ONE MORE landlord legal question (Washington STate Tenant Landlord act)?

[tahmelapachme33]

Well, I am wondering if I have any remedies because of landlord retaliation when I complained about a hazardous condition. Here is what happened: (1) Landlord have several dangerous stairs around the complex in common areas. I slipped and almost cracked my knee. (2) I complained for about 2 weeks and no fix. (3) I complained again and he said they were working on it. (4) Stairs still not fixed so I sent him a letter outlining the laws under Washington tenant landlord act. I copied and pasted links and cited the actual statute which states that hazardous conditions had to be fixed within 24 hours...compliance with the law not an option. (5) He repairs then puts a 10 day eviction notice on my door because I have bamboo mats hanging around my patio (for privacy and sunblocking reasons).

My lease does state you cannot affix anything to the railings or ceiling of your patio area. However, almost every apartment around me has "non-allowed" items on like bamboo, bbq's etc.

[wendlesora]

The LL probably has no grounds for eviction if your rent/lease is current. Contact your landlord/tenant advocate in your area. The LL does have the option of not renewing your lease (30 day notice required) if you are at the end of the lease period or give you 30 days notice on a month-month rental agreement.

In the future, just notify your local building code enforcement people and have them do an inspection. It won't be an overnight fix, but it will keep you anonymous.

[nann]

The LL probably has no grounds for eviction if your rent/lease is current. Contact your landlord/tenant advocate in your area. The LL does have the option of not renewing your lease (30 day notice required) if you are at the end of the lease period or give you 30 days notice on a month-month rental agreement.

In the future, just notify your local building code enforcement people and have them do an inspection. It won't be an overnight fix, but it will keep you anonymous.

It's not revenge.

You wanted to hold him to the letter of the law. You are the one that quoted statutes and "compliance with the law is not an option".

Well, compliance with the lease is not an option. You expect him to follow the law 100%. He's just holding you to the same standard - to follow your lease 100%.

You can get into a statue war and things will only get worse.

You probably over did it with your letter. You may have been right in sending it but your tone probably set up a bad relationship with this land lord. You ruffled his feathers.

If you like living in the apartment and you like your blinds, You're going to have to smooth things over with the land lord. You set the tone originally. You need to see if you can change it. How about inviting the land lord over for coffee. Apologize for the tone of your letter. Let him know that you enjoy living there and you'd like to work things out. A well done apology, even if its one you don't mean but you can fake it really well, can go a long way toward soothing things over.

In the end, the land lord will win. At the very least, your lease will come up for renewal and he won't renew.

[marlan43]

This is a 10 day cure notice, not eviction. You will only be evicted if you refuse to remove the bamboo.

You did not state what is hazardous about the stairs, it is weird that the same hazard is multiple stairs. Just because you slipped does not mean it is the stairs. A hazard he has to fix right away would be a missing step, unstable handrail or a hole in the step.