our house needs your advice and help

It depends on what county you are in, but there is a Landlord and Tenant Act: http://tn.gov/consumer/lanlord.shtml

The federal Housing and Urban Development site has legal assistance links that might be useful: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/states/tennessee/homeownership/legalaid

The TN Human Rights Commission looks like it's only about discrimination: http://www.state.tn.us/humanrights/index.html

Mr. Jaq and I got into a similar situation when we were living downtown - the landlord was out of state, stopped paying his condo fees, had a state judgment against him. Everyone was after us to pay our rent to them instead of to the landlord - who threatened to evict us if we complied with the legal state mandate. Fortunately (I guess), our lease was about up and we were able to get out to a different place. Weasel landlord kept my huge deposit though and since he was out of state with no known address (by that point), I couldn't take him to small claims court without being even more out of pocket.

I hope it all gets resolved for you quickly, roxy. Good luck.

could give you chapter and verse bout our regs/standards, but unfortunately not much use. Hope the local laws cover you well, good luck.

Are you in TN? Your local county/municipality probably also has a landlord/tenant code that's going to govern a lot of this stuff.

Speaking very broadly, there is an "implied warranty of habitability" at play, and a caved in ceiling/bird infestation may well violate that, although what specifically constitutes such a violation should be outlined in your local landlord/tenant code.

You should also search your area for tenants' rights organizations. Such groups will provide free or very cheap legal advice to renters, and since landlord/tenant laws are so specific to location, they'll be able to give you much better and more accurate advice than people on a message board. If there are no tentants' rights orgs in your area (the larger your community, the more likely there is to be one), try to find a legal aid organization. Since this sounds like an artists' space/community, you should be able to qualify for help from a group like this.

Good luck! From everything you've described, your landlord is falling down on his duties so now it's a matter of educating yourself on the law and/or finding some help so you can either take control of the property yourself or force him into complying with the law. (Note: you don't want to just stop paying rent only to find that your LL/tenant code strict prohibits that remedy (in Chicago you can after written notice of a serious problem that violates the implied warranty of habitability, but in other places I've lived you cannot), thus opening up yourself to a serious lawsuit, so at least reading all of your local ordinances before you do anything is pretty key here. Also note that if LL/tenant laws in large cities, college towns, and northern states tend to be more favorable to the tenants than those in small communities and southern states. This doesn't mean you have screwed in you're in TN - your ceiling caved in and there are birds in your apartment, which is pretty egregious wherever you live.)

Oh - and in some states/municipalities, if you pay for repairs yourself, you can deduct the cost from your rent going forward. Find out how this works in your area and keep that in mind if your fundraiser is successful.

I followed your link and figured out where you live (I am so smrt) so maybe this will help get you started - http://www.knoxleaselaw.com/Articles/l_and_t_act.htm.

One more thing: law firms might do pro bono work for you since you are an artists' community (especially if you have any fans who are lawyers) so don't be afraid to call around and see who can help you if you do decide you need legal representation.

Also I see jaq already linked the LL/tenant act for you. Sorry!

oh geez - this is a really shitty stressful situation! you have my utmost sympathy.

one potential worry is whether the apartments and venue are legal with the city. if you get the law involved, would they come in and say that no one's supposed to be living there and/or you can't have shows there.

where in California does your landlord live? Not suggesting paying him _that_ kind of visit. But if you have to serve him papers, i dunno.

Also, it makes me wonder about his relationship w/his ex-gf.

the relationship with the ex is increasingly O_O the more I learn about it.

thanks to everyone for all the lovely starting points and advice, etc. we're all really confused and unsure of what to do. complicating matters is that our house functions as a venue somewhat illegally and we're worried about being investigated and shut down. it feels like we're walking a tightrope.

worse, we're apparently registered as a one family home - we are definitely 5 apartments with 5 separate "families." this is his fault, though - not ours. but again, we're afraid.

we will prevail though. we kick ass at raising money/throwing benefits and stuff. also, he's dumb.

fuck yeah, kick his ass!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBohdltpVUY

This is the song everyone likes to listen to

obv different cities have different rules and practices, but I would think (based on my experience with somewhat similar situations) that if you have a licensed contractor that's cool with you, he/she would be authorized to get permits for the repairs, and that gov't officials would be less likely to give you trouble, require inspections that could get you in trouble, if it's an emergency repair, as opposed to "new construction" or something along those lines.

basically, the two big problems as I see it are:

1. getting the money to make the repairs
2. getting the repairs done w/proper permits which sometimes require authorization from the property owner

re 2) this is where the 'house' part of it could come in handy. a house may not need a permit to get a new roof

re: the illegality of the living arrangement - that shouldn't stop you from looking around for a lawyer for some expert legal advice from someone in the area. Most lawyers will advise you that your living situation is illegal, etc. etc. but they aren't going to call the cops and have you shut down.

If you are seriously considering buying the building yourself, however, you definitely need to talk to a lawyer and find out what kind of liability you're opening yourself up to. In some municipalities, single family homes cannot have more than one stove, for example, and a violation can carry a significant fine for the property owner. I'm not saying don't buy it (I wouldn't, but I have a higher aversion to that kind of risk) but at least do so knowing exactly what you're getting into.