Advice on suing my landlord -- City of Alexandria

[Anonymous]

I have had many issues with my current landlord and am THRILLED to be finally moving out next week.

He has refused to repair many sanitary and safety issues in my apartment. I called the City (I am within the City of Alexandria, separate from Fairfax County) to inquire about my rights and to confirm that the problems were, in fact, code violations. When I presented the landlord with this information he began to try to bully me and intimidate me, making up all kinds of lies. I guess he was banking on the fact that this young, single woman wouldn't do her homework (he is very arrogant).

I have heard from several people that I could sue him for all the rent I've ever paid him since he rented an illegal apartment to me. For the record, he has no rental permit for the house, no certificate of occupancy for the subdivision of the house, and on top of that, the violations the inspectors found are staggering.

Thoughts? I'm not the type to try to get someone in trouble, but this guy is a real piece of work. He's given me the runaround and I don't want it to happen to anyone else. It was a situation I felt "stuck" in for quite some time and it was awful.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Anonymous]

Usually, local governments have an enitity that will deal with landlord/tenant issues and do arbitration/mediation and in extreme cases, take issues to court. That would be the best place to start in voicing complaints to an official body, I think.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I have spoken with that department within the City and they have been very helpful, however they are not attorneys and are limited, legally, on what advice they can give me and how they can word things.

[Anonymous]

OP, Even though the city employees that you've been dealing with are not lawyers, could they point you in the direction of local legal resources? Alternatively, try calling the Virginia State Bar -- they may have pro bono services or landlord/tenant clinics that could advise you about what, if any steps are possible.

Good luck! And congratulations on your upcoming move.

[Anonymous]

bump