QI’m having rent hassles with my landlord. When he refused to replace a cracked window, claiming that I broke it, I had it fixed and deducted the cost from the next month’s rent (I think it broke during a recent windstorm). Now he’s shut off my cable TV access, which was part of the deal when I rented the place. Is he allowed to do this?
AIf your landlord had responded by shutting off the gas, electricity or water, the answer would have been simple: Cutting off utility services in response to a tenant’s exercise of a legal right (such as the right to repair and deduct) is considered illegal retaliation in most states. Even when tenants improperly use “repair and deduct,” landlords may not resort to pressure tactics like changing the locks, shutting off gas or electricity, or interrupting other utilities that they control.
The correct response to a tenant’s improper use of repair and deduct is to respond to the short rent check that the tenant thinks is justified. Landlords should send a notice to pay rent or quit, and then file for eviction if the tenant does not leave or pay the entire rent within the time specified in the notice.
These days, however, tenants get cable TV in addition to other services. The issue posed by your situation is whether cable access is considered a utility within the meaning of your state’s statute. A quick check of some typical retaliation statutes shows that in many states, the illegal retaliatory measure of withdrawing services is defined quite broadly. Many states, including Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, prohibit landlords from “decreasing services.” In those states, cutting off cable TV that’s supplied by the landlord would probably come within the definition of “decreasing services” provided by the landlord.
One state, New Hampshire, is considering exempting cable TV from the host of services that landlords may not decrease. Legislation will make it clear that a landlord may cut off cable TV without running afoul of the anti-retaliation statute. However, cable Internet service would remain protected, because tenants often use their Internet connection as their phone service by using Skype.
Landlords in New Hampshire will have to remember, however, that even if they can avoid a charge of retaliation when they cut off cable TV, they are still at risk of a tenant claim for rent abatement based on the diminished value of the rental. The tenant could argue that access to cable TV, just like the second bedroom or a parking space, is something their rent is supposed to cover. If the landlord were to suddenly take away the parking place, for example, the value of the rental would go down (particularly when parking is scarce and expensive).
Tenants in this situation can go to court and sue for “the benefit of their bargain.” In other words, they’re not getting what they’re paying for, and they want the judge to order a reduction of rent to realistically reflect what a rental without parking is worth on the rental market. It’s no different with cutting off cable: The tenant could point to the cost of paying for it himself, and ask the judge to reduce the rent accordingly.
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