Episode 32: HELP! My Landlord Forgot about ME!
Summary
In today's episode from tenant perspective, we discuss WHAT to do if you are getting IGNORED or FORGOTTEN by your landlord! What if something breaks, or needs repaired, or is flooding? When you can't get someone on the landlord side to help you, we review the steps on how to properly take action into your own hands. Once you review your local tenancy codes, follow the steps and get your place repaired (and likely send the landlord the bill).
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Full Episode Transcription
Welcome to My Life as a Landlord, where we untangle all things housing and educate the curious. If
you're looking for some entertainment with some honest, awkward conversations, you've come to the
right show. I'm your host, Dr. Jennifer Salisbury. This is my life as a landlord. Welcome to it.
Well, hello. Welcome to my life as a landlord. I'm Dr. Jennifer Salisbury. Welcome to the podcast. Just as a
reminder, we have five rotating topics on a predictable schedule. Last week we talked about landlording
stuff. This week we're talking about tenant stuff. Next week we're talking about real estate development.
Then it'll be real estate investment, which is all about money and then other Salisbury adventures. Just a
reminder, my new feature. I am also videoing this recording, which is kind of different for me. So if you
would rather watch instead of listen, then go to YouTube. And the channel on YouTube is, you guessed
it, my Life as a Landlord. Today's episode number 32. Episode name help. My Landlord Forgot about
Me. This is all about what do you do if the landlord is not responding? The property manager is not
responding. Something has happened and you need help and nobody's doing anything. What do you do?
How do you do it properly? Okay, so normally I do three points. This time I'm kind of doing it
sequentially. 1s And you'll see what I mean once we get into it. This is not three separate points. This is
sequentially. So my landlord forgot about me. This is about a tenant perspective aspect on this. And we're
going to talk about several parts of this in sequence where, one, you realize that you're being ignored as a
tenant. Two, something has happened that you need to check the rules in your area. For those of you
who've been listening to the channel, you know that I'm harping on knowing the rules. And then three,
you've got to take action. But how do you actually take action properly? What do you do? Especially if
you feel like you're being ignored? Okay, let's jump into it. So if you feel your repair requests are being
ignored and something has happened, something has happened where you can't not be ignored anymore.
You've got a leak or a broken appliance, you've been locked out, you've had a disturbance, somebody's
parking in your driveway. I mean, it could be any number of things that has happened that you need help
and nobody's helping you, which is bad. So if you need to get a hold of the landlord for some help in the
lease, there should be some kind of communication method, emergency wise, neighbor wise, property
management, there should be somebody somewhere that can help you. But if you're not getting a
response by text, email, maybe you have a maintenance portal. Depending on who your landlord or your
property manager is, you've got to do something, but it bounces back or you can't get a hold of anybody.
You need help. That's how you know you're ignored. So let's talk about this. First of all, you've got to
make sure that whatever repair you need help with is dealt with. Okay? But let me qualify this. If the
building is on fire or there's imminent flooding, you have got to take appropriate action, okay? If you
got to call 911, do it. Don't be trying to get a hold of the landlord waiting for this and then the house
burns down. I'm trying to make light of it, but it's not very light. But let's say here's a big one for us. If a
fridge goes, if the fridge dies and. And nobody's responding. What do you do? Obviously, you've got to
get a replacement fridge. You may have to buy some coolers. You've got to get some ice. You're trying to
not lose the food that's in your refrigerator. But there is something that you've got to do. You've got to
make the situation safe and not urgent. Okay? Those are your two keys here tenants out there who are
listening thing safe and not urgent. Now, if your light switch is not working, that is not unsafe, and I
would dare to say it's not urgent. So please know the difference and make sure that your request is
reasonable. Now, the fact that you're being ignored, that's not reasonable. I'm not a big fan of anybody
not communicating with anyone else. I think that's ridiculous. So so if you have a repair that needs
imminent urgent dealing with, like for here's something that's happened to us. We had our I guess it was
our water main in the driveway burst. And I'm trying to remember if it was. I think it was like a
Sunday morning at like 07:00, and a tenant called me basically hysterical because the water was flooding
the driveway and going towards the house. Going towards the driveway. This is Sunday morning. We
had to figure out what we were going to do, so everybody had to jump in. And of course, I wasn't there.
Remember, I'm an out of country, out of province, out of state landlord, like many of you, I'm guessing,
but the tenants had to figure out what they were going to do. Now, I don't ignore my tenants, so that's not
an issue. But still, you can see there that is an urgent and that is a safety issue. We've got to make sure
that the water is dealt with. We got to make sure that the water main got replaced. But that's just one
example that it can be a little bit crazy and stuff happens. Time doesn't stop. The time is going to age.
