Can a landlord turn off your water?

i hope you have a receipt for the paid deposit and for the paid rent for the month in advance. claim a refund, but the landlord may say that the 1st month is paid and you have to use it or loose it.
bad situation.
good luck
Mike

Cutting off the water by the landlord is prohibited by law and may lead to his criminal prosecution.

Arts. 21 y 35 del Decreto 4807 del 16 de mayo de 1959:

"Queda prohibido al propietario realizar en las casas, apartamientos o habitaciones alquiladas, cualesquiera maniobras o estratagemas que tiendan a disminuir las condiciones de habitabilidad de las mismas, tales como clausura de agua o luz, supresi?n parcial o total de techos o tabiques, etc. En estos casos, el Control de Alquileres de Casas y Desahucios, apoderado por petici?n de los inquilinos interesados, ordenar? el restablecimiento de las condiciones de habitabilidad de los lugares alquilados, a cargo del propietario, independientemente de las sanciones a que hubiere lugar contra el propietario en falta.

Art. 35.- Cualquier violaci?n a las disposiciones de este decreto, o a las resoluciones que se dicten en virtud del mismo, ser? castigada de conformidad con las leyes sobre Medidas de Emergencia, No. 2700, del 28 de enero de 1951, y No. 5112, del 24 de abril de 1959."

I had my water cut off by my storefront landlord and he claimed that it was some plumbing issue(perhaps something like him turning off a value somewhere right before he left town for three weeks). I'm sure if I had bothered to spend the time to take the next step in the process, eventually the plumbing problem would have mysteriously "fixed itself." But who wants to rent from a sleezebag that cuts your water off as soon as they find someone who will pay another $100 month's rent?

With this instance, the I think the best thing is to write it off and move on. Find another place and if you want to bother, try to start action against the landlord, but I would never want to stay in a place where the terms change on a whim. Getting something in writing only protects you so far and taking someone to court is only the first step of the battle of getting your money back. The landlord will be out rent until he can find another victim and it will be his loss as well, unless he has also found someone else willing to pay more than you, which may be the case here as well.

If you hire any decent Dominican lawyer that knows the rental laws you can really stick it to this guy.

Any lawyer can stall for at least six months in court without paying a cent, maybe even a year. If you don't want to stay there, let a poor family move in and bust his chops.