Renter’s Rights? Yes, They Are Real

Like most Americans, I’m not rich.  And neither are my parents, nor were my grandparents, or my great grandparents.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I might be the descendent of thieves and gangsters.  At least that’s what I tell people because it sounds a lot cooler than saying I come from a line of farmers.

Anyway, like a lot of people in my economic bracket, no one in my family has ever experienced the joy of property ownership.  We were born renters and will likely die renters —  hopefully not me though (this law stuff better pay off).  And also like most people not coming from inherited wealth, previous generations of my family didn’t have the best education in the world, if any, as I’m sure most countries with a dictatorship government probably don’t want their citizens developing a mind of their own.

What happens when you put all of this together?  You get a long line of people with only, at best, a tenuous understanding of their rights.  Not to mention an innate distrust of authority or that authority’s ability to protect them.

It’s no surprise then why so many people in this country have no idea what their rights are as tenants.  Though it’s likely that a lot of people have a natural sense of what is right and what is wrong, for some reason when it comes to an injustice being perpetrated against them as a renter, these people are more inclined to let those things slide for fear of rocking the boat and suffering some incredibly painful consequence from their almighty landlord.

Get hit by a car and chances are you’ll likely want the driver who hit you brought before justice and sued in civil court.  But if the heat in your apartment is broken or your plumbing is backed up and your shower lacks water pressure, then for some reason you can live with it.  Aside from the obvious disparity between getting dinged by a car versus having to take cold showers (I’ll try to make more equal comparisons in the future), the distinction doesn’t make much sense, huh?

Now the terms in least agreements vary from property to property, so you might not always have a legitimate dispute (though that’s not to say it’s not possible to sue for almost anything these days).  In general, all states in the country generally have some law or statute in place ensuring that tenants are allowed the right to reside in a property free from health and safety hazards, as well as being of livable standards.  Note that the latter condition is very broad and open to much interpretation.  Depending on the state, it can sometimes favor the tenant or the landlord.

Recent case statistics from LegalMatch indicate that citizens from poorer states, such as Maryland, file, on average, over 70 percent less claims alleging tenant rights violations than people from wealthier states, such as California.  From an optimist’s point of view one might think that there are less renter rights violations in those states.  However, from a more realistic perspective, such violations are probably just as prevalent everywhere you go in the country.

So the lesson here is that you shouldn’t be afraid to rock the boat.  You have rights as a renter and should exercise them.  And if you really need it, sit down with a good tenant’s rights attorney.