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sheri posted:I just want to know if I have any legal leg to stand on...I am in Wisconsin. I am not a lawyer nor from Wisconsin, but I like to read and ask questions here and help when I can. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/704/07 quote:(2) Duty of landlord. quote:(4) Untenantability. If the premises become untenantable because of damage by fire, water or other casualty or because of any condition hazardous to health, or if there is a substantial violation of sub. (2) materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant, the tenant may remove from the premises unless the landlord proceeds promptly to repair or rebuild or eliminate the health hazard or the substantial violation of sub. (2) materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant; or the tenant may remove if the inconvenience to the tenant by reason of the nature and period of repair, rebuilding or elimination would impose undue hardship on the tenant. If the tenant remains in possession, rent abates to the extent the tenant is deprived of the full normal use of the premises. This section does not authorize rent to be withheld in full, if the tenant remains in possession. If the tenant justifiably moves out under this subsection, the tenant is not liable for rent after the premises become untenantable and the landlord must repay any rent paid in advance apportioned to the period after the premises become untenantable. This subsection is inapplicable if the damage or condition is caused by negligence or improper use by the tenant.
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Mar 20, 2012 02:07
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Lord Gaga posted:(4) Untenantability. If the premises become untenantable because of damage by fire, water or other casualty or because of any condition hazardous to health, or if there is a substantial violation of sub. (2) materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant, the tenant may remove from the premises unless the landlord proceeds promptly to repair or rebuild or eliminate the health hazard or the substantial violation of sub. (2) materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant; or the tenant may remove if the inconvenience to the tenant by reason of the nature and period of repair, rebuilding or elimination would impose undue hardship on the tenant. If the tenant remains in possession, rent abates to the extent the tenant is deprived of the full normal use of the premises. This section does not authorize rent to be withheld in full, if the tenant remains in possession. If the tenant justifiably moves out under this subsection, the tenant is not liable for rent after the premises become untenantable and the landlord must repay any rent paid in advance apportioned to the period after the premises become untenantable. This subsection is inapplicable if the damage or condition is caused by negligence or improper use by the tenant. Note that the problem with the electric meter/bill is not a "condition hazardous to health" or a "substantial violation of sub. (2) materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant" so the bolded part (partial rent abatement) would not apply. But how does one force the landlord to fix stuff if the problem isn't a "condition hazardous to health" or a "substantial violation of sub. (2) materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant"? In Wisconsin, it looks like you can't. Keep working with the landlord and keep working with the other tenant - if you can fix the problem without getting the courts involved, everybody wins. (not a WI lawyer)
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Mar 20, 2012 03:16
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Lord Gaga posted:I am not a lawyer nor from Wisconsin, but I like to read and ask questions here and help when I can. I don't know beans about Wisconsin specifically, and this isn't specific enough to be legal advice, but generally untenantability is pretty serious. Think of stuff like, a big hole in the roof, or no water in the bathroom. It can be things like a terrible sewer smell, or something else less obvious, but it is "material" which usually means a pretty drat big problem. Withholding rent is generally the first volley in a legal fight. So unless you're ready to have a lawsuit, or at least risk your deposit, you might not want to start with that to get his attention. At the very least, it is not something you should do on "a legal leg to stand on" plan. You should probably be more certain, first. Edit: I see I'm beaten. Check the housing code, maybe? If there's something relevant then reporting the violation might be what you're looking for? (Honestly, this is probably a longshot.) Also not a WI lawyer. Folly fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Mar 20, 2012 |
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Mar 20, 2012 03:21
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Short Version: I live in an apartment and a ceiling leak which management knew about potentially ruined my mattress. Are they liable for the cost of the mattress if I throw it out? In Texas. It's not worth enough to sue them or anything; I just want to know if I can make this demand. Long Version: My apartment has had a ceiling leak. A week or so ago it rained heavily and a leak developed above my bed. It wasn't a huge leak; I placed a bowl under it and let management know. They took a few days to look at it and informed me yesterday that there was sheet rock damage above my apartment but that they can't fix it until it stops raining. It hadn't been raining hard, and every day since they finally bothered to look at it had been damp and dreary, so I agreed. It had been dry enough that the leak wasn't in action. Yesterday, I spent the night at my boyfriend's and it stormed like crazy overnight. Came home this morning and half of my mattress is soaking wet. I'm in the process of reading up on mattress damage such as this, but in the event that I throw it out, is the landloard liable for the cost? I'm in Texas.
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Mar 20, 2012 15:46
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sheri posted:I just want to know if I have any legal leg to stand on...I am in Wisconsin. Have you tried finding what breaker or fuse is connected to neighbors garage and disconnecting it? Unless your townhome is radically different from almost every building code in existence, power goes straight from the meter to your central box. That seems like the simplest method to stop the extra bills, and then it's not your problem anymore. I had to do something similar when a scummy apartment complex tried to use my power to remodel a neighboring apartment that they had disconnected the power to.
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Mar 20, 2012 17:19
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IANAL, but I wouldn't gently caress with the wiring in a rental for a ton of reasons. Starting with a presumed "you are not an electrician" and going from there. In particular, I wouldn't do that because it sounds like your neighbor is cool with the current stopgap arrangement, and actively antagonizing him will result in zero more dollars for you and a neighbor you're fighting with because you were a complete dick to him.
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Mar 20, 2012 17:39
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Wisconsin. If they're anything like minnesota, not having truly separated meters means the landlord has to include utilities. Which means, basically, that he pays your electricity until he fixes. It'd look into that as that might get him off his rear end asap.
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Mar 20, 2012 20:06
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nm posted:Wisconsin. If they're anything like minnesota, not having truly separated meters means the landlord has to include utilities. Which means, basically, that he pays your electricity until he fixes. It'd look into that as that might get him off his rear end asap. According to the state-published book on landlord/tenant rights and responsibilities, not really. There's a disclosure requirement for non-separate meters, but nothing like what you describe. In general, it seems like "the Wisconsin Way" boils down to "dick over renters." It might be possible to raise a stink with the utility company itself. "My meter must be inaccurate, I turned off and unplugged everything in my house and it's still going like crazy!" and so forth. Looking here, it seems that utilities have at least some responsibility to ensure separate billing for each resident in a multi-unit building, and a utility company can bring a lot more pressure to bear on your landlord than you can.
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Mar 20, 2012 22:06
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Thanks for all the suggestions. We have been calling the landlord, he is super unresponsive (as in, we've gotten on call back from him since February were he said he'd call the neighbor and get something worked out. We checked with neighbor and he hasn't heard anything). We called multiple times since then and haven't talked to him or gotten a return call. It is really irritating and I'm not sure what else I can do. He also lives about 20 miles away, so it's not like we could just run into him somewhere. We'll try the utility company again. I'm not for dicking over the neighbor since he is a livestock vet and what he is plugging in and running all night every night is something that keeps all of the medicines, vaccines, etc and stuff he uses at the correct temperatures (and also because he has been pretty cool with the situation so far and I don't want to dick people over for things outside of their control). Thanks for the link on the utility information.
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Mar 20, 2012 22:20
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sheri posted:Thanks for all the suggestions. We have been calling the landlord, he is super unresponsive (as in, we've gotten on call back from him since February were he said he'd call the neighbor and get something worked out. We checked with neighbor and he hasn't heard anything). We called multiple times since then and haven't talked to him or gotten a return call. It is really irritating and I'm not sure what else I can do. He also lives about 20 miles away, so it's not like we could just run into him somewhere. Telling him to buy an extension cord and pay for the electricity he used is not loving him over.
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Mar 21, 2012 00:55
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Lord Gaga posted:Telling him to buy an extension cord and pay for the electricity he used is not loving him over.
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Mar 21, 2012 03:35
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goku chewbacca posted:Or get him to agree to pay the difference between your, say, 12 month average and the new surprise amount since he moved in. If he refuses, shut off the circuit breaker. She said in her first post that the neighbour has already agreed to pay the difference. She just doesn't really want to have to rely on that as a long-term solution.
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Mar 21, 2012 05:40
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If I'm interviewing people for a book I'm writing, do I need to get any kind of written release from them about the use of what they say to me?
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Mar 21, 2012 11:37
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cheerfullydrab posted:If I'm interviewing people for a book I'm writing, do I need to get any kind of written release from them about the use of what they say to me? It depends where you are, but as a matter of journalistic ethics it's good practice to get that permission.
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Mar 21, 2012 12:58
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1. LOCATION: Maricopa County, Phoenix, AZ 2. I am not being sued. 3. Are you a criminal defendant? No The situation: I have renters that have loud constantly-barking dogs. The city is now involved, as the neighbor behind the condo has complained. As I understand the HOA rules, I could be fined $10 a day for each day the situation continues. I have not been fined, yet, but expect my HOA to do something. The tenants are in violation of the lease, as they have 3 dogs in the condo, when they listed 2 on the lease. Also, they have their adult son and girlfriend living there, when I only have 2 people listed on the lease. They have violated the parking rules numerous times and generally been lousy renters, breaking things, paying late, etc. I don't want to bother to evict them, as it would be a pain in my rear end, and they are leaving soon. My question is: The least is up in August and they have let me know they plan on moving out. Can I offer to release them from their lease early, and let them move sooner to avoid any more potential annoyance/legal issues from my neighbors? Is this a good idea, and does it open me up to any legal issues? I would not be evicting them, just being nice (and avoiding any possible city citations) by letting them leave. Is there something I'm not considering? I know that these laws can be a little tricky, and I don't want to get screwed anymore than I am now. Thanks.
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Mar 21, 2012 19:01
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If both parties agree you can change the contract, sure. Get an agreed move-out date in writing and you should be good.
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Mar 21, 2012 19:14
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Konstantin posted:If both parties agree you can change the contract, sure. Get an agreed move-out date in writing and you should be good. Will this open me up to being sued, or legal responsible for anything? I can't see how it would. I'd just like to avoid evicting them, as then they will never pay their rent again.
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Mar 21, 2012 20:07
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1. Location: A metropolitan city in Russia 2. I am not being sued 3. I am not a criminal defendant. I have just reported a textbook case of sexual workplace harassment- a head of a small department (6 people) was harassing his employee - touching, leaning, jokes about her being here to wash dirty tighty-whities for the entire department etc. - despite her asking him to stop. Now, when her boss stopped and went somewhere, I went there (a couple of desk rows away in an open space) to ask her the name of her boss etc, her name, but she refused to give both and said - "It's a normal fun professional atmosphere, don't intervene with the regulation crap. It's very normal, why does it bother you. I think it is fun...". I argued a bit, but then I thought that she was scared of her colleagues and boss - probably experiencing some kind of Stockholm Syndrome too, so when she went home I asked one of her colleagues, who witnessed the whole thing and said nothing, to give me the names, he refused to give me her name, said that "It's very normal and fun", to which I replied that it's only fun when it's not done at someone else's expense, then he was quiet for a bit and gave me the name of the boss. I made a formal complaint to the HR dept., but could someone tell me if he runs any risk or I have just made the life of this woman worse?
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Mar 21, 2012 20:35
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permabanned posted:1. Location: A metropolitan city in Russia Of course your HR could be awesome and solve the problem right away. It's just something to keep in mind.
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Mar 21, 2012 21:43
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Sonic Dude posted:I'm not a lawyer by any means, but I've dealt with terrible bosses and HR in the past. Always remember that HR is there to protect the company, not necessarily its employees (unless those two goals overlap). If no one who is involved with the situation cares, I'd be more concerned that HR is going to have a chat about you making waves more than I'd expect them to have a chat with the boss. I have don't know how functional the justice system is in russia, but considering that they don't even have free elections I have no idea how likely something like harassment is to be resolved. And from what I understand, sexism is pretty prevalent in russia as well.
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Mar 21, 2012 22:17
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permabanned posted:1. Location: A metropolitan city in Russia I expect the latter. Did you grow up in Russia? The closest Russia has to a Sexual Harassment law is Article 133 of the criminal code that punishes quote:Compulsion of a person to enter into illicit relations, pederasty, lesbianism, or the commission of other sexual actions by means of blackmail, threat of destruction, damage, or taking of property, or with the advantage of material or any other dependence of the victim The company may have some kind of internal rules, they'll have no force of law.
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Mar 21, 2012 22:34
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joat mon posted:I expect the latter. Yes, I grew up in Russia. We seem to have a corporate guideline about acceptable and unacceptable forms of behavior, but it's not located somewhere accessible. Edit: well, the detailed answer would be - I grew up in Russia, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Finland. permabanned fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Mar 21, 2012 |
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Mar 21, 2012 22:44
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If I have a c-corp and watch to bring in a new employee and offer him an equity stake, would I just write that into an employment agreement or is there some mechanism I need to use?
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Mar 22, 2012 16:58
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Employee compensation is a very specialized area that requires a pretty solid tax background. If this is a significant transaction, you will probably want to consult an attorney who does employee compensation plans. How big is this C-Corp - and why do you have a C-Corp anyway, rather than an S or an LLC? Give us a little more facts about the company. How many employees? How much is the company worth, what's it's cash-flow? Who currently owns it? What industry?
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Mar 22, 2012 17:21
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Do municipalities ever seal records for misdemeanors/disorderly persons on their own without any other parties involved? I had a charge a little over 10 years ago, and it has never come up in any capacity. Now, I have to get professional licensing where I have to provide court documents and get FBI-level fingerprinting. However, I've heard anecdotes and I vaguely remember the court telling me that it would "disappear." This is in New Jersey.
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Mar 23, 2012 02:28
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Webman posted:Do municipalities ever seal records for misdemeanors/disorderly persons on their own without any other parties involved? I had a charge a little over 10 years ago, and it has never come up in any capacity. It is possible you plead to a disposition that lead to an automatic dismissal at the end of a probationary period (though maybe not actually probation). Don't know if that exits in FL, but it did in Minnesota and sort of exists in California. You probably wnat to check with the court though.
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Mar 23, 2012 08:34
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1. Kalamazoo County, Michigan. 2. I am not being sued. 3. I am not a criminal defendant. I ran into some BS a while back (2009) regarding an apartment rental, long story short they screwed me over by hitting my credit (for $500) and I didn't get the notice of debt until well after the time that I was able to dispute it (it wasn't sent certified mail or anything). So I called the collection agency (Fair Collections and Outsourcing) and offered to just pay it off in return for them deleting the item from my credit report, and they said that they don't delete items from credit reports. I didn't acknowledge that I owned the debt over the phone or whatever. The debt in question was a charge for a carpet replacement that the apartment company claimed exceeded the security deposit, we (myself and two other tenants) tried calling about it but got the runaround (send a letter to the office) stuff. We didn't damage the carpets. On our damage disclosure we mentioned that there were stains on the carpet. We believe the damage they are referring to was caused by the apartment directly adjacent to ours flooding during our lease. They had a work order done and they brought in fans to air out our apartment and the floors were soaked. Then they hit us with a charge for $800 when we moved out. How exactly do I go about disputing this charge (since we're way past the regular security deposit dispute date) and get it off my credit? We never received a copy of the damage disclosure that we signed (the initial damage disclosure saying what was wrong with the apartment when we moved in) and we don't have proof of the work order for the flooding.
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Mar 23, 2012 17:42
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Only attempting to answer Dolphin because this is something we researched a lot in California. Not anything close to being a lawyer. If I am reading what you are asking you want to know if you can appeal the judgment? You are way past the statue of limitation on that if it went to collections in 2009. Everything you are saying about not receiving the work order etc is something that would have been addressed at the time the landlord took you to court. About removing it from your credit report there are a lot of knowledgeable people in the debt collectors thread here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3234974 maybe they could help with that?
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Mar 24, 2012 01:42
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Robo Olga posted:Only attempting to answer Dolphin because this is something we researched a lot in California. Not anything close to being a lawyer. If I am reading what you are asking you want to know if you can appeal the judgment? You are way past the statue of limitation on that if it went to collections in 2009. Everything you are saying about not receiving the work order etc is something that would have been addressed at the time the landlord took you to court. About removing it from your credit report there are a lot of knowledgeable people in the debt collectors thread here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3234974 maybe they could help with that?
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Mar 24, 2012 02:54
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Oh well maybe the law is different in Michigan then. In California it would have had to gone to small claims court for them to have a collection company go after you.
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Mar 24, 2012 15:46
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Robo Olga posted:Oh well maybe the law is different in Michigan then. In California it would have had to gone to small claims court for them to have a collection company go after you.
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Mar 24, 2012 17:24
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I am located in Orange County, FL Question:Can I take them to small claims court in my state over this or do I have to do it in Texas, the place I mailed the thing to? Can both my mom and I be named on the same suit? Story: My mom and I both purchased a product from KitchenAid and mailed two rebate forms with required proof in on time via certified mail. It has been months and they have said they're not giving us the rebates and they have no record of it. The combined value is about $120. Lord Gaga fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Mar 24, 2012 |
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Mar 24, 2012 18:52
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Hey guys, my younger brother got this email from some lady with a Hotmail email address. He is always in and out of trouble but is trying to get his life in order so I am trying to help him. He had a job and an apartment and everything was going well until he quit his job, because of this he had no income (he has a new job now). Anyway, he took out some loans while he was working and couldn't repay them because of quitting his job. He said that the amount listed to "settle" in this email is close to what he owes but isn't the same amount, he also said the company he owes money to has a name that is kind of similar too, but not really that close to the name of the company in this email. I and my dad were suspicious when he showed us the email. I think this is a scam for several reasons and thought someone here could maybe comment on the legitimacy of this. Thank you. Michael Corleone fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Mar 25, 2012 |
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Mar 24, 2012 23:57
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Michael Corleone posted:Hey guys, my younger brother got this email from some lady with a Hotmail email address. He is always in and out of trouble but is trying to get his life in order so I am trying to help him. He had a job and an apartment and everything was going well until he quit his job, because of this he had no income (he has a new job now). Anyway, he took out some loans while he was working and couldn't repay them because of quitting his job. He said that the amount listed to "settle" in this email is close to what he owes but isn't the same amount, he also said the company he owes money to has a name that is kind of similar too, but not really that close to the name of the company in this email. I and my dad were suspicious when he showed us the email. I think this is a scam for several reasons and thought someone here could maybe comment on the legitimacy of this. Thank you. Hahaha Obvious scam, for oh, so many reasons 1- email, not snail mail 2- Hotmail account 3- pisspoor English 4- shaky legal terms 5- No full name 6- Just utter BS If your brother is inclined to do anything with this other than immediately delete it and ignore it, then perhaps he can help me as I am a Nigerian banker and I have USD4.3M in an abandoned bank account that I need help with. EDIT: As a rule of thumb, if you are ever worried that there is a tiny chance that it may be real, stick the text of it into google and see what you find: https://www.google.com/search?q=My+...a63880197a7599e spog fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Mar 25, 2012 |
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Mar 25, 2012 00:02
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Awesome, thank you for such a quick response, and for not quoting the email, I'll delete it later.
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Mar 25, 2012 00:12
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Michael Corleone posted:Awesome, thank you for such a quick response, and for not quoting the email, I'll delete it later. Just remember: legally, emails mean diddly-squat, especially when it comes to anything relating to money. Especially when it about someone trying to get money from you. Even more so when it is about someone offering you money.
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Mar 25, 2012 00:14
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Lord Gaga posted:I am located in Orange County, FL There's a whole body of law relating to when a court has jurisdiction to hear a matter. Practically speaking, however, even if Florida is the wrong state it will cost them more to apply to dismiss than to just pay you. That cuts both ways though if the small claims court has any sort of filing fee.
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Mar 25, 2012 02:07
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Yea it costs $55 to file which I am hoping they will be forced to pay if they are found liable. Despite having the name of the person who signed for it at the delivery address they're being really unhelpful and dismissive.
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Mar 25, 2012 02:24
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Lord Gaga posted:Yea it costs $55 to file which I am hoping they will be forced to pay if they are found liable. Despite having the name of the person who signed for it at the delivery address they're being really unhelpful and dismissive. I'm not a lawyer, but that is a VERY BAD assumption, Wikipedia even has an article titled "American Rule", but this is about attorney fees and not the costs of filling. But still, if the courts, normally, don't require repayment for attorney fees, why would they force KitchenAid to pay for your filling fee?
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Mar 25, 2012 06:08
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BirdOfPlay posted:I'm not a lawyer, but that is a VERY BAD assumption, Wikipedia even has an article titled "American Rule", but this is about attorney fees and not the costs of filling. But still, if the courts, normally, don't require repayment for attorney fees, why would they force KitchenAid to pay for your filling fee? It's far more common for the prevailing party to be awarded court costs than it is for them to be awarded attorney's fees. As an example: http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page_pageid=55,1424410&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL "At Trial - If you file a Small Claims lawsuit and win the case, the court will generally award you the following costs and fees: Filing fees Reasonable costs to serve the other party Reasonable costs for an investigator to locate the other party for purposes of service of process"
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Mar 25, 2012 06:11
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