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As a general rule, landlords are responsible for the repair and maintenance of rented homes or apartments. This rule applies to the things that come with the rented space or unit such as appliances. Also included are common areas such as elevators, hallways, and parking lots. Therefore, parking issues are included in the responsibilities of landlords.
The landlord is being responsible for the repair and maintenance of the rented unit, it means that your landlord should replace or fix anything that is not working properly or is in bad condition. It should not matter if your rental or lease contract says something different or if you already know the problem before you agreed to lease the unit. The law specifically states that your landlord is responsible. However, if you or any of your guests break or destroy anything by being careless or on purpose, in most cases, you pay for the repair or to fix it.
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It is also the responsibility of your landlord to maintain and clean the common areas. These areas include outside and inside the building that are not part of the tenant’s unit. For example, it is the responsibility of your landlord to:
- Keep stairways, elevators, lobby and halls clean,
- Keep garbage and laundry rooms clean,
- Cut the lawn,
- Pick up garbage outside of the building, and
- Keep ice off and shovel snow at driveways and sidewalks. This includes parking lots.
Your landlord also must take steps to get rid of cockroaches, mice, bedbugs, or other pests and stop them from getting into your rented unit. But, it is your responsibility to keep your own unit clean, unless it is stated in your lease contract/agreement that your landlord will do it. However, if you are renting a whole house; it is not clear in the law who is responsible for outside work such as snow shoveling or lawn mowing.
As mentioned earlier, as a general rule; parking issues are included in the responsibilities of landlords. However, there are some places the make landlords not legally responsible in supplying a tenant with storage space, off-street parking, usage of a garage, removal of snow, usage of yard and common areas, garbage pickup or provision of garbage cans. But oftentimes due to rental market competition, landlords are willing to supply their tenants with certain services in order to attract tenants to rent their property. So, if a landlord is agreeable to supplying you with certain amenities try to put it in writing. For example, if your landlord is willing to provide you with off-street parking and free garbage cans and pickup, ask your landlord to make a written statement to reflect the amenities he is willing to give.
With a written agreement, everything will be clear to both the tenant and the landlord. If a tenant encounters any problem in any of the stipulations in the contract, he or she can refer to the contract when complaining or reporting to the landlord. Disputes not resolved between the tenant and the landlord can be referred to a lawyer for proper procedures.