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It’s Not Okay for a Landlord to Require…

You can choose to fight your own battles, but the following list is generally accepted as unreasonable expectations of the landlord.

It’s Not Okay for a Landlord to Require the Following:

  • Property Taxes

For some reason, this story keeps creeping up with AmerUSA (a popular tenant screening company for individual landlords). It has been reported that landlords have been requiring tenants to pay for the landlord’s own property taxes. This is – without question – an unreasonable requirement.

  • Waste Disposal

Most rental situations should not require you to pay for waste management services to dispose of your weekly trash.

  • Heating and Cooling Maintenance

Aside from changing clogged air filters, you should never be required for maintaining such a considerable expense as the air condition unit – which is owned by the landlord. In fact, there are areas in the United States where landlords are required to make sure the heating and cooling systems achieve a certain temperature. Because of heat waves, Dallas, TX. requires landlords to make sure the air conditioning system can cool the unit to at least 85 degrees.

  • Plumbing

Unless it’s apparent that you broke something, the landlord should be responsible for all plumbing repairs. However, if the damages are not a result of normal wear and tear and are a result of tenant abuse, you may be held liable for the cost to repair the damages. For example, repeatedly clogging the drains with kid’s toys is not normal wear and tear. On the other hand, gaskets needing to be replaced to prevent a faucet from dripping would be considered normal wear and tear.