Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia
Irresponsive Landlord
My landlord doesn't respond to my maintenance calls. Though I have been here for 4 years, the carpet has not been changed. When I moved in , the carpet was a old one and not a new one. Once they cleaned it for me. If something breaks, and I report, it takes more than 3-4 days for them to respond. Right now my shower is not working and they did work on it but it's been 4 days since they first came. No one came back to finish the work. The shower room has a large hole. I called and complained but no one came to fix it or finsh the work they started. What do I do? Like this there are many other tales.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Irresponsive Landlord
You can pay for the repairs yourself, and then go to the general district court to assert a rent escrow for the amount of the repairs. You would then pay a portion of your rent into this escrow account until the court decides who gets the money in the escrow account(which would be you if the landlord is responsible for these particular repairs and failed to take care of them).
The clerk of the general district court (civil division) will provide further guidance on the escrow account.