And we are back with Isaac
Sturgell and Josie Williams.
They're helping you through some
difficult rental situations.
And boy, since we started this,
we've been receiving a lot
of questions from people.
No surprise here,
so I'm just gonna start going through them.
The first question would
probably be for Isaac.
Is there a percentage Max that
landlords can raise your rent?
So there's actually not in North Carolina.
There's actually a law in North Carolina
that says that local counties and cities are
not allowed to pass rent control measures,
and so that's something where the state of
North Carolina has decided to take that
authority away from cities and counties.
And so there's not actually any kind
of legal rent control that's that's in
North Korea that would have to change
at the state level to make that happen.
However, normally landlords cannot
just unilaterally raise the rent.
So what what they can do is they can
ask the tenant to agree to a higher
rate of rent if the tenant refuses,
the landlord may choose not to
renew the lease at that point,
but you usually it would take an agreement
from both parties to raise the rent.
Josie, I'll explain the importance of not
withholding your rent if you're having an
issue with your landlord. Unfortunately,
in North Carolina you cannot withhold
a rent for having issues or even for
issues regarding a lack of maintenance.
The thing to do at that point is contact
an attorney like at legal aid so they can
see if you have a defense, but it is.
Not proper to hold the rent
even despite the challenges,
it just puts you far behind.
We do help you negotiate and
mediate with the landlord so we can
come up to some type of agreement
until there is a resolve,
but it is not appropriate to
withhold the rent unfortunately.
And I agree with that.
I think that that's a risky move
for tenants to withhold rent
because what's going to happen,
you're going to end up in eviction
court and you're going to have to
defend yourself at that point.
The safest thing for tennis to
do is to keep paying the rent,
and if the landlord continues
to refuse to make repairs,
that tenant may have a legal claim
that they could file against the
landlord to get some of that
rent back from the landlord.
We call that rent abatement,
and so if the landlord is
refusing to make repairs,
the tenant may be able to file
a lawsuit to get some money.
Some of that rent money back
and Isaac. People will often say to us,
well, you know, I called my landlord,
I told I asked them to do this,
I've I've called them explain why
it's important to get it in writing.
So under state law,
most requests for repairs do not have
to be in writing legally, but it's
always a good idea to do it in writing.
And when I say in writing,
that doesn't necessarily mean you know.
Snail mail, like a handwritten letter.
It could be a text message.
It could be an e-mail,
but the reason why, even though
usually you're not required to do it,
why it's a good idea is because if you end
up in court in front of a judge or a jury,
you want to have proof that you put
the landlord on on notice, right?
So one of the things you'd
have to prove is the tenant.
If you're making a claim like that,
is that you you notify the landlord
about the repairs that needed to be made.
Josie someone sent us a text
message saying that their landlord
is kicking them out to move in.
A person who is on Section 8.
Is that allowed?
Unfortunately yes.
They they, the landlord,
has the right to not renew the lease.
He has the right to.
Ask you to move and he can
move in any one that he wants.
We see the issue a lot to be honest.
We are seeing folks that are
refusing to take Section 8 and
we are now seeing folks that will
try to evict someone legally
just to bring another type of
tenant in that they feel they
can make a better profit of them.
That's the reality of what we're seeing
in our housing environment right now.
And you know, I want to make
it clear that landlords are
not the enemy here, you know.
We keep talking about issues with
landlords and tenants having you
know disputes over whatever it is,
but I imagine that both of you also
hear from landlords who are in a
situation where they just can't.
Yeah, I mean they they,
they're dealing with plenty of
issues of their own, correct?
Yeah, we see
a lot of landlords that let us know
that they you know they simply can't
make the mortgage on the home that
the renter that the tenant is renting.
If they cannot receive the rent,
that's totally understandable.
We do have a program at JC.
We try to partner with the landlord and
it's a partnership between the property
owner and the tenant and our agency
and what it does over the long haul.
We partner with those individuals
throughout the term of the lease.
We offset some of the calls for someone.
We get in there and then return.
We try to offset some of the maintenance
that a landlord might have at the
end of the lease or during the lease.
It what it does,
we just want to build a strong
relationship with those that own
property so that when the next tenant
comes along looking for housing.
I have a strong relationship with
those that own the property so
we can keep bringing tenants in
and getting them housed.
OK, I think that's a good spot to take.
Another quick break here, Isaac and Josie,
thank you for your assistance.
We'll be right back after this.