Most often in my practice, landlords retaliate for the following reasons:

1. The tenant demanded repairs that the landlord was obligated to perform.
2. The tenant reported landlord to a governmental agency for some reason.
3. The tenant failed to pay rent on time.

How do these landlords actually retaliate?  In my experience, the most common types of retaliation are as follows:

• Changing the locks
• Shutting off utilities and/or similar services
• Removing doors, walls, and/or windows
• Increasing the rent
• Filing evictions

However, in many states, the law protects them from such retaliatory action.  However, tenants must evaluate the law in their particular states.

In our next article, we will discuss the difficulties of proving a landlord's retaliation.

Are you trying to prove your landlord is retaliating against you? If you are ready to move forward—or if you have any questions about us or our process, email us at [email protected], text us, or call us at (407) 294-9959. Otherwise, we wish you good luck with your legal matter.