My landlord has ignored all my attempts to remove violations: court orders, requests over several years. The building manager will make small repairs like caulking cracks in the ceiling while the walls have not been painted in 17 years ...
In response I withheld part of the rent incrementally and then withheld all. Nothing works.
I'm awaiting a response in the form of a nonpayment proceeding at some point.
At each step in withholding rent I informed the landlord that I will pay rent again once all repairs have been made.
My question: Since I made rent paying conditional on repairs made, could I still claim laches as a defense?
Yaga