lambert The Law Office of Adam S. Lambert

Re: renting

If the landlord refuses to fix something that is his responsibility, like the air conditioner, you have rights.

Louisiana law requires that you give the landord written notice of the problem and a reasonable time to repair it. If he fails to repair it after a reasonable time, you are allowed to hire a licensed repairman to fix it. Then, you may submit a copy of your receipt along with the remainer of your rent for that month.

In other words, if your rent is $1000 and you paid $400 to repair the air conditioner, you submit the receipt for $400 along with $600 more and your rent is paid.

The one thing you cannot do is simply withhold your rent. If you refuse to pay rent until the landlord makes the repair himself, you will be evicted.

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Answered on 8/15/08, 10:09 am


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