How to Demand Repairs

If your landlord who puts off repairing the heating system until winter, or ignores a first-floor tenant's requests to replace a broken window until a burglary happens, you might have a problem.

But like most problems, there's an easy and a hard way to solve it.

The hard way is either hiring a lawyer to help communicate with the landlord, explore the possibility of a quick settlement, or take the landlord to court if necessary.

However, you may need a lawyer to coach you on the best way to withhold rent or make the repair yourself and deduct the cost from your rent, if that's allowed in your state.

But before consulting a lawyer, try to take the easy - and much cheaper - route and solve the problem yourself.