Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Rhode Island

Does the Landlord have to fix Flooding Damage to Apt.?

The exact answer may turn on how RI interprets the warranty of habitability.

Most landlord-tenant judges in GA would either order him to replace the carpet or cut his rent to reflect a reduced value of the tenancy. Now, very technically, this is not really legal. The rent has to be enforced or not enfored.

Your lease is probably silent concerning whether the apt. is supposed to have carpet. If it does specify that you rented it, you may have an argument that the landlord (LL) breached the lease. You break your lease and move somewhere else.

What you cannot do (which is what most tenants resort to) is refuse to pay rent to extort the landlord to make repairs. You must pay rent or declare the lease breached and move somewhere else. Or, if RI allows for it, pay the rent into court and ask the court to reduce the rent due to the dimunition in value. This will, however, cause both you and the LL to end up in court. And, as you might imagine, court is a losing proposition, genearlly, for everyone.

The loss of heat, water, power are clear breaches of the warranty of habitability. In GA the failure to have carpet is not. For the answer to that question in RI, as a RI lawyer.

Hugh Wood

A definite maybe, a probable probably

Much of what Atty Hugh Wood wrote to you may be inapplicable to RI law. I think we'd agree that you need to consult a Rhode Island attorney. I know some good ones in Providence, and another in Warwick; if you live in one of those places, you may ask me for a reference.

I don't necessary agree with Hugh Wood from Georgia. It is possible that Rhode Island law is more like Massachusetts, and our laws are not like Georgia's: for example, the carpeting was an obvious, visible aspect of the apartment when it was shown to you, and its physical condition is, aside from routine wear and tear by you as tenant, a part of the apartment and a condition of the lease, following fairly standard contract rules. You would be entitled to breach the contract (to leave, or just to threaten to) if a court agreed with me, unless the landlord decides to offer you some incentive to stay, e.g., a rent reduction.

If the carpet is wet or mildewy or filled with mites now that it's been wet, or if there's some condition of the apartment building which makes it likely or possible that your apartment will get soaked from time to time, you may have the hability complaints that Hugh Wood mentioned, which gives you rights under other laws more specifically geared to landlord / tenant relations. In Mass., they would all be considered violations of health codes which gives you mucho rights, including (after an inspection) the right to withhold the rent under Mass. law (but be SURE to put it in escrow -- a separate bank account that carries the landlord's name as well as yours, or else give it to a lawyer to guard as escrow, and in some states you can pay it into a court to hold; you'll lose all credibility with the court if you don't keep paying the rent to somewhere, and you could also be evicted). The withholding can be used to pressure the landlord to make the repairs (and in Massachusetts, the landlord cannot evict you while this is happening!) or you can collect some 3 months of payments and pay for the repairs yourself (if the Rhode Isle statute is the same as the Mass. statute).