LL Tenant Law - No AC - help! (Denver: apartment, rent)

[RoseWeber92]

I live in Denver.


My AC is broken and my LL said his maintenance guy is on vacation.
And there's nothing he can do.


It's too hot!


What are my options? Is he really allowed to not take any action?

[SkyDog77]

Call him and tell him that it's unacceptable and that you will hire someone else and send him the bill. Start there and see what he says.

[RoseWeber92]

OK - I'll try that. He's not being very helpful so far. Just says I have to wait.

[2bindenver]

read A Colorado Tenant