It’s important to consider your actions as well as your landlord’s when determining whether a landlord’s decision not to renew your lease is retaliatory. For example, some tenants may face retaliation for requiring their landlord to fulfill the terms of their lease. In any case, check with your local tenants’ association to find out what laws are in place to protect renters from landlord retaliation before taking any legal action against a landlord.
Your state may have a law that specifically addresses landlord retaliation. For example, the Tenant Resource Center in Madison, Wisconsin, indicates that Wisconsin has a law that prohibits landlords from retaliating against tenants by refusing to renew their lease or taking some other action against them. However, the law also states that the tenant must have a “preponderance of evidence” that an action took place because of retaliation. In legal terms, that means the evidence must be convincing if a tenant sues the landlord. The tenant must show that his claim of retaliation is most likely the correct version of events connected to the case.
One of the best ways to determine if a landlord retaliated against you by not renewing your lease is to retrace events that preceded the situation. According to the Tenant Resource Center, an action may be retaliatory if it follows a complaint a tenant made against the landlord about services or safety. For example, a tenant who filed a complaint with a local building inspector about unsafe conditions at an apartment building may have evidence of retaliation if the landlord later refuses to renew his lease.
Tenants who exercise their rights and cost their landlords significant amounts of money may find themselves targeted for retaliation. For example, a tenant whose lease wasn’t renewed may have filed a complaint with the building inspector that caused the landlord to make several expensive repairs. The Nolo law information website indicates that it’s easier for tenants to win retaliation cases if they highlight a landlord’s potential motive for retaliation. Landlords may be motivated to retaliate against tenants whose complaints harm their reputations or cost them a lot of time and money.
You may have a problem trying to prove that your landlord retaliated against you even if a decision not to renew your lease followed a complaint you made. For example, Nolo indicates that a tenant may not have a convincing retaliation case against a landlord if several other tenants’ leases weren’t renewed. Therefore, you may have a better chance of proving a landlord acted in retaliation against you if you can show that you are the only tenant who didn’t get a lease renewal after issuing a complaint against your landlord.
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