i need a lawyer.

April 18, 2007 12:04 PM

i need a lawyer in the denton, tx area who specializes in or has experience with renter's rights.

my roof has been leaking for 2ish weeks, and they have made no progress on this yet. they tell me if i want to leave before the roofer's finish their repairs (they have not even started yet) that i will be breaking my lease.

help!

posted by radiosilents to law & government (4 comments total)

TX state bar website (includes referral service)

Denton County bar website (see "find a lawyer" link)
posted by rkent at 12:21 PM on April 18, 2007

Before paying a lawyer (if you can find a clinic or get some free advice, great!), I would suggest (if you haven't already):

1) Send a certified letter to you landlord confirming what you've said about the leak. A paper trail is usually golden in a landlord-tenant dispute, in part because few people establish a good one.

2) Call the local health department and building-code department to see whether the leak violates health/building codes and if they'll do an inspection.

When I had the exact same issue with a landlord, the health department inspector came over immediately and wrote tickets with significant per-day fines for the leak and everything else he found. This put my landlord in a tough spot, since she couldn't evict me under the terms of the lease but every day I lived there was costing her serious bucks; we reached a quick and fair settlement.

It may be different where you live, obviously, but most local governments love the revenue from code violations, and they'll fight the battle for you.
posted by backupjesus at 12:40 PM on April 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

Document document document! Take photos, keep copies of all correspondence.
posted by gramcracker at 12:53 PM on April 18, 2007

nth'ing documentation and photos. don't be afraid to bring the hammer down!
posted by rhizome at 1:41 PM on April 18, 2007