Landlord Tenant Law Help

Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15

Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15

Member
We have a friend who stayed with us for about 10 days immediately after the storm. She rents an apartment in Asheville, and the landlord made an off-hand comment about maybe needing to have her move out to do repairs.

She really doesn't want to lose this space - good apartments are hard to find here. The floors need some work, and she doesn't mind leaving for a few days if needed.

Does she have any legal recourse to keep her lease?

This is probably a complicated question but there's a definite immediacy to strategy. She has left the apartment because she's very upset. I'm at her place waiting to meet the landlord and try to appeal to common sense.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Not a NC lawyer, but:

1. The written terms of the lease (if any) may address the situation or at least have some impact on the answer.

2. Most states have specific laws to dispossess a tenant and provide some protections. Legal aid likely has a lawyer or two that deals with landlord-tenant law on a regular basis.

Good luck!
 
OldPhiKap said:
Not a NC lawyer, but:

1. The written terms of the lease (if any) may address the situation or at least have some impact on the answer.

2. Most states have specific laws to dispossess a tenant and provide some protections. Legal aid likely has a lawyer or two that deals with landlord-tenant law on a regular basis.

Good luck!
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Yeah. We have food legal aid clinics here, but I assume they are swamped. I just want to give her good advice.

The damage is minimal - carpets got waterlogged and she pulled them out. Subfloor is concrete.

I'm thinking that if she can say "I'm sure you have lots of tenants much worse off. I'm happy to stay here until this particular project is more feasible and reasonable and we can just figure out if I need to be out for a few days when the work happens" - it's a pretty common sense argument, right?
 
Thanks to those who replied and messaged. You folks are awesome. I seemed to manage to talk our friend into an okay situation. The landlord doesn't intend to boot her unless FEMA comes and decides it is unhabitable.

I used my meager charm and appealed to her common sense. So pleased it went well. Our friend definitely doesn't need another trip through housing insecurity.
 
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15 said:
Thanks to those who replied and messaged. You folks are awesome. I seemed to manage to talk our friend into an okay situation. The landlord doesn't intend to boot her unless FEMA comes and decides it is unhabitable.

I used my meager charm and appealed to her common sense. So pleased it went well. Our friend definitely doesn't need another trip through housing insecurity.
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Its sad for all the folks there that they have to be worried about being able to rent. Seems reasonable to allow them to continue to rent. FEMA may take a while to get there, best to do what makes most logical sense, as long as safety is not compromised.
 
In Vermont it takes three years and a crane to get you evicted. This can be either a very good or very bad thing. Bad renters (serial non payers) have been known to hang on for years.
 
budwom said:
In Vermont it takes three years and a crane to get you evicted. This can be either a very good or very bad thing. Bad renters (serial non payers) have been known to hang on for years.
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I'm familiar with bank repossession and that eviction. But the law is quite different in regards to "unsafe" housing and disaster situations.

Also, NC laws are very skewed towards landlords.
 
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