Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in North Carolina

Hello i have been renting an older home and my landlord wants to take me to small claims court because we owe him back rent. Lately we have not been able to pay our rent in full because of having to put more than we can afford into our power bill we have to keep it at 66 to not use more than 10 dollars a day he will not allow us to use the fireplace. We are at our wits end the old wood floors have cracks that u can see the ground underneath and just two days ago the waterheater busted we went a full day with no water and now only cold water. what truly scares me is when we opened the water heater to stop the flood of water the heater inside was rusty with rotten initiation and exposed wires with electrical tape so now im even to scared to use water in fear of an fire there are also other problems as well. The heater looked like it has busted before and some one put appoxi on it and never bothered to truly fix it. Right now the only thing holding other together is jb weild. so if you tell me of this is safe or not please let me know i didn't know where to turn. Also when we moved in tthe washer and dryer didn't work he told us we had to buy our own but in the rental agreement it states that all property included with the house would be fixed at landlords expense such as any furnishings and plumbing along as we didn't brake it witch we did not.


Asked on 12/06/12, 4:00 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kenneth Love Ken Love Law

Unfortunately, if rent is owed, the LL has the right to take you to small claims court. It is likely that he/she is seeking to evict you.

You can defend against this with some of the items you discussed. In North Carolina, we have the Warranty of Habitability. This means the home must be habitable/livable and in working order. When you will need to do is make a list of all repairs that have been made and all defects you have discovered. From there, you need to list how long these items have been present in the home and when you informed your landlord of the defects. Finally, you will state what you think the property is really worth with the conditions as you listed for each month. If you are successful with your defense, you could owe less for each month and the amount you owe may be balanced out...or the LL could owe you money. Good luck to you. You may also want to call Legal Aid in your area to see if they can represent you.

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Answered on 12/06/12, 4:41 am


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