Re: Is it legal to require communication in English?

Re: Is it legal to require communication in English? by original poster (GA) on June 21, 2012 @20:25

The family is Korean. When they contacted us about the house, and ultimately signed a lease, they brought their own interpreter who was a friend in the Korean community. We have not seen him since.

We have no doubt that the family clearly understood the lease at the time they signed it. They had no problem getting their interpreter on site and communicating with us when they wanted to move in our house, get rent discounts, etc.

Now that there is damage caused by neglect of tenant, communication is impossible. They are not trying now. I don't know any Korean interpreters in my area of Georgia. I shouldn't have to hire a professional translator at heaven knows what rate to simply make an appointment to have the sheetrock installers come over to fix the damage. Multiply by workers in five different trades.

We have been advised to work through family's snotty niece, who sounds about twenty five. She keeps whining about how slow we are on repairs, and yet it's impossible to make appointments. Family insists on being home when we come to work. Plus, they have vicious dog in violation of lease that attacked me when I came over to let workers in and supervise work so we could simply get on with it.

(I'm the "hot water heater" "dog attack" landlord in various threads) (yes, I know we rented to the wrong people)

The dog is going, immediately. Renters may or may not go. They are on probation of sorts with us. They have always paid on time, and if dog leaves and no more damage, it is in our best interests to let them stay. One more wall busted, though, and they're out as far as I'm concerned.

My question is for future. We greatly regret trying to work this family,a nd we want to know if we must rent to people who cannot communicate in English as a matter of law.

If I chose to go to Korea and chose to sign a Korean contract with a landlord who clearly did not speak English, I would feel pretty stupid demanding after I was in the house that all communication suddenly take place in Korean, but that seems to be what is happening as a practical effect to us.

I just don't want the next person screaming discrimination and suing me. I'm not sure landlording is for me.

Thanks,

K

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Re: Is it legal to require communication in English? by ooriginal poster (ga) on June 21, 2012 @20:30	[ Reply ]

"If I chose to go to Korea and chose to sign a Korean contract with a landlord who clearly did not speak English, I would feel pretty stupid demanding after I was in the house that all communication suddenly take place in Korean, but that seems to be what is happening as a practical effect to us. " Sorry, mistyped. I would feel stupid suddenly insisting that all business be conducted in English in a situation where I knew only Korean was spoken. I'm all for immigrants, but some of the laws, judges, and lawyers in this arena are insane! Do they speak 12 languages fluently? Then why do some of them expect landlords to be able to do this?

Re: Is it legal to require communication in English? by Anonymous on June 21, 2012 @22:32	[ Reply ]

Well, lesson learned. I hope this isn't a culture where they eat dog. Maybe get look for an online translator thingy where you type in a phrase in English, select the language you want, and it spits out an apporximation.

Re: Is it legal to require communication in English? by Shelly (NM) on June 25, 2012 @16:21	[ Reply ]

Go to Google translate online and write them a detailed notice in English and translate to Korean. Print it out, give it to them with a smile. Tell them in the note that their response must be in English (they can do the same thing, write it in Korean and have it translate to English).