THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409010446
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Landlords and Tenants
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
I live in a two bedroom apartment with my wife and daughter. We have been here for four years, signing a one-year lease each year. We love it here and plan to stay. But we have a few problems.
We have three windows, one in each room, and all three rooms have an electrical outlet right below the window.
Whenever it rains, the window tracts fill up with water and overflow into our apartment and down over the electrical outlets. It doesn't make any difference whether the windows are closed.
Management says that it cannot do anything about the situation. What can we as tenants do?
There are children who live in the apartment project who ride their bicycles up and down the sidewalk and on the parking areas, constantly darting out from in between parked cars.
There are no posted signs within the complex stating ``No Bike Riding.''
But in the newsletter that management puts out, there was an article that said, ``No bike riding in the streets, or the parents will be notified and they will be evicted within 30 days.''
That was to no avail.
Sooner or later, someone will be seriously hurt or worse. The kids also ride on the sidewalks, which causes havoc for everyone, especially the elderly and disabled.
What rights do we have? What happens if our vehicles are damaged by some child riding a bicycle in between the cars.
Management says that it is not responsible.
Can you help us out? I speak for many people.
We are glad that you enjoy the apartment in which you have been living in and the landlord is quite fortunate to have a tenant who has been there for four years and paying the rent promptly.
As far as the electrical outlets are concerned, we are not experts in the building code, so we do not know whether that is a violation of the building code. You might contact the city building inspector in your area to make an inquiry.
If it is a violation, maybe your landlord would be required to move the electrical outlet to another location.
We feel that management is most unwise in not doing something about stopping the rain from running into the interior of the house. We feel that it is management's responsibility to correct the problem so as not to have further damage not only to the interior walls and floors of your apartment but also to any apartments that might be below you. Furthermore, I am sure that management would not like to have an electrical short circuit caused by the water running into the electrical outlet.
As far as the children riding their bikes in the parking areas and in between the parked cars, you do have a problem.
We do not believe that it is management's responsibility to repair any damage that might be done to your vehicle. We have had questions in the past concerning bicycle riding in parking lots of apartment projects and we find that it is really a difficult situation for all parties concerned. If management enters into written year-to-year leases with its tenants and there is no prohibition in the lease against the children of tenants riding their bicycles in the apartment parking area, the management cannot evict tenants by putting a notice in a newsletter that it distributes to the tenants on a periodic basis.
Many bicyclist do not realize that they are basically bound by all the rules and regulations pertaining to motorists. Motorists are not allowed to drive their cars on the sidewalk and we believe that also applies to bicyclists.
It is difficult to keep children on bicycles off of sidewalk.
For the families who have children and live in apartment projects, it is difficult for the families to supervise activities of the children every minute. These families should make an effort to educate their children as to the rules of safe bicycle riding.
If you find that your problems are serious enough and that management will not remedy the problems, then, as we have often said in the past, your greatest remedy is to simply notify management that you are terminating your lease at the end of your term and that you will be moving. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB