Trouble With a Landlord? Help is Only One Phone Call Away

WHITESBORO — While his house is being renovated, Mike Hamilton has been getting first-hand experience with the trials that some tenants have to endure.
Disagreements with landlords being one.
“My wife and I had to find a place that would take us along with our dog while the construction was ongoing at our home,” Hamilton said. “Once we found a place that fit our needs, we stopped looking. We were going for convenience.”
Hamilton told the Herald at a July 18 workshop hosted by Cape Human Resources and the county Human Relations Commission at the Whitesboro Recreation Center, that his tenure as a tenant has been anything but convenient.
“We’ve been threatened, we’ve gotten letters that they’ll shut off utilities and lock us out,” he said.
Fortunately, Hamilton said, he will be moving out shortly but he wanted advice on how to move out “relatively painlessly” and get his security deposit back.
Felicia Smith, executive director of Cape Human Resources and chair of the county division of the Human Relations Council said she invited Jim Peeler, chairman of the state Hu-man Relations Council, and Carol Haig, Rachel Witman and Theresa Watts of South Jersey Legal Services, to help offer solutions to tenants who might find themselves in similar, or much worse, situations.
“Everyone has rights,” Smith said. “Both tenants and landlords.”
According to Peeler, a major issue when it comes to renting, selling or even buying a home, is discrimination.
State law, he said, protects against discriminating against race, color, age, marital status, disability, income, sex, affection or domestic partnership.
“A landlord may say that he can’t rent to a blind person because he has a guide dog,” Peeler said.
“You can’t stay here,” Peeler said, speaking as a landlord might, “we don’t allow pets and your dog is a pet.”
“You can report this,” he said.
Differential treatment, he noted, is often a product of discrimination. Peeler said that common examples are longer or shorter leases, inflating the cost of the security deposit, ask-ing for a cosigner on the lease and harassment.
Peeler stressed that despite the many issues that may come up between a landlord and a tenant, “there is an advocate for you in state and local services.”
“You aren’t alone,” he said. “And you don’t have to put your tail between your legs and run, you can put your tail up and bite back.”
Haig, who represents tenants in court, reiterated Peeler’s sentiment and told those assembled to “just come in and ask.”
“If we can’t help you for any reason, we’ll at least point you in the right direction,” she said.
Haig highlighted certain areas that most tenants should be aware of when dealing with a landlord.
For example, she said, in this state the security deposit, by law, is limited to one and one-half the monthly rent.
“So if your rent is $500 per month, the security deposit should only be $750,” she said.
She also warned tenants to be wary of the “work-for-me landlord.” She said that these landlords typically promise rent reductions in return for labor or improvements to the property.
“A lot of these cases end up in court,” she said, “because there is no way to prove these oral agreements.”
She also noted that a tenant isn’t under any obligation to do any work to the property, be-cause that is supposed to be a landlord’s responsibility.
“You don’t have to do anything other than what is in the lease agreement,” she said.
Haig said that one of the most important things that tenants should do, is keep a written record of transactions between themselves and the landlord.
“Anything in court has to be proven,” she said. “That’s why we tell people to get all agreements in writing and keep a good record of anything that has gone on during your stay at the property.”
When it comes to eviction, often a landlord’s biggest threat, Haig said that the only group not covered by the anti-eviction act is hotel and motels, and a landlord that lives on premises with two or less apartments.
“Anything other than that, you must be taken to court to have a legal eviction take place,” she said. “Lockouts, utility shutoff, threats are all illegal.”
Haig distributed a pamphlet outlining how “it is now a criminal offense for a landlord to threaten or cause an illegal lockout after being issued a warning.”
She said that normally in the case where police are called to a landlord-tenant situation, the officer would warn the landlord if they were committing a disorderly persons offense. But, she said, once warned, if that landlord is still attempting to illegally evict the tenant, it can be a cause for arrest.
Haig said that only in a case of nonpayment of rent could the landlord go and file an evic-tion notice with no other notice given.
When it comes to collecting belongings after a legal eviction happens, Haig said that the tenant has to communicate, in writing, that they want their belongings held.
The landlord, she said, is only obligated to hold belongings for 30 days and after that it can be disregarded.
Haig urged tenants who need help with landlord issues to contact South Jersey Legal Serv-ices. The resource provides free legal services to clients whose income and assets are within established limits.
For more information on South Jersey Legal Services, contact 465-3001.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com