When landlords attack: One mans fight against his unruly landlord

As if the divorce wasn’t hard enough, finding a new home was going be a difficult task in today’s economy. So, I felt lucky when I stumbled across a two bedroom apartment on a quiet street in my hometown of Long Branch N.J.

Thought I found a good place

I called the number listed and spoke with the landlord. The owner promptly drove over and met me to show me the rental. No one had rented the place for almost three years, and workers were still completing a few repairs. The previous tenants had left food in the stove, the cabinets, and the icebox.

The landlord advised me that he could get $1700 a month for that unit. I advised him that I couldn’t afford that and was about to leave when he stated “but i’ll take $1300”. We made a verbal agreement, and soon after, I held the keys to my new apartment.

Apartment turns to landlord problems

Being a home improvement worker, I finished the repairs that were needed such as:

• removing old food and furniture
• painting and sheet-rocking holes in the walls.

After spending more than $300, I finally had what I thought was home sweet home. A few repairs still needed attention, fixes the landlord promised to handle, including:

• mold in the ceiling
• replacing the flooring around the toilet that had rotted through the joist
• replacing windows that would not lock.

He never even considered doing these repairs. Therefore, I advised him in February that I would withhold the rent until said repairs were made. I legally advised him in writing. Meanwhile, I still continued to pay my rent until July when enough was enough.

Landlord rules in New Jersey

New Jersey has some of the strictest tenant landlord rules in the U.S. so I have advised my landlord again in writing, but this time he was notified that I would be doing the repairs myself and deducting the cost from the rent as allowed by law.

After showing up to my apartment with the police as a show of force, his one and only response to any question asked was “when are you gonna pay the rent?”.

This is typical of the new aged “slum lords” who rent to peole of color and immigrants who are illegal and use either ignorance of the law or illegal status as a way to earn a buck from decent people at little or no expense to themselves. You can google your rights as a tenant and the laws that govern the state. I advise all who rent to know their rights because this could be you.

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