What are my landlord’s responsibilities?
Both the landlord and the tenant bear some responsibility for the upkeep of a rental property. The question is, who pays for what. Most issues are dealt with in advance by an agreement between the landlord and the tenant; otherwise, the prevailing custom of landlord/tenant obligations should be adhered to.
In the absence of the above, following are some guidelines:
The landlord must provide the tenant with an apartment in basic habitable condition, including safety gates for windows on upper floors, and doors and windows in working condition. The windows must close properly to keep out the cold.
Minor repairs that don’t require the services of a repairman, such as changing lightbulbs and making doors close smoothly, are the tenant’s responsibility.
The common custom nowadays is that problems resulting from normal wear and tear which require calling in a professional—such as a repairing a leaking pipe or other plumbing problems—are the landlord’s responsibility, unless they are caused by negligence or destructive behavior on the part of the tenant. #543?1
1 ראה שו״ע חו״מ סשי״ב סי״ז. סשי״ד ס״א וברמ״א שם. וראה בנו״כ שנו״נ בכ״ז.
ואף שמעיקר הדין א״צ לתקן בנתקלקל אח״כ - כן המנהג. וראה שו״ת חקרי לב חו״מ ח״ב סס״ח. וראה בארוכה בהנסמן בעט יוסף משפט השכירות ס״ה. עמק המשפט סל״ה. ועוד. וטל ילין בקצירי.