also, once we had a landlord that gave us the green light to improve the house and we would work something out afterwards in exchange for rent, or lower monthly rent for a few months, ect. we were just so eager and trustworthy that we didn't get all formal. the landlord sold the house, reassuring us the new owner was going to rent it to us. new owner came in, decided he wanted the house and we stopped our projects- we obviously didn't want to make the house better for him and not even get reimbursed. So then, we were held liable for damaging the old old sun faded dust stained ( 1960's) carpets in the hallway we didn't use a dropcloth because we were going to rip up the carpets after than and restore the wood floors. We didn't get anything in paper, so were were screwed. We tried not paying this guy for baiting and switching and the improvemnts that we did make to his now property, the fact that he let us suffer with faulty electricity for a long time and they were all diffrent issues in the eyes of the court. Its all about- did you pay the rent? No? well pay it, and anything else will be a small claims matter after the fact, but a tenet rarely gets to say they aren't going to pay because of this or that and get away with it. I've heard its really hard for most to even collect all the money they have paid 100% in motel fees if something has gone wrong and its the apartments fault, say the heat goes out for three days in the winter and the tenets stay because they have no other place to go, well thats not allowed to be deducted, I know this because I had to find that out when we had to go stay with SO's mom because our furnace gave out. I guess best case scenario is those days might be prorated, but not to the fullest extent because only one part of what makes up the home is on the fritz. Tenets don't get many breaks.

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have better results with your actual cases, but I do appreciate your sharing the stories with me - I'll definitely be able to write my paper about this & how poorly the application of the law affects people. Thanks again! You're life-savers!

"I have no country. As a woman, I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world." - Virginia Woolf

"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." - Rose F. Kennedy

i don't have specifics but you rarely get to not pay the rent because of conditions it has to be really really bad or life threatening almost. at least here anyway. they say if it is that bad you don't stay without paying you just leave. usually you just get more like 10 days to pay or the sheriff can come and padlock the door. most tenant court is nothing but formality.

Jessica
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind~~Dr.Seuss

i went to court with my previous landlord about 1 year ago because my apartment needed repairs that he would not fix ( i.e. there was mold everywhere, the ceiling just about caved in, the locks were broken on the front door and a bunch of other stuff) i had stopped paying rent for about 7 months and moved out. he proceeded to take me to court to try to get the rent money. because i had moved out he really had no case in tenant court and needed to take me to civil court. while in tenant court his lawyer bargained with me and we ended up settling with me giving him $1500 plus he kept the security which was $1190. i hope that helps a bit. good luck with the paper. let me know if you have any questions.