Flood or Miracle: Which Will Happen Next?
Article by Kenneth Krems for New England Assisted Housing Management Association publication
In 1980, as the United States defeated the Soviet Union in hockey at the Lake Placid Olympics, sportscaster Al Michaels exclaimed, "Do you believe in miracles?"
It seems that some landlords do believe in miracles, at least when it comes to fixing defects in tenants' apartments. Some managers apparently think that the defects will, miraculously, cure themselves, or if not, that the tenants will simply forget that the problems ever existed.
There are right ways and wrong ways to respond to tenants' complaints. A case decided in Massachusetts Northeast Housing Court in March 1996 illustrates how landlords should not deal with complaints regarding defects in an apartment.