Your Home Is Unlivable

Are you a Missouri tenant struggling to get your landlord to make repairs? No heat? Bedbugs, roaches, or other pests? Plumbing problems or sewage in your home? If your home is unsafe or unlivable, read on to learn your rights.

This information is specific to Missouri. Tenant laws vary by state.

My home is unsafe or unlivable

• Landlord duties. A landlord has a duty to maintain a safe, sanitary, and livable rental, and to make repairs in accordance with the lease.
• Serious problems. Sanitation, safety, and livability problems are usually severe — a lack of heat, a non-working toilet, an infestation of mice or bedbugs, standing sewer water, or defects in the wiring.
• Give notice. Call your landlord as soon as possible, then follow up in writing describing the problem. Keep a copy; sending it certified mail (return receipt requested) is best.
• Allow reasonable time. You must give your landlord a reasonable time to fix the problem.
• If the landlord won't fix it. Your options can be complicated — a lawsuit, breaking the lease and leaving, reporting a code violation, or paying rent into an escrow account while withholding it. Don't simply stop paying rent; call an attorney first.

Get help

Low-wage workers can call our office for a free consultation, and we have form letters you can use.