(Beltsville-MD) Landlord not replacing broken fridge, and claims of unpaid rent. legaladvice

Hey guys,

My girlfriend is currently renting an apartment with her friend and their refrigerator has stopped working properly. The freezer is broken and neither of the fridge or freezer is working properly. E.g. freezer is leaking and the fridge is warmer than normal.

Now, this is the first I have heard of it and am trying to get her to scan me her rental agreement, but she is positive they cover the appliances. According to her, and with information to back this up:

• She has talked and emailed her landlord approximately 5 times now over the course of at least 30 days and he keeps saying its on order or that they need measurements again to order the unit. This has gone on several times.

• Since this has happened her power bill has doubled, obviously from the unit working 24/7 because it cannot satisfy the temperature and they have actually decreased the time that they use their AC to almost half. Yet the bill still went from $80 to ~$170.

Another issue they have received is a letter attached to their door stating that:

"Please note that we have sent your lease to our attorney to file suit with the district court of Maryland for non-payment of rent and requested possession of your apartment home."

Again, according to her:

• They have documentation of payment in the form of a receipt and the signature of the person that they have always paid. Which he has stated numerous times that they pay around a week early. Now, this she has stated, is not the normal way they receive a receipt, but both checks are photocopied front and back with a signature of their lease manager (I assume this is his title, as he is the one that directly handles the money and tenant problems but he is not the landlord). The amount on the paper is also not the amount that they pay in rent per month. We assume a mistake in their billing dept. Also, this letter was not signed.

Steps I have told her to take:

1. Send a certified letter of previous interactions of the request of the replacement/fixing of the fridge.
2. Set up a meeting as soon as possible to clear up the rent payment mistake. Wonder if it is the fact that the receipt was improperly recorded.

Other than that my big questions are, because I am not from MD and neither is she, what type of recourse do we have for the:

• Electric bill compensation
• Fridge being basically defunct for a month
• Possibility of them not accepting the receipt

Thanks for any help. I'll be heading over there Friday regardless to get with management to shed some light on this for me and their side of the situation. But I am hoping to gain some knowledge to not make an ass of myself by talking about things I haven't a clue about.

Submitted July 09, 2017 at 03:08AM by sparky1337 http://ift.tt/2tBK23F legaladvice