Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Louisiana
I own a trialer that sits in a trailer park where I pay lot rent that includes the water. I was just told 3 days ago we had to change the hose out and put pipe down for us to recieve water. They told me if I didnt have that down by this friday that they will lock the water meter where I wouldnt recieve water. I dont think this is fair do to the fact that I dont own the lot. I just own my trailer. Dont you think it should be the owners of the trailer park responsibiliy to change the hose and pay for a plumber? And then they told me that our water bill will be seperate from our lot rent but I would have to go to their office to pay my bill... Should I get my own bill in the mail for me to go to the water company to pay my own bill instead of the trailer parks office? I dont think it should be their business for them to know how much my water bill runs. It should also be in our name sents the water bill and the lot rent is seperate now, am I correct? And further more our lot rent went up do to a high water bill so say, so do you think they should go down on our lot rent sents the water bill will be seperate. Or do they have that right to keep our lot rent this much? Please give me an answer or your opinion about this whole thing. Im needing help answering these questions.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You have to look at the written lease. The landlord cannot change the terms of the lease during the period of time written on the lease. If the lease says you are responsible for it, you are. If the lease says the rent includes water, it does. The landlord can't change that and he can't increase your rent until the lease is up.
The general rule in residential leases is that the tenant is not responsible for plumbing. If the lease is silent as to that, I would argue that it is a landlord responsibility.
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