Handout: Landlord/Tenant Rights

Rebecca Pomerantz, International Institute of Boston, Boston, MA

Part I: The House

Look at the house below.

From Joann Wheeler’s Making It. Staten Island, NY: Place of publication: American English Publications, 1986. Used with permission.

Part II: House Words

Here is a list of house words. Decide where each belongs and write them in the house.

Part III: What Should Your Landlord Take Care Of? What Should You Take Care Of?

Read the following to learn about whose responsibility it is to take care of things.

Exits
Exits are doors to get out of the house. Sometimes windows are exits to get out of the house, too, if there is a fire. A fire escape is also an exit. The landlord must make sure there are two exits for every apartment.

Lead Poisoning
Lead (Pb) is dangerous. If small children have too much lead in their bodies, their brains do not work well and they have problems in school. Old house paint has lead. Sometimes babies eat the old paint. Again, this is very dangerous.

If there are children under six years old in your house, the landlord must make sure there is no lead paint on the walls or windows from the floor up to six feet high. If a child in the house gets lead poisoning and there is lead paint in the house, the landlord must pay a lot of money for taking off the lead paint.

Smoke Alarms
Smoke alarms (smoke detectors) make a long, loud noise (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) if there is smoke or a fire under them. They need a 9-volt battery. If the battery is too old, it will beep every minute. Put in a new battery.

Smoke alarms are the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord must put smoke alarms outside the bedrooms, outside the kitchen, and in the basement. You must buy batteries for each smoke alarm.

Living in a house or apartment without a smoke alarm is very dangerous. If there is a fire when you are sleeping, you and your family could die.

Toilet
The toilet is the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord cannot rent you an apartment with a broken toilet.

Sink
The sink, bathtub, and the other plumbing are the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord cannot rent you an apartment with no hot water.

Bathtub, Shower
The bathtub, shower, and other plumbing are the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord cannot rent you an apartment with no hot water.

Refrigerator
If the house already has a refrigerator when you move in and that refrigerator breaks, the landlord has to fix it or buy a new one. If it is your refrigerator, you have to fix it or buy a new one.

Beds
The beds are the tenant’s responsibility. If you don’t have a bed, it’s not the landlord’s problem.

Windows
The windows are the landlord’s responsibility. If a window is broken, the landlord has to fix it.

TV
The television is not the landlord’s responsibility. If the tenant wants one, the tenant must get one.

Roof
The roof is the landlord’s responsibility. If the roof is no good, the landlord has to fix it.

Walls, Paint
Painting the walls is the landlord’s responsibility. And if something is wrong with the wall, the landlord should fix it. The landlord must pay to paint the inside and the outside of the house.

Sofa
The sofa and all the other furniture are the tenant’s responsibility.

Lights
The wiring of the lights (the electrical section inside the walls and ceilings) and the light fixtures are the landlord’s responsibility. You must buy the lightbulbs and the lamps.

Washing Machine
The washing machine (and the dryer) are the tenant’s responsibility. Sometimes the landlord has them in the house, and then the landlord has to take care of them.

Stove
The stove is the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord cannot rent you an apartment with no stove.

Stairs
The stairs are the landlord’s responsibility. He or she must put enough lights on the stairs and fix them if they are dangerous. If someone falls and gets hurt because the stairs are dangerous, the landlord must pay for it.

Garbage
The landlord has to give you garbage cans to put outside. You must have enough cans to put all the garbage from the kitchen in the garbage cans and put them outside for the city garbage truck. Putting them outside every week is the tenant’s responsibility. And you need to get trash cans for the other rooms in the house.

Yard, Trees
If there is something dangerous in the yard, it is the landlord’s responsibility. Other work in the yard is the tenant’s responsibility.

Locks
Locks on the doors and windows are the landlord’s responsibility. A deadbolt lock will help keep you and your house safe.

Electricity
Electricity in the house is the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord cannot rent you an apartment with no electricity.

Heat
Heat is the landlord’s responsibility. The landlord cannot rent you an apartment with no heat. Sometimes you pay and sometimes the landlord pays for gas or oil. But the landlord must fix the heat if it’s broken.

Mice, Rats
Mice and rats are the landlord’s responsibility. He or she must pay to put poison in your house to kill the rats or mice.

Cockroaches
Cockroaches (roaches) are the landlord’s responsibility. He or she must pay to put poison in your house to kill the cockroaches (if that is what you want).

Cleaning
Cleaning is the tenant’s responsibility. You have to clean your house. If you move but you do not clean the house, the landlord will not give you your security deposit (the money you paid when you moved in).

Part IV: Review

1. What do you think the landlord must take care of ? Write “landlord” next to those things you think are the responsibility of the landlord and check on the preceding pages to see if you are right or wrong.

toilet
sink
exits
snow
refrigerator
beds
sofa
window
lights
paint
bathtub, shower
roof
washing machine
stove
stairs
TV
garbage
mice, rats
smoke alarms
locks
electricity
telephone
yard, trees
heat
cockroaches
cleaning
lead poisoning
fans

2. If something is wrong in your house, call the landlord and tell him or her:
Please fix the _________________. It’s broken.

OR

Please take care of the _____________.

If the landlord doesn’t fix it, say:

It’s an emergency!

OR

It’s against the law!

If your landlord doesn’t take care of something in your house, it is against the law and you can go to court. Tell the court what’s wrong, and the court can tell your landlord to fix it. But you need a lawyer to go to court. Look for Legal Services in your city. Legal Services will help you even if you don’t have money.

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