Location: New Jersey, US.
As the title states, our landlord is responsible for vital systems (plumbing, electricity, heat) as per the lease and is not properly handling issues we are having.
October 13th we requested via text message (rare for him to pickup phone or call back) that he come check our plumbing out. Upstairs shower (we have two) doesn't work at all. Water has a stench and is so hard it stains nearly everything. 17th we requested help again, no help. October 30th, we overnighted our rent check to him (full amount) and a written letter addressing our concerns with the plumbing.
As of November 7th, he had not acknowledged whatsoever. November 7th, sections of our home started losing power. Of our 2 floor home, our entire upstairs (2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom), the downstairs bathroom, heat, and refrigerator was no longer turning on.
He showed up November 8th and spent 5 hours trying to fix the electric (he is not licensed in any capacity). He left 2 times saying it was fixed, and had to come back because it went back off. The 3rd time he left, it stayed on until night time, when it turned off again.
Morning of November 9th we notified him the power issues were recurring and asked him to consider a licensed electrician. He said fine, and to deduct the repair from the rent. I had a licensed electrician (35 years experience and family friend) come to the home. He had the electric company meet with him at the property this same afternoon to verify their equipment wasn't malfunctioning. Confirming the issue is that the electrical main is bad and the part, being from 1970, is no longer available, the circuit breaker needs to be replaced. He quoted us $900 for this repair. The landlord refused to pay that amount and insisted he will repair himself. He returned to the property at 10pm November 9th and stayed there until 2am working on it. We both wake up 6am for work and were asleep when he left. We woke up to the same power issues, along with new sections of the home not working, which were working before.
Notifying him, he is insisting the main needs to be replaced and the repair should only cost $135 total, labor and parts included. He still refuses to let the licensed electrician make the repair.
We are now on day 4 of having these power issues. We don't want to make the electrician come and try to force our hand and deduct from rent out of fear we will have to pay for the repair ourselves.
What is our legal course of action and rights in this situation?
Thank you.
Edit: Concerning plumbing issues, we signed lease and moved into the home before water/electricity was turned on. Rookie move. Had no electricity issues until recently besides intermittent turn offs that were far less frequent or troublesome than is occurring now.
Submitted November 10, 2015 at 09:26PM by donda01 http://ift.tt/1liUOGr legaladvice
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