When you are poor and have an iPhone....

[happyslug]

98. Tenants break lease do to insect infestation? Try that sometime....

Technically, most states have adopted a "Warranty of Habitability" when it comes to rent units used for housing. Excess insect infestation can be a violation of such "Warranty of Habitability" but try proving it some time. Most Justices of the Peace will demand proof and if the Tenant does not have some exterminator he hired to eliminate such infestation, the Justice of the Peace will agree with the Landlord who claims there was no such infestation and even if they was, it was not severe enough to violate the "Warranty of Habitability".

Unless the municipality has an inspector that reports such infestation, and either the Inspector goes to the hearing held by the Justice of the Peace OR the landlord do NOT object to the report as hearsay, which it is then the Justice of the Peace can NOT consider the report. It is hard to prove such infestation, even in Public Housing where the Public Housing authority has to do an inspection at least once a year.

Unless you have solid evidence, including wittinesses "Warranty of Habitability" cases are rarely successful. Thus the reason North Carolina Legal Aid did not mention it, for it is rarely successful.

In my area, the Public Housing is next to the river, and such locations are known to be infested with roaches, rats and other vermin, who get into the public housing projects all the time. All the law requires is that the landlord make REASONABLE efforts to contain such vermin and it is up to a Justice of the Peace to rule that the Landlord actions were reasonable. Given most Justice of the Peace are also landlords, they tend to side with landlords in such disputes UNLESS the Tenant has solid evidence.

Anyway, on this sub thread we are discussing refrigerators and other appliances NOT vermin. My point was to show that the laws of most states (if not all states) do NOT require a landlord to provide a Refrigerator to a residential rental unit. That Pamphlet provided the answer I needed, that North Carolina law does NOT require landlord to provide such appliances, but if they do the landlord must maintain them.