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  1. #1

    Default Can You be Evicted for Demanding Repairs

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: We live in Indiana, landlord lives in California

    Can we be evicted for demanding repairs be made to our furnace, or for checking on the status of the repairs?

    We live in a single family home and our furnace has not worked correctly since the end of last winter and we have been told several times now by our landlord that a new one would be installed. We have been given 4 different dates now as to when it would be installed and the dates come and go and we still have no furnace. I got the sense that we were being given the run around, so I contacted the HVAC company that I was told would be doing the install and they told me that the landlord had not even contacted them since the HVAC company sent their estimate proposal to the landlord back in September!

    I contacted the landlord (via text) and let them know I had spoken with the HVAC company and what they had told me. This is my text, word for word: "Hello - I spoke with XXX at XXX today, and she let me know that nothing has ever been scheduled for an install. I was under the impression last week when you and I spoke on the phone and you said the furnace would be installed by December 1st, that the issue was already handled. I understand this is a huge expense for you, however; I am concerned that the more we run this faulty furnace, the more dangerous it can become." The landlord responded a few hours later stating that they didn't like people in their business and that this was their property, not ours and that they were handling the issue as they saw fit. I apologized to my landlord for upsetting them, as that was not my intention, but now they will not return my calls or my texts and I'm a little freaked out now.

    I am now very afraid that by complaining to the landlord too much or by contacting the HVAC company myself, that this may have pushed the landlord over the edge and they will just try and evict us now. Is this possible that they can do that?

    They would have absolutely NO other grounds to evict us on, because we pay rent either on time or early and if something breaks in the house, we go ahead and fix it and let them know, AND we don't even deduct it from rent. We even just re-signed our lease early because the landlord said they wanted to keep us in the house.

    FYI - the house in my opinion, is still very habitable; we simply need a working furnace especially with a crazy Indiana winter around the corner.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    If you have a lease with any remaining time on it, no, you cannot be evicted for that during the term of the lease. However, at the end of the lease period, the landlord is free to decline to renew for any reason unless you are under some rent control law that says otherwise.

    If you are on a month-to-month agreement (tenant at will) your landlord can terminate your tenancy for any reason with proper notice.

    Meantime, read the Indiana landlord tenant statute Chapter 8 regarding landlord's obligations and tenant's remedies:

    http://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/...32/article-31/

    Note that Indiana has no "repair and deduct" provision so deducting your repair costs from rent without the written consent of the landlord will only get you evicted for non-payment of rent.

    PS: Texting the landlord is a very bad way of giving notice as you would likely be unable to properly introduce the texts as evidence in court. Always communicate by written letter in addition to texting or email.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    I have read Chapter 8 forward and back and I understand she has to provide us a working heating unit, but she isn't doing it. And I would NEVER withhold rent from her; I'll continue to pay it on time (or early) because I want to be viewed as a good tenant. I just don't want to be evicted because I made her mad. I am afraid she'll try to pull the "nuisance" defense, stating that my checking on repairs was really a nuisance and not my right to do (as I see it).

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    Please distinguish between "not working correctly" and not working at all, zero, zip, nada.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
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    Please distinguish between "not working correctly" and not working at all, zero, zip, nada.
    Per her Maintenance guy AND the HVAC company, the blower motor and pressure switch are both malfunctioning, causing the furnace to overheat and shut off mid-cycle, and then restart, then shut down, etc. In turn, the house never reaches the temperature on the thermostat. For example, I have it set at 70 right now and the warmest it has gotten is 64 in the house, despite the fact that the furnace has ran off and on all night and all morning.

    We were told by both her maintenance man and the HVAC company that this can be a very dangerous situation, especially if internal parts of the furnace start to crack due to the overheating. They both recommended replacing the furnace.


    FYI - I just paid our December rent today (11/28/15) and did so early as a "good faith" gesture, hoping she realizes we're good tenants and really want to remain in this house. It is very important we be allowed to stay because the school my son attends is something called a Title I school so he gets in-classroom assistance for his special needs and learning disabilities. To have to move right now would not only kill us financially, but also disrupt the progress he has made thus far this school year. There aren't too many Title I schools in this area.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    Quote Quoting all_4_my_son
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    Per her Maintenance guy AND the HVAC company, the blower motor and pressure switch are both malfunctioning, causing the furnace to overheat and shut off mid-cycle, and then restart, then shut down, etc. In turn, the house never reaches the temperature on the thermostat. For example, I have it set at 70 right now and the warmest it has gotten is 64 in the house, despite the fact that the furnace has ran off and on all night and all morning.
    OK, then we agree that this is not a habitability issue. Try setting it for a higher temperature.

    Quote Quoting all_4_my_son
    View Post

    We were told by both her maintenance man and the HVAC company that this can be a very dangerous situation, especially if internal parts of the furnace start to crack due to the overheating. They both recommended replacing the furnace.
    I suspect that the HVAC company is looking at a nice payday for replacing the furnace. I'm not saying it's not an issue but you have to understand where people who sell furnaces are coming from.

    Meantime, I suggest you call the city code department and the city health department and ask for an inspection. They, at least, have the power to cite and fine the owner if it really is a hazard. And if they determine that it's a hazard, you might be able to break your lease and get out of there.

    It's obvious that you aren't getting anywhere with the landlord just by talking, so stop freaking out about it, and call the two departments ASAP.

    Otherwise, it's electric blankets and space heaters this winter.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
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    OK, then we agree that this is not a habitability issue. Try setting it for a higher temperature.



    I suspect that the HVAC company is looking at a nice payday for replacing the furnace. I'm not saying it's not an issue but you have to understand where people who sell furnaces are coming from.

    Meantime, I suggest you call the city code department and the city health department and ask for an inspection. They, at least, have the power to cite and fine the owner if it really is a hazard. And if they determine that it's a hazard, you might be able to break your lease and get out of there.

    It's obvious that you aren't getting anywhere with the landlord just by talking, so stop freaking out about it, and call the two departments ASAP.

    Otherwise, it's electric blankets and space heaters this winter.

    Thank you for the information adjusterjack; I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I just gave our lease another once-over and just found that the landlord never signed it before mailing us a copy. Our signatures are there, but hers is not and the first page of the lease is different than what we originally reviewed. I honestly think now that she has set us up.....Guess I better start house hunting again.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    Quote Quoting all_4_my_son
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    Thank you for the information adjusterjack; I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I just gave our lease another once-over and just found that the landlord never signed it before mailing us a copy. Our signatures are there, but hers is not
    It's best to have both signatures but the lease doesn't need her signature to bind both of you to the contract. As a practical matter, doesn't even need yours either because a court will look at the terms of the contract, the intent of the parties to be bound by the contract (with or without signatures) and the performance of the parties.

    Quote Quoting all_4_my_son
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    the first page of the lease is different than what we originally reviewed.
    How did you manage to let that get past you? Did you not carefully read and understand what you were signing before you signed it?

    Quote Quoting all_4_my_son
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    Guess I better start house hunting again.
    Careful.

    If you breach the lease without good cause you may end up getting sued.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
    View Post
    It's best to have both signatures but the lease doesn't need her signature to bind both of you to the contract. As a practical matter, doesn't even need yours either because a court will look at the terms of the contract, the intent of the parties to be bound by the contract (with or without signatures) and the performance of the parties.



    How did you manage to let that get past you? Did you not carefully read and understand what you were signing before you signed it?



    Careful.

    If you breach the lease without good cause you may end up getting sued.
    Oh yes, we read the lease and agreed to everything on it. What I am saying is the lease was changed AFTER we had already read and signed our it and our landlord had flown back home. We didn't get a copy the day we re-signed because the landlord stated she couldn't copy it for us and we would have to settle on having a copy mailed instead once she made it back to her home in another state.

    When we re-signed the lease, my husband and myself along with the landlord, signed page 1, which was primarily the "information page" - where we're living, who we are, who the landlord is, when rent is due, how much rent is, special provisions (which was blank when we signed it) and the liability/termination sections. It also had the "executed on" date, and then a place where we all signed. My husband and myself were the only ones to sign page 2, which included the sections for maintenance and repair, animals, holdover by lessee, etc. There was also a section at the bottom for "special terms" which was blank as well when we signed it. Also, the pages are not from the same lease template; Page 1 has print/type that is very different than what is on Page 2, kind of like 2 different lease templates were used to make 1 lease, which I know is not against the law - it is just very confusing. Our first (original) lease was so nice and tidy and well laid out and didn't cause nearly the confusion I am having with this one.

    Well, the landlord stated she was already late for her flight back home but wanted to be there when we signed the lease, and that she'd sign page 2 "at home" and then mail us a copy. I didn't even get a copy until just a few weeks ago. When I reviewed it at that time, this was when I noticed on Page 1 that all of our signatures were gone and it appeared that a new form had actually been filled out instead. The rent due date was changed from the 1st to the 5th (which I won't complain about!), and in the "special provisions" section, there was verbage added regarding something to do with parking. Page 2 also had the extra verbage added about parking in the "special terms" area, and our names were also printed along the bottom of the page underneath where we had signed back in September. I contacted the landlord and told them I believed the lease had been changed after we had signed it and I asked why and was told the only thing that was added was the parking addendum (which doesn't even affect us to be honest). I didn't think though to ask why it appeared Page 1 was an entirely new form and was missing all of our signatures.

    I am afraid to bring this up to her again for fear it will just push her over the edge, especially with all this furnace stuff going on. I'm just afraid she will try to use the possibility of an un-signed lease (on her part) to say we're really only month-to-month tenants and she'll use that to kick us out. And trust me, I would NEVER breach our lease or move out. I want to stay in this house; it is a good house (albeit a little cold right now!) - I don't want to lose our home. That would be very devastating to us in more ways than one......

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Threat of Eviction

    The answer to all that about the lease is this:

    Everybody has camera phones these days. If you don't have one, buy a cheap digital camera and carry it with you so next time somebody puts a document in front of you that you have to sign you can photograph all the pages.

    Or you can say:

    "I see there is only one copy of this contract. Do you have another so we can both sign duplicates and I can take one with me? No? OK, then let's go someplace and make a duplicate before we sign. Oh, you don't want to do that? Well, sorry, we're leaving and we'll look elsewhere for somebody to do business with."

    It's that simple.

    PS: Having a digital camera is a good way to document the condition of a rental when you move in and when you move out.

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