Rental Property

@rvilladelgado9 I never heard of a lease with a provision requiring anything from the tenant except rent. Yes this is the Philippines and things may be different but that provision seems to be unenforceable. After all you are on a fixed term lease and you can just wait it out until your term expires and it seems the the previous tenant did just that, hearing what you said. I think you are obligated to inform the landlord of any problems (verbal is ok) but, except for household items that you consume, for example soap and toilet paper, the ground rule would be that I owed and paid nothing above rent. If the landlord REQUESTS you to fix it, like the tree, I would agree to coordinate the removal for free (no charge to LL) and pay the cash at removal but then landlord must allow me to deduct bill from monthly rent. This is merely a convenience for cash flow. I rented a place and the HOA decided to make collections and LL expected me to pay, you know, home OWNER'S association dues. Needless to say I didn't pay and nothing came of it but it seems these landlords will do anything to make tenants subsidize their investments.

@danfinn Thanks! I am not finished yet. I am taking this scumbag of a landlord to the barangay to settle things. Folks I've asked says same, it is the responsibility of the landlord to have the tree removed. It's becoming her habit of passing on any responsibility to me since her takeover is old and physically unwell. Other than this, I really love the place and neighborhood I live in. It is clean, nice and quiet most of the time. Cheers!

What are your options/obligations if you talk to the Barangay and yes a good place to start if you simply, as Dan mentioned stop paying the rent and present her with the bills for repairs in lieu? Have you approached the Barangay Capitan and committee yet? Their thoughts on your options? Local level legalities? Power?

I was a landlord in Oz for 30 years and the tenants had more rights than I ever did. We leased a condo here 13 years ago in Manila and the owner? Fantastic, we paid her 1 year up front, got a P5K per month discount, in our agreement she was to have a 2.5 HP installed at her cost and supply a range hood for the oven that I installed,,,,, all done in the first month and on vacating the P50K bond she paid to my account in under 2 weeks.

There are great/good landlords and then the sharks and scammers that try it on, while you mention you like living there and not knowing how long remains on your lease have you considered moving?

Yes start with the Barangay, small power but tsismis (gossip) eats a lot of fools up and brings pliability and sense most times.

Good luck rv and keep us posted how you fare.

Cheers, Steve.

rvilladelgado9 said. . . . I am not finished yet. I am taking this scumbag of a landlord to the barangay to settle things. Folks I've asked says same, it is the responsibility of the landlord to have the tree removed. It's becoming her habit of passing on any responsibility to me since her takeover is old and physically unwell. Other than this, I really love the place and neighborhood I live in. It is clean, nice and quiet most of the time. Cheers!

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Forget about it . . . .You and the landlord are finished anyways, your bridges are burned. If you have a lease move out when it expires.

If you don't have a lease move.

Agree Bob but sometimes fools thinking they are on the high horse, long way to the ground and sometimes the fall is required to take heed or else the next prospective tenant will suffer the same fate.

Sometimes it's worth the fight.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl Thank you for your response. I've moved several times before I found this house. The reason I moved from the other place was HOA was no longer doing their job: stray dogs everywhere, poop everywhere and people come and go - no screening at the gate and the NOISE, trisikad, roosters, barking dogs, etc. This place is a smaller subdivision - somewhat exclusive. Guards screen visitors before they let them in. They call you and let you know...I'm old, alone and living with my two dogs. Moving is a pain for us old farts! But I cannot simply tolerate the landlord's behavior. The lease expires next September 2024. The end result of this is "me" end up moving again! It is very difficult finding a landlord like the one you described! Most that I have encountered are very nosey and unprofessional! 

The wife and I had a landlord that was similar. He claimed to be an attorney among other bogus claims.  He had a judge for a friend and even threatened to have deported for causing trouble.

The long story short, once we threatened a case he came to the negotiation phase. We traded my fixing in lue of rent. I fixed to my standard and he had no rent for 8 months..lol. My Filipina wife tore him a new one.

I had been a renter in the states (Chicago 1960/1978)  (Monroeville PA 1978/2005) (Las Vegas NV 2005/2018)

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I always been able to keep my rent increases minimal, for example I rented a three bedroom  (1978) for $360 a month. Twenty six years later I was paying $500.

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Good tenants are hard to find, in the states landlords appreciate this, giving you leverage on rent increases.

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I always paid my rent on time. I always counter offered a rent increase, I never called the landlord on trivial things, I handle all small repairs myself, I even handled replacement of furnace blower motor and paid for a hot water tank replacement.

So my out of pocket expenses for 26 years certainly led to small increases in rent and sometimes no increases. I came out way ahead.

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Same thing in Las Vegas 2005/2018, being a good tenant is the best thing you can do, you don't want to be a headache for the landlord or a pain in the neck to them.

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I always negotiated rent increases, either got my way or met them halfway. A empty house or apartment for one month would negate any increase or possibly worse by having a bad tenant replace me.

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So here in the Philippines I would just complain to the landlord:

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My wife