What should I do if our landlord does nothing to fix the problems in our house?

First, send a certified letter to the landlord setting out all the health hazards, repairs needed and the cosmetic items they promised to fix and demand they make the repairs immediately. Give them a set time period (like 7 business days from the receipt of the letter) to respond or you will file a complaint with the Department of Building and Codes. Copy the Codes Department on the letter. In a situation like this, it is critical that you create a paper trail proving that you notified the landlord and demanded the situation be rectified. You will need this proof later if you decide to break the lease.

The mold issue and water leakage are health hazards and the Codes Department will force the landlord to bring the property up to code standards. As for the other cosmetic items that were promised, did you get that in writing? If not, you may have an uphill battle proving that the landlord made those promises. Get a statement from the neighbor about them making the same promises to the previous tenant. If you can get in touch with the previous tenant, get a statement from them too. Whatever you do, do NOT withhold the rent, as tempting as that sounds. All that will do is put you in the wrong too, while right now you have the high ground. You are entitled to what is called “quiet enjoyment” of the premises when you rent, which includes that the property be kept safe, in good repair and up to the standards of the local building code. If they do not repair everything, you should send a second certified letter stating that since they are in violation of the terms of the lease you are moving out. Involve the Codes Department, the Health Department, HUD and, if necessary, an attorney or the local Legal Aid office. Most Legal Aid offices will help with housing problems.

Here is some more detail about “quiet enjoyment”. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Quiet+enjoyment

I used to work specifically on housing cases such as this for my local Legal Aid Society.

well I forgot to mention that we would be putting the rent money in an Escro Account, would that still put us in the wrong?

I do not recommend you do that. Right now, he’s violated the lease. If you withhold the rent, now you are also violating the lease. Two wrongs don’t make a right and it will weaken your position as the wronged party. He can also then evict you.

I don’t know whether this would be true for you too, but my daughter was renting an apartment in NH, and it also had a lot of black mold in the bathroom; she was able to break the lease because of it being a health hazard.

@diavolobella Eviction varies by state (greatly). I don’t think putting the money in an Escrow Account weakens your case in every state SO LONG AS THE LANDLORD WAS PROPERLY NOTIFIED AND FAILED TO ATTEMPT TO CORRECT DEFECTS. The problem is only when money is placed into an escrow account when the landlord wasn’t notified, made an attempt to correct defects, or isn’t responsible for the defect such as a verbal promise to install new cabinets. In short, it only weakens the case when you have contributing negligence.

Nonpayment of rent is always a grounds for eviction and again, you do it at your own risk. It then becomes a situation where both parties have defaulted under the terms of the lease. It is always better to maintain the high ground and let the proper authorities, such as Codes, come to your aid. Don’t risk the damage to your credit that an eviction proceeding can cause.

most states allow for you to notify the landlord of needed repairs and your intent to fix the problems yourself in writing. send a copy to them and yourself certified and don’t open yours.(save it for the judge to open) and submit the paid bills as your rent payment. look into your state laws.