Your buildings, tenants, landlords, it's going to happen. Stuff's going to happen as you live in a place
whether you rent or whether you own. Either way, okay? But there is an administrative side to this,
especially if your landlord or your property manager continues to ignore you. Once you have made the
repair safe and no longer urgent, then what? There was probably a cost to this, by the way. There was
probably a cost. Something, some way, you had to pay something, or maybe you're going to have to
pay something. If it's not super urgent, you're going to have to pay to get this repaired. So then what?
Well, here's the answer. Each state or province has their own. You guessed it. Landlord Tenancy Act or
Residential Tenancy Act or Hawai. Landlord Tenant Code. Every single place in North America has their
own rules on what to do. I assure you, it's in there. Okay? So here's what I found. I went, so let's use
the water leak in the driveway. The sinkhole water's running, okay? I said, okay. What happens if I'm in
Nebraska State in the middle of the US. Mainland? What happens if I live in Nebraska and this happened
to me? My landlord is ignoring me. I've got an issue. I've made it safe. I've made it non urgent. But it has
to be fixed permanently. We have to fix it long term. Okay? So I googled Nebraska Tenancy act, I think,
is what I googled. Or Nebraska tenant code, I forget. But anyway, regardless, the Nebraska law came up.
That's what it is. Landlord tenant law came up. And there's section, section 70, 614, 25, non compliance
by landlord. Okay? Very, very legalese in Nebraska. I had no idea. But basically what they're saying
here, and this is point one, there's four points. It's all talking about the landlord's responsibility to provide
a safe place. Shocking, this is exactly what I tell to all my landlords out there. Number one. Accept as
provided as Universal Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. And I'm reading this, by the way. I'm
showing this to my YouTubers out there. I'm reading this. If there is a material non compliance by the
landlord with the rental agreement or a non compliance with sections, whatever other section. Let's see, I
looked it up. Landlord to maintain fit premises. That's another requirement of landlord. So if the landlord
is not doing that regarding health and safety, the tenant may deliver a written notice to the landlord
specifying the acts and omissions, constituting a breach, and then that rental agreement will terminate
upon a date not less than 30. It goes into the details of the terminating of this. But basically in Nebraska,
non compliance by landlord, it's affecting health and safety. Whatever that item is, the tenant must
deliver in written notice to the landlord the exact specifying acts or their failure to act. 1s And then
basically, the landlord's either got to smarten up and get engaged, or the tenant has permission to
terminate. And I believe they also have yeah, they have right to recover not only the keys, the cost of the
repairs, but they have recovery of reasonable attorneys fees. I mean, they're very specific. If the landlords
are going to ignore their tenants, they're going to pay, which is terrible. 2s The whole situation is terrible.
The tenant should never have to do that. That's ridiculous. Okay, so that's for all my US listeners out
there. But I also reached up into Canada, because, of course, I speak to both US landlords, us tenants and
Canadian landlords and Canadian tenants, because I am both. I rent and I am landlord in both countries.
So I just did the same thing for I Googled manitoba Residential Tenancy Act Manitoba popped up. And
actually, I was quite impressed with Manitoba. Well done. And so I pulled up the Residential Tenancy
Branch fact sheet for Manitoba, and it says something almost identical. Except in Manitoba's situation,
they asked the Residential Tenancy Branch the third party British Columbia is the same way. They asked
the Residential Tenancy Branch for help. Now, I don't know if BC does that Manitoba does, where the
tenant can actually ask for help, and then the branch will reach out to the landlord. But it does say that a
landlord must make sure that the rental is in good state of repair, meets Health and Building and
Maintenance and Occupancy standards. And then a tenant must repair damage they cause, or damage
caused by anyone that the it allows in the unit of the complex. Tenant is responsible for their own
damage along with guests. Which makes sense. 1s But what happens if the landlord won't do the repairs?
So here it is. This is Manitoba. A tenant should ask the landlord in writing. In writing. You got to write it
down in writing to do the repairs that are needed. If the landlord refuses to do the necessary and
reasonable repairs, the tenant should not hold back rent. This is unusual because most places they're
allowed to withhold rent if they've given proper written notice and sufficient time for the landlord to
correct whatever the deficiency is. In Manitoba, that's not the case. So they ask for the residential tenancy
branch for help and then it goes from there. But in general, the same thing. You have got to know the
rules for your area. What happens if your landlord is ignoring you? Here's the answer. Go to your local
housing or tenancy code. You have to know what it is. And they all have something in there about this
situation because, unfortunately, it happens a lot. So let's get back into our scenario. You've been ignored.
Something has happened. You've had to make it safe and not urgent. You've revisited your landlord
tenant code, and then you take action. Okay? So here's how you take action. You have to do what it says
exactly. You cannot tense send them a text unless text is a written notice communication method. If that's
approved in your state or your province or territory, you cannot do whatever you want. If you don't
follow exactly what they say, it's not going to work. Okay? So here's how you do this. So almost all of
these guys, if you have an emergency repair, an urgent repair, then you've got to give your landlord
notice in writing. Or the third party, like I mentioned in Manitoba, the Residential Tenancy Branch,
you've got to give them a detailed list on what is wrong, what are they doing or not doing, what are they
allowing to do, or what has happened that they have to repair. It has to be in writing period. You've got to
deliver that to the landlord. I prefer certified letters where you have proof of delivery that you can see the
tracking. And then if you have to go to court or you go to arbitration, you've got proof of delivery.
You've got to give the landlord time to fix it, a reasonable time to fix it. Now, some places say it's ten
days. Some places. Let's hawaii. Hawaii says that the landlord has ten days to fix it, especially if the
tenant actually has to give two written notices. The ones we just talked about. There's only one. But this
is one more thing. You have got to make sure that you know the details of exactly where you are
operating and what has to happen. You've got to go forward with that exactly as they say. So you've got
proof of delivery. You've got to give the landlord a time period to fix it. And then if they don't, you make
the repairs in the form of estimates or invoices or whatever. And then again, depending on your area, if
you can deduct it from the rent line, if you have to take the landlord to small claims based on your area,
that's the rule. But whatever it is, you've got to figure that out and then follow through with it. You can't
just ignore it, and you can't just do what you want. You can't make phone calls. You can't stalk them.
You can't go to their house, knock on the door. You can't text them necessarily. Again, you've got to
absolutely follow the rules. Okay? So in this podcast we were talking all about what happens when a
tenant feels ignored. What if you feel ignored and then you've got something that happens, you've got to
fix it. You've got to make it safe and not urgent. And then there is a point where either something has
happened or you think it's going to like here s a perfect example. Your stairs are rickety. Your handrails
on the stairs are rickety. It's not safe. It should be repaired. It's not getting repaired. The landlord is
ignoring you. This perfect example. Nothing has happened yet, but it could. So you as a tenant read your
local tenancy act or your landlord tenant code, whatever it is, and make sure you understand what you've
got to do to properly give your landlord written notice, then send that notice and then whatever else. Like
in Hawaii, you have to send invoices or estimates. You have to actually prove the amount that you're
giving the landlord notice because you can deduct that amount from the rent. So if you do it properly,
you can actually make the repairs on behalf of the landlord and take it out of the rent. But that's the next
thing feel ignored. You're checking your local landlord tenant code and then you take action. Okay? But
again, you've got to follow the detail of what it says for your local area and only you know that. I don't
know all the states or provinces or territories yet I'm still learning them all. There's a lot of moving
parts with all of these. And I want to support my Canadian and my US listeners because I operate in both
fields. I don't do just one geographic area specifically. I do the that. Okay, here's your call to action. If
you're listening to this thinking, yeah, this is me and my tenant is or my landlord is ignoring me, here's
what I'd like you to do. You by now, if you've listened to the podcast, you have your landlord tenant code
or your residence residency law, whatever it is, your state or province code for housing you. You've got
that right. You've got it on your phone, you've got it on your laptop. If not, Google it, read it. But your
call to action this week is specifically, what do you do if the landlord starts ignoring you? What is the
process for you in your area? You need to know this. Remember, these are the rules of the game here,
and you can't play it well if you don't know the rules of the game. So let me know your comments and
questions. We've talked a lot about today, about what happens when the landlord is not engaging and not
supporting the rentals that they should be. This, of course, goes for property managers as well, not just
the landlord. I just said landlord. But let me know your comments, your questions on our Facebook
group. I also have commenting turned on on YouTube. My life as a landlord. And remember, I create
new podcast content based on questions and comments that I get, so please feel free to send them my
way. Next week's podcast topic is real estate development, and that's episode number 33 called after the
Fact Fun. And I assure you, it ain't fun. Anyway, sounds good. I'll see you there. Thank you.
Thank you for joining us this week. To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today's episode,
visit our website at www.mylifeasalandlord.com If you're looking for educational resources for
getting into real estate investing, becoming a landlord, or even a better tenant, then I have a page on my
website to get you started looking for a solution to the pickle that you're in? I have suggestions for that
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Dr. Jennifer Salisbury, in this episode of My Life as a Landlord. I'll see you next time.