What ARE Renters' Rights under Dominican Law

I'm being given conflicting advice about renter's rights under Dominican law. Can someone point me in the right direction about what our rights are if we no longer have a lease (it expired and we don't like the terms of what is being proposed--neither does our lawyer)? I've heard on the one hand that if you pay your rent in the first week of the month, they can't kick you out. Then I've heard that they can kick you out for NO REASON with only 7 days notice.

ANYONE know what the REAL law is and how hard is it if you are a gringo/a with a Cedula to actually have the law enforced?

TIA!:bunny::bunny::bunny::bunny:

Thnx & more ?s

Thanks Sky & Robert! Yes, I have read the link thoroughly, but I'm still unclear as to our actual rights given that our contract has expired. We have our rental payment receipts. I did search the archives but wasn't able to locate this exact problem so maybe I'm not searching correctly.

If we pay our Dec rent and go away for Christmas, could we find our things on the street when we return?

Our landlady likes to just SHOW up unannounced at 10 or 11 pm at night (she lives in the Cap so it's not like she was in the neighborhood unexpectedly.) We only request a call. The concept of fixing things such as water heaters, electrical appliances all seems to be SUCH a foreign concept to her. It is as if she's NEVER heard of maintenance. The home we are in is getting older and has lots of things falling apart. We do our best to fix them (my dh has replaced the "guts" in all the toilets multiple times; gas lines; door handles; electrical sockets, etc.) It is almost as if WE care more about this property than she does.

Clearly this isn't a great situation but until we find a better one, we'd like to know that we are in the legal clear as far as not being thrown out onto the street.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

LOL--I love the bipolar responses. We normally pay our rent to a property manager and she pays the rent to the landlady. So, how does this Banco Agricola thing work?

I've already PM'd both Matilda and MommC (and JRR) that we need another place.

As WHY we are still here...we have the lowest rent in Metro (and it's not thru the Metro CC office) and my dh is convinced that our family be irreparably harmed if we move out. I, on the other hand, am not so convinced. I think that the "security" and safety of Metro is overstated; BUT I could be wrong. So, there is the sticking point. The friend, whom my dh trusts implicitly, swears that we'll be miserable outside Metro (meanwhile we feel like the poorest folk here while living here) and something terrible will happen to our children or me if we move out. After driving to the orphanage through canefields, having breakdowns in the middle of SPM & various hwys, I'm really not so sure about the danger being greater. Someone could just as easily hop over the Metro wall (or in our case--we only have barbed wire where our 100lb golden retriever can fit through and horses stick their heads through) and enter our home. We don't have a lot of valuables--the house is furnished (although impractically so with tons of nicknacks given that we have 3 kids).

It's quite a dilemma. As of right now, we are very actively looking for a place so we can get out of here in January. I don't want to live somewhere that we are not wanted. Being a foreigner and a homeowner (in the US), I feel a sense of responsibility to the place I'm living. So, that tells you, we couldn't possibly take the lightbulbs, toilet innards, door handles (my dh would rather die first)...the NYer in me says "We paid for them!" And, yes, we've been married 21 years!

Our situation has just gotten progressively worse until one day we realized OMG, this place is getting to be like living in the proverbial slumlord tenement (OK so it has a golf course surrounding it but we don't even golf.)

As I said earlier, the rents in Metro are ridiculous (I'm talking like $2-3K USD/mo for a 3 BR house NOT on the beach.) We are paying $1100 USD. So the landlord thinks she's justified in not doing any repairs.

The property manager (who IS Dominican) pretended to be all sweet and wonderful but as it turns out she wasn't reporting the broken things to the landlady. Then she wouldn't pay her the rent on time even though we paid her. Prior to that she tried to convince us to move to another house back when things were still working here but we've figured out her scam: she gets the whole first month's rent as her payment. Therefore it is in property manager's best interests to keep the tenants moving around as much as possible. With 3 kids that is the LAST thing I want to do!

I hate moving. So, between my hating moving and dh not wanting to move OUT of Metro, we've been stuck in inertia land. However, THAT MUST CHANGE. We can't afford the going rate for Metro, so who knows what will happen. BTW, there are MORE problems than those I mentioned (as in whenever it rains, the water floods in from the balcony because the drains are an 1" up on the side walls of the balcony so the water flows under the doors and floods all the way down the stairs which makes the whole tile floor up and downstairs like a Caribbean ice rink.) The water pours through the ceiling onto the kitchen table and onto the sofa's. We've lost MANY appliances to the incessant power surges (even with surge protectors) so our toaster oven blew up, several rechargeable battery chargers & the batteries, lights, and a variety of other things like cell phones.) I know it sounds insane but the rental market here is one where the property owners would rather have their property sit EMPTY than lower the asking price!

Berzin said:

I can't believe that for the rent the OP is paying for this place they can't find suitable living arrangements elsewhere.

For that price they can buy a house. It may not be a mansion, but if the OP lives in the DR and plans to stay there maybe they can look into buying property so they don't have to go through this nightmare.

Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming my suspicions about our rent (which IS the lowest in Metro) but I have to say that it comes down to this one thing:
People in JD would RATHER NOT COLLECT RENT FOR YEARS EVEN than to rent for what THEY perceive to be "below market value." The market value in JD is ridiculously high in the gated or secure buildings.

Thanks MommC!

She is right about finding a place for a family of 5--even a 3 BR (our kids are 9, 12, & 17 so it would be rather tough but not unheard of to stick them all in 1 BR & look for a 2BR). We have exceptionally well behaved kids (you can query those who've met them & I'm sure they'll confirm) but still, when people who have 3-4 BR houses up for rent hear "3 KIDS?!!!" they've actually changed their minds about renting. This is partly so because there are a few ex-pat families with 5 kids who I must say have been VERY hard on the rentals. Many of the larger homes were built purely for entertaining. It is like they'd rather have you throw enormous parties and actually LIVE in the house. In fact, having a golden retriever is MORE desirable to landlords than having 3 kids. In the US, dogs are a major issue for renting but here our dog is viewed as major security (the guards are TERRIFIED OF HIM because he's 100lbs--kind like a jumbo sized Cosmo--JRR's dog.)

Still accepting any and all suggestions. I'm grateful for those who have commented so far.:bunny::bunny::bunny: