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Need Advice
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Posted by jlh1508 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 24, 05 at 15:05
| My wife and I are renting a little house. We live in an area that gets little rain, so we have to irrigate our yard in order for the grass to grow.
In this city they usse what is called flood irrigation. When I moved originally I did not realize this. I am from michigan and am naive when it comes to irrigating, because it is not needed in Michigan.
Well the first time we tried to irrigate we found out the system is broke and does not work. Repairs are upwards of $700. The lease states that any repairs over $50 are the Landlords responsibility.
Our landlord has been notified(6 months ago) that the Watering System does not work and that the yard is completely dead. Is there anything we can do? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Need Advice
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| Since you are renting, the repair is his expense. You need to keep asking the landlord. Will you need to continue watering over the winter (like we do here in CA)? Maybe you can get a commitment from him to fix it in the spring. Since you are renting, if you are unhappy you have the right to move when the lease is up. He probably won't want you to do that because it will be difficult to rent a place with a dead yard. I wouldn't threaten to move; it will just annoy the landlord. Just tell him how unhappy you are since the property is not in the condition it was when you rented it. |
RE: Need Advice
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| Is there any legal basis on which I can get out of the Lease if the problem is not fixed? |
RE: Need Advice
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| depends. Was its existence mentioned to you when you rented? Was your expectation of maintaining a green lawn "part of the contract" in anyway? Where I am, an irrigation system is a luxury. So if it didn't work, it wouldn't matter. UNLESS its existence was known to me, and I had signed the lease expecting it would be functional. THEN I might be able to claim "breach of contract." You may need advice based on your locale about whether you can break your lease. Otherwise, is there any other way to irrigate your lawn that is legal? Are you *required* to use "flood irrigation"? |
RE: Need Advice
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| Yes the City we live in Flood Irrigation is required. It was not mentioned at the time of signing the lease, because I did not know at the time that flood irrigation was needed. As soon as a Found out about that the flood irrigation system did not work properly I contacted the Landlord. She said they would take a look at it but here 6 months later it has never been touched. In the lease it says that care of the lawn is the responsibility of the tenants, but it also says that any repairs that are not a result of negligence on the tenants part is the responsibility of the Landlord |
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