About Landlord-Tenant Disputes

Many landlord-tenant disputes can be avoided if the landlord and tenant establish ground rules and read the lease agreement thoroughly before signing any documentation. Some tenants use legal representation before signing the lease, while others feel like they know enough about rentals to go without. Either way can work as long as both parties agree to all of the terms. This way, if a situation is later taken to court, one or both can refer to written documentation, not just a verbal memory.

Warning

Visit a doctor if you find yourself becoming sick in your home due to paint or strange smells. Your landlord is responsible for taking care of carbon monoxide detectors, fire alarm detectors and should be able to tell you when the apartment was built and when a lead-based paint test was completed. If not, the tenant can report any safety issues to the Department of Health. Housing built before 1978 could contain lead-based paint, and this is why the landlord should have the apartment tested for lead from paint, paint chips and dust, especially if the apartment has just been painted over instead of the paint being stripped.

Misconceptions

Contact your real estate company if you see that they are not handling maintenance issues in the time that was originally stated on the lease. If the maintenance person says he'll be in your home the next day but has not shown up days later, you need to have a record of that. Keep track of all emails, phone calls and records of each time you made a follow-up call to find out the hold up. If the situation is an emergency, such as leaks, contact the Department of Housing in your local area. It is a legal requirement for you to have safety issues straightened out.

Features

Take photos of cars that are in your parking spot. If you have an apartment that has street parking, this is ineffective, but if you are paying for an assigned parking spot and another car continues to park in your spot, you have every right to report it. Calling the police may not work because the parking lot is considered private property and tickets cannot be written for private parking, but if you have documentation showing your parking lot number and space, and you have photographs of the car in plain sight in your spot, you have proven that someone is not following the parking lot rules.

Considerations

Refer to your lease if you pay your rent late and your landlord tries to overcharge you. There is usually a grace period on the lease, and as long as you follow the grace period, there should be no problems. However, if you have contacted your real estate company to let it know about a hold-up in payment but you have no proof that you did so, this can cause tension. It is better to fax this information or type an email than to just call because your landlord can easily say she forgot about that call or did not tell the accounting department. If you have a copy of when you sent your rental payment, ask your landlord for the postmark on the envelope to see if it did arrive after the grace period. If mailing it causes unnecessary disputes, consider dropping your rent off at the real estate office.

Types

Keep your landlord informed about disputes that you are having with other tenants, and don't wait until it's too late and the neighbors have already started a war with you. If your landlord tries to blame you as being the squeaky wheel or the disturbing tenant, you can prove you aren't if you kept written documentation. Although there is a set time period in the winter when a landlord cannot kick you out, if you are reported as disturbing the peace, you can be ticketed for that. If your landlord won't do anything about noisy tenants in your building, call the police and keep a track of the police records.

Benefits

Refer to your lease if your landlord suddenly changes a rule from what you were first told, such as no longer being allowed to barbecue on the porch. Your landlord must provide a reason why this rule has changed, and the landlord should have sent out previous documentation to all tenants letting them know this benefit has changed. Your landlord cannot just cater rules to certain tenants.

Resources

• Real Estate Company (Chicago)