Tenant's rights question

"Cool story, bro!"

 

Sorry, but I think you're out of luck. You have no leverage against them and they seem to be shady as it is.

Hopefully, it wasn't a large amount.

 

They'll likely have exposure to a fine/penalty from the fire department for false alarms. I doubt they owe anything to tenants for having 'too loud' a fire bell.

 

I doubt you have any real recourse...but I would like to see the case argued on Judge Judy and see what she has to say about it. "Sir, listen to me! Your security deposit has nothing to do with the quality of sleep you got because of a fire alarm going off multiple times due to faulty electrical wiring. YOU'RE NOT HEARING ME, SIR!!! DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD!!!"

This one time I was staying in a semi-nice hotel and, when I checked in, noone informed me that the big empty grass field next door is an overnight bird sanctuary with all kinds of birds congregating and chirping all damn night long. I didn't sleep a wink and had a big job interview the next day. It was probably the worst sleep night of my life and I just couldn't believe they let hotel guests put up with that. It literally started at sunset and ended at sunrise. I didn't try to get my money back (probably wouldn't have gotten it back anyway) because I was a walking zombie just trying to get to the interview at that point.

 

I used to work for an apartment management company. In Texas, you have little recourse besides taking your business elsewhere. They won't be giving you any money for the fire alarms. You could try complaining to the fire marshal about dangerous conditions to get the management in trouble, but the FD is probably already as annoyed as you.

As for the security deposit, if you're confident that they won't give you your security deposit anyway, you may as well trash the joint.

 

Security deposit and this issue are not really related. You may be able to make a case for non-payment of a portion of this month's rent but since it was already paid and this is your last month and that is a debatable issue, probably not.

Check out http://www.rentlaw.com/texaslandlordtenantlaw.htm and http://texastenant.org/index.html for some information, especially regarding the security deposit, a move in/ move out check sheet, etc.

http://texastenant.org/security_deposit.html specifically.

 

Either way, this is a useless post.

That sucks, honestly I think you have a right to file a complaint because it seems like its not just you that is being affected by it, but the whole complex

 

Do you stay at one of big apartment complexes in Austin? Because the one across the street from where I live has had that same problem for a few weeks now.

 

Yeah, that's not going to work. At my old company, management would not even listen to your complaint if you tried to withold rent. Unless the complex is dying to find tenants, they'd rather evict you (which is easy in TX) than be held hostage over rent money. And, since they already have the money and no hope of future revenue anyway, you'd need to sue to get any money from them.

Since the problem affects all tenants, maybe you can organize all your neighbors to engage in some civil disobedience. Do a mass sit-in in the leasing office, with some misspelled signs and catchy chants. Burn some cars, get on the news, and then you can put pressure on them to make amends for the fire alarm.

 

Just camp out in a lawn chair on Saturday and Sunday in front of the leasing office and tell people coming in that you shouldn't rent from them.