Realtor Responsibilities

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Hi all-
Myself and my roommates rented a house near Davis Square, through a realtor in Davis Square. Since we moved in, there have been numerous issues, including woefully inadequate/unsafe electric arrangements. Shouldn't there be inspections every time an apartment changes hands? I'm surprised the realtor doesn't request up-to-date records from the landlord when they show the place.

Comments

[teratomarty.livejournal.com]

Sorry, jack, realtors are known massive liars, second only to Army recruiters, slightly ahead of used-car salesmen. I don't think they have any responsibilities in this case, and inspection of a property is the duty of the tenant or buyer. You're better off siccing the Somerville Board of Health on the landlord (I presume you live in Somerville).

The Massachusetts Law Library (http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/landlord.html) can direct you to the applicable regulations.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

There is no law in place that requires inspections every time an apartment changes hands. That would be really expensive and cumbersome to either do, or enforce. Instead, there are codes that apartments have to live up to (fire, health & safety) and it's assumed that they do at all times. If not, you have to inform the landlord, and they are obliged to fix it in a reasonable amount of time.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest actually talking to the landlord (realtor only if they are actually managing the property) about it first. If there is no action you can threaten calling the board of health or fire inspectors etc- but leave the big guns for after reasonable communication has failed. It's possible the landlord doesn't even know.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

And it should be added that the definition of reasonable changes depending on what's wrong. Certain things like heat during the winter or locks year round are things that need to be fixed asap because the building is not considered habitable. Other things vary, some of which is explicitly codified, some less so.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Can you specify the problems?

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense re:the realtor. I'm calling the Board of Health today to request an inspection so I have a comprehensive list to send to my landlady (who lives in Maryland....). In addition, she didn't give us a reciept for our security deposit (BIG mistake.....she's basically voided her right to claim any damages by doing this).

In short, our power went out Saturday......except for the refrigerator. I smelt electrical burns in the basement, and called an electrician to look at it. He found:

-Pipes were above the fuse box, letting water slowly seep in, burning out the fuse.

-Total power input to the house was only 60 (amps/volts....whatever that unit is), when it should be between 100-120 PER UNIT! (2 units in the house.)

-There was an extra box jury-rigged to give power to the dryer in our unit, which was burnt and melted on the inside.

-Last but not least? The house wasn't GROUNDED. The electrician is there now giving the service a complete changeover. I made sure to take nice, colorful pictures of all the suspect things on Saturday.

In addition, the windows are old and some have breaks in them, the condition of the stove is arguably not good, the plumbing is extremely suspect, etc. So I'm sending her a letter requesting repairs, which will make it nice and impossible for her to raise rent this year.

[thebostonreader.livejournal.com]

As far as this goes, she is having it fixed, so it won't be in violation anymore. I had a look at the regs and that should be ok. I think an inspector is going to be more concerned with the lack of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. Also, there's a bit in the regs about windows needing to be weathertight.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

So why the board of health if your electrical is bad? It's amps, FWIW.

Do you have 2-prong or 3-prong electrical outlets in your unit? I'm guessing from the grounded thing that you've got 2-prongs. When you were looking at the apartment that should have been your first clue ;-) but live and learn.

So my roll-up is that the house is old, ja? And the owner hasn't updated it, but she's doing that now?

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. It's been standard Absentee Landlord procedure so far, as in she doesn't fix anything unless we get way on her case......and that hasn't even worked for lesser, non-violation repairs.....

[hiddenbear.livejournal.com]

While 100+ amps per unit is recommended, this isn't a code. Your home most likely has 100 amps going to it, with each unit having a master circuit breaker of 60 amps. This is quite common around Somerville.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I understand that you didn't know the condition of the electrical system, but couldn't you tell that the windows were broken before you moved in?

Most buildings in the area are old, with old electrical systems and broken stuff. Nobody is going to work harder to make sure the place you're living is safe and functional than you do.

Do some reading about your rights as tenants. What offenses you can withhold from the rent for, how/if complaints about the safety of the unit protect you if the landlord decides to evict you, etc. It's possible that her failure to give you a reciept for the security deposit does more than void her ability to withhold from it, it might make her subject to damages. Have you been receiving monthly interest for the amount of your security deposit?

Honestly I think you should expect to get a new apartment. This landlord is never going to like having you as a tenant, and you're never going to like living in this apartment. But I also think you should do everything to protect your legal rights until then.

And you might want to contact the realtor's company just to let them know why you won't be using them in the future. But I wouldn't expect a response.

(Full disclaimer: I'm a non-absentee landlord. I like to think I fix things pretty quickly. But there are lots of junky things about our house, and our tenants know that most of them are going to stay that way. Old houses with cheap rent are like that.)

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

It's 2 prongs, yeah, and I had no inkling that meant anything.

Yeah, about as old as most of the houses in that area between Ball and Davis, 1906. I spoke to the Board of Health today to have them clarify some definitions of poor repair, and I'm going to send her a letter asking that she fix everything.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

No, because they looked old, but not vulnerable to weather. I noticed one of the living room windows has a piece of wood jammed in the hole in it to disguise the fact.

From my understanding, interest on deposits isn't due til the anniversary date of the tenant moving in, but I'm going to mention that she never gave us a reciept, or the name of the bank/address/account number of where it's held.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Heh.....that's IF we had circuit breakers. These boxes date back to the 40's, at least, but they should be replaced with better ones by the time I get home.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Which realtor was it? Cos if it was Veri, I can totaly understand where you're coming from.

[bluedaisy.livejournal.com]

60 Amp service to the house doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't meet code---for when it was last updated.

You should have called the landlord to call the electrician. The list of things they are required to fix is limited, but they ought to have paid for "hey, the power is all out and it's in the house", not you.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

No, it was the one on the corner near the Store 24 and the Davis Square T station, Across the street from the Somerville News, the insurance place, an accountant, and that old folks home. I should have wondered though......the agent was a WICKED spaz......he was barely there to help us with half of the process, due to some "personal issues" according to the realtor.

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

Sorry, jack, realtors are known massive liars, second only to Army recruiters, slightly ahead of used-car salesmen. I don't think they have any responsibilities in this case,

They also have a reputation for screaming bloody murder if anyone proposes making them legally responsible for anything they do. I am personally confident the sky would not fall if that happened, but for some reason they seem to get away with it.