Repairs, habitability & maintenance
General information, not legal or tax advice. Landlord-tenant and tax rules vary by state, county, and city and change often. Confirm against current statute or a licensed professional in the relevant jurisdiction before acting.
For renters
Residential
Sometimes, but the rules are strict and vary by state. Many states allow 'repair and deduct' — you fix a genuine habitability problem after giving written notice and subtract a capped amount from rent — and/or rent withholding or escrow until repairs are made. The prerequisites usually include written notice, a reasonable time to cure, and a defect that affects habitability (heat, water, safety), not cosmetics.
Withholding rent incorrectly can get you evicted, so confirm your state's exact procedure first, put every request in writing, and document the defect with dated photos. Where self-help isn't allowed, code enforcement or a local housing authority may be the faster lever.
For landlords
Residential
Nearly every state implies a 'warranty of habitability': you must keep the unit safe and livable — working heat, hot and cold running water, functioning plumbing and electrical, structural soundness, weatherproofing, and pest control — and comply with local housing codes. This duty generally cannot be waived by the lease.
Respond to repair requests promptly and in writing; unaddressed habitability defects can trigger rent withholding, repair-and-deduct, or code enforcement. Collabrio routes tenant maintenance requests into trackable work orders with photos and a dated paper trail, so 'I told you weeks ago' is never a he-said situation.
For landlords
Residential
Normal wear and tear is the unavoidable decline from ordinary use — faded paint, lightly worn carpet, small nail holes, minor scuffs. Damage results from negligence, abuse, or accident — large holes, pet-stained or burned carpet, broken fixtures, unapproved paint colors. You may charge a tenant for damage (and excessive filth), but not for wear that any tenant would have caused over the same period.
The deciding evidence is almost always dated move-in versus move-out photos showing the change. Collabrio's before/after condition folders per unit are built precisely for this line — they're your deposit-dispute insurance.
For landlords
Commercial
In a true triple-net (NNN) lease the tenant typically covers interior maintenance plus a pro-rata share of common-area costs, while the landlord often retains the roof, structure, and foundation — but this is negotiated, not statutory, so the lease controls. An 'absolute NNN' can push even roof and structure onto the tenant; a modified-gross lease splits responsibilities differently.
HVAC is the classic fight — spell out explicitly who maintains and who replaces it, and consider a cap on the tenant's capital exposure for major systems. Define these allocations on the lease record so a midnight repair call has a clear owner.
Less guesswork, one system of record
Collabrio keeps the dated photos, ledgers, leases, and audit trail
that turn these questions into a five-minute lookup.
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