Probably the number one complaint I hear from tenants is the lack of repairs and or repairs done in a timely manner. Sometimes this reflects the fact that many of us do our own repair work after our normal job hours and in some cases it is due to less than capable workers.
Maryland law as well as local housing codes address many of these issues and generally anything other than major structural problems (walls or roof collapsing), sanitary issues (lack of water or sewage facilities) or other unsafe conditions (electrical problems, non functioning safety equipment or smoke detectors) are considered somewhat minor. Generally the courts allow most landlords a reasonable time to make repairs (30 days or less) except for major problems which are not clearly defined with any time limits.
The most common problems are heating failures, water - sewage failures, electrical problems and roof leaks. I believe anything much beyond a few days to make repairs for any of these items (except minor roof leaks) is cause for concern by all parties. In many cases when professionals are needed such as plumbers or electricians it may not always be easy to have them respond the same day. In the past I generally dispatched my handyman to all calls and he fixed what he could and he would let me know what he could not handle and I then called in a professional. The important thing is to respond as soon as possible to see what the problem is. Keep in mind that what you may view as a minor problem may be viewed differently by the tenant. For instance some years back I had a hot water tank failure reported to me late Friday night which was checked on Saturday morning and the plumber brought in a new tank on Monday and had hot water restored before lunchtime. All told a little over 48 hours. One of the tenants felt I should rebate them back part of the rent and or cover the cost of them going to a motel for the weekend. Needless to say he did not receive any compensation. I believe any judge would conclude that defects reported, responded to and repair work completed in a few days is not unreasonable.
More next month! You might want to consider keeping a repair log for each apartment unit.
Mike Wright, who was formerly with CBC Companies and spoke to us on numerous occasions, has taken a new position with a local Credit Bureau. I spoke with Mike and supposedly we should have a new local representative at some point in the new future. For those needing reports, continue to call the toll free number and you should be able to get help from another member of the CBC staff. We are looking into arrangements for us to obtain credit reports for the membership using the staff at TWR. We will let you know in the next newsletter where things stand.
At our last meeting we voted to change our meeting time to 6:30 PM aiming to conclude by 8:30 PM. This is the time we will use for our fall meetings to see what everybody thinks.
In September we are inviting the candidates for the Cumberland City Council to attend our meeting and inform us about their plans if elected. The next newsletter will have more details and we encourage all members to attend to ask questions about their stance with building and housing codes.
For October our plans are not complete but we hope to have someone lined up before September. If any member has a preference let me know as soon as possible.
In November we plan to have Bonnie from the District Court to attend and update us on changes to the court forms, fees and procedures enacted this year. Our original plans were to have her in for October but we feel it is better to wait a month to make sure any last minute changes are included in her presentation.
In last months Newsletter package we included a great deal of information regarding new legislation taking effect in 2004. Among those was the change in security deposit interest rates and I am repeating part of that article below to make sure that everybody gets their numbers straight now not later. Please keep in mind that our lease is OK and no changes are necessary!!! ALOC's lease does not refer to a specific interest rate and will not require changing or updating. Landlords will not need to get new leases signed!
Security deposit interest changes from 4 to 3% on October 1st. You should take all of your deposits and leases and calculate the old interest rate up to September 30th and have on file a worksheet showing the numbers for each tenant's deposit. From October 1st forward the new 3% rate would then be applied. Keep in mind that this is all simple interest and it is not compounded! While you don't have to let your tenant know where the numbers are you may want to drop them a short note regarding the change from 4-3 %. My preferred method would be to use the sample letter attached and keep it on file for use when they move out and the security deposit interest needs calculated. A sample letter form is attached for the membership to use to notify tenants regarding the October 1st change.
Keep in mind that there is no legal requirement to notify the tenants about the interest rate change; however you should have on hand a worksheet showing the numbers.
One interesting new bill is the requirement for Landlords to allow tenants to display the U.S. flag. Though I have never run into such a problem I guess it is a knee jerk reaction to the events of the past 3 years.