Tenants' Rights When Landlord Breaks Rental Agreement

Most people would agree that having a big shade tree on their property is a good thing. One renter in Charlotte, N.C. was under that impression -- until it started growing through a wall of his apartment.

His first course of action was notifying his landlord of the problem. He called the landlord, e-mailed him and sent a certified letter. He'd been living there for five years and wanted to keep this as amicable as possible. When the landlord continued to be unresponsive, his second course of action was withholding his rent. But that's not where it stopped.

If you have an unresponsive landlord, here are your rights as a renter and what you can do legally: