Renting someone else’s home does not give that person the right to violate tenant’s rental rights. While a landlord does have their own rights as well, some landlords go beyond their boundaries and violate tenant rental rights.
Tenant’s rental rights cover a variety of topics including:
Privacy
Harassment
Sudden utility changes in rent
Unfair evictions
A home should be someone’s safe haven and no one should feel scared, worried or violated in their home because of their landlord – even if that person technically owns the home. Many landlords take it upon themselves to enter a tenant’s home without a justifiable cause (such as a true emergency) or without notice. This is a violation of tenant rental rights and a violation of privacy. In other situations, certain landlords may begin harassing their tenant for no real reason, such as their gender, race, sexual orientation, or other quality that does not affect their ability of being a good tenant. A tenant should not have to put up with any mental abuse from their landlord.
When you are living in someone else’s home, it is usually their responsibility to fix certain utilities, unless stated otherwise in the lease. For example, being without a working air conditioning in the hot summer months or being without a working heating system when temperatures drop below freezing is another violation of tenant rental rights.
Another serious problem that tenants experience is raised rent or unfair eviction. If the tenant signed a one year lease at $1000 a month, the tenant is entitled to stay in their home for that amount of time and for that rate. If a landlord wishes to raise the rent or force their tenant to move, they must wait until the lease is up and give proper notice. A landlord cannot evict a tenant unless the tenant did something wrong or failed to pay rent.