In general, a landlord in Oklahoma has to repair any issues at a rental property that could affect a tenant’s health or safety. The landlord must usually repair issues within 14 days of getting written notice from the tenant about the needed repairs.
Oklahoma Landlord Responsibilities for Repairs
Oklahoma landlords are, in most cases, responsible for keeping all of the following in good working condition:
- Plumbing.
- Required utilities.
- Heating (except in single-family residences).
- Hot water (except in single-family residences).
- Garbage containers and removal (except in one- or two-family residences or when the government provides the service).
- Required smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors.
- Provided appliances.
- Common areas (except in single-family residences).
- Features that affect health, safety, or habitability.
If any of the above stops working properly, and the tenant isn’t at fault for the damage, the landlord is the one responsible for making the repairs necessary to fix it.
What Repairs Are Tenants Responsible for in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma tenants are responsible for repairing any damage they cause to the property which affects health and safety.
The landlord and tenant can agree in writing for the tenant to handle any specific maintenance that would normally be the landlord’s legal responsibility. This agreement must be made separately from the lease.
Requesting Repairs in Oklahoma
Oklahoma tenants must request repairs by providing the landlord written notice about the issue that needs repair. The tenant must usually state the action they will take if the landlord does not make timely repairs. The main options are canceling the lease altogether, or repairing and deducting.
This is an example of proper language for canceling the lease: “If the issue isn’t fixed within 14 days, the renter will exercise his right to cancel the rental agreement, which will end 30 days [or whatever specific later time the tenant chooses] after delivery of this notice.”
This is an example of proper language for repairing and deducting: “If the issue isn’t fixed within 14 days, the renter intends to repair at the landlord’s expense.”
How Long Does a Landlord Have To Make Repairs in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma landlords usually have 14 days to make repairs after getting proper written notice about an issue from the tenant, except in emergencies. The landlord also has to act more quickly when he has negligently or deliberately deprived the tenant of essential utilities or basic habitability.
Can the Landlord Refuse To Make Repairs in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma landlords cannot refuse to make repairs that are their responsibility. However, refusal does not reduce the renter’s duties under the rental agreement. For example, a landlord who fails to repair can still evict for the tenant’s failure to pay rent.
Do Landlords Have To Pay for Alternative Accommodation During Repairs in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma landlords are not required to pay for alternative accommodation while they conduct repairs. However, if the tenant has to move out for repairs, this may be a constructive eviction where the tenant can end the lease, move out, and stop paying rent.
Tenant’s Rights if Repairs Aren’t Made in Oklahoma
Oklahoma tenants can cancel the rental agreement if the landlord doesn’t make timely repairs, in most situations. They can also repair and deduct for minor repairs, or when the landlord deliberately or negligently cuts off essential services and utilities.
Can the Tenant Withhold Rent in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma tenants are not allowed to unilaterally withhold rent without a court order. There’s an exception if the landlord deliberately or negligently cuts off essential services and utilities.
Can the Tenant Repair and Deduct in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma tenants can arrange for repairs and deduct the actual and reasonable cost from the rent. The total cost of repairs must be under $100. The work must be done to a professional standard and the landlord must receive an itemized invoice proving costs.
Can the Tenant Break Their Lease in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma tenants can break their lease 14 days after written notice, for failure to repair issues that weren’t the tenant’s responsibility or other uncorrected breaches of the rental agreement.
Tenants can move out and break their lease immediately, giving written notice within one week, when the property is destroyed or severely damaged by an action that wasn’t the tenant’s fault (for example, a hurricane), and when the landlord deliberately or negligently cuts off essential utilities or services.
Can the Tenant Sue in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma tenants generally can’t sue when the landlord doesn’t make timely repairs after proper notice. The default remedy is just to end the lease. The law only provides for a lawsuit when the landlord deliberately or negligently cuts off essential utilities or services.
Can the Tenant Report the Landlord in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma tenants can report landlords for code violations that affect health or safety. Tenants should usually report to the local inspections or code enforcement department. If an inspecting officer finds a violation, the tenant could cancel the rental agreement.
Landlord Retaliation in Oklahoma
Oklahoma is one of the only states where landlord retaliation is legal. Landlords can generally retaliate against tenants. It’s legal to evict or change the rental terms in response to something the tenant does, as long as the response is legal in general.
Sources
- 1 41 Okla. Stat. § 121(A) (2020)
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“Except as otherwise provided in this act, if there is a material noncompliance by the landlord with the terms of the rental agreement or a noncompliance with any of the provisions of Section 118 of this act which noncompliance materially affects health or safety, the tenant may deliver to the landlord a written notice specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than thirty (30) days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied within fourteen (14) days, and thereafter the rental agreement shall so terminate as provided in the notice unless the landlord adequately remedies the breach within the time specified.”
Source Link - 2 41 Okla. Stat. § 118(A)(1) - (A)(3) (2020)
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“A landlord shall at all times during the tenancy: 1. Except in the case of a single-family residence, keep all common areas of his building, grounds, facilities and appurtenances in a clean, safe and sanitary condition; 2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the tenant’s dwelling unit and premises in a fit and habitable condition; 3. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him…”
Source Link - 3 41 Okla. Stat. § 118(A)(4) & (A)(5) (2020)
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“A landlord shall at all times during the tenancy: Except in the case of one-or two-family residences or where provided by a governmental entity, provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit and arrange for the frequent removal of such wastes; and 5. Except in the case of a single-family residence or where the service is supplied by direct and independently-metered utility connections to the dwelling unit, supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times and reasonable heat.”
Source Link - 4 2018 Int’l Fire Code § 907.2.8.2 & 2.8.3 (2018)
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Oklahoma currently incorporates the 2018 edition of the International Fire Code, which provides: “An automatic smoke detection system… shall be installed [subject to exceptions]… single- and multiple-station smoke alarms shall be installed [per code requirements]…”
Source Link - 5 2018 Int’l Fire Code § 915.1.1 (2018)
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Oklahoma currently incorporates the 2018 edition of the International Fire Code, which provides: “Carbon monoxide detection shall be provided in Group I-1, I-2, I-4 and R occupancies and in classrooms in group E occupancies where any of the conditions in 915.1.2 through 915.1.6 exist.”
Source Link - 6 41 Okla. Stat. § 121(E) (2020)
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“All rights of the tenant under this section do not arise until he has given written notice to the landlord or if the condition complained of was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a member of his family, his animal or pet or other person or animal on the premises with his consent.”
Source Link - 7 41 Okla. Stat. § 118(B) (2020)
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“The landlord and tenant of a dwelling unit may agree by a conspicuous writing independent of the rental agreement that the tenant is to perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations or remodeling.”
Source Link - 8 41 Okla. Stat. § 121(B) (2020)
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“Except as otherwise provided in this act, if there is a material noncompliance by the landlord with any of the terms of the rental agreement or any of the provisions of Section 118 of this act which noncompliance materially affects health and the breach is remediable by repairs, the reasonable cost of which is less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), the tenant may notify the landlord in writing of his intention to correct the condition at the landlord’s expense after the expiration of fourteen (14) days. If the landlord fails to comply within said fourteen (14) days, or as promptly as conditions require in the case of an emergency, the tenant may thereafter cause the work to be done in a workmanlike manner and, after submitting to the landlord an itemized statement, deduct from his rent the actual and reasonable cost or the fair and reasonable value of the work, not exceeding the amount specified in this subsection, in which event the rental agreement shall not terminate by reason of that breach.”
Source Link - 9 41 Okla. Stat. § 121(C) (2020)
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“Except as otherwise provided in this act, if, contrary to the rental agreement or Section 118 of this act, the landlord willfully or negligently fails to supply heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas or other essential service, the tenant may give written notice to the landlord specifying the breach and thereafter may: 1. Upon written notice, immediately terminate the rental agreement; or 2. Procure reasonable amounts of heat, hot water, running water, electric, gas or other essential service during the period of the landlord’s noncompliance and deduct their actual and reasonable cost from the rent; or 3. Recover damages based upon the diminution of the fair rental value of the dwelling unit; or 4. Upon written notice, procure reasonable substitute housing during the period of the landlord’s noncompliance, in which case the tenant is excused from paying rent for the period of the landlord’s noncompliance.”
Source Link - 10 41 Okla. Stat. § 121(D) (2020)
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“Except as otherwise provided in this act, if there is a noncompliance by the landlord with the terms of the rental agreement or Section 118 of this act, which noncompliance renders the dwelling unit uninhabitable or poses an imminent threat to the health and safety of any occupant of the dwelling unit and which noncompliance is not remedied as promptly as conditions require, the tenant may immediately terminate the rental agreement upon written notice to the landlord which notice specifies the noncompliance.”
Source Link - 11 41 Okla. Stat. § 131 (2020)
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“If rent is unpaid when due, the landlord may bring an action for recovery of the rent at any time thereafter.”
Source Link - 12 Baptist General Convention v. Wright, 136 Okla. 150, 154 (Okla. 1929)
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“[A]ny disturbance of the tenant’s possession by the landlord or by some one under his authority, whereby the premises are rendered unfit for occupancy for the purpose for which they were demised, or the tenant is deprived of the beneficial enjoyment of the premises, amounts to a constructive eviction, if the tenant abandons the premises within a reasonable time… There can be no constructive eviction without a surrender of possession by the tenant; a tenant who continues to occupy the premises for an unreasonable length of time after the acts or omissions that constitute a constructive eviction waives the eviction and cannot thereafter abandon the premises and assert it.”
Source Link - 13 41 Okla. Stat. § 122(A)(1) (2020)
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“If the dwelling unit or premises are damaged or destroyed by fire or other casualty to an extent that enjoyment of the dwelling unit is substantially impaired, unless the impairment is caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a member of his family, his animal or pet or other person or animal on the premises with his consent, the tenant may immediately vacate the premises and notify the landlord in writing within one (1) week thereafter of his intention to terminate the rental agreement, in which case the rental agreement terminates as of the date of vacating.”
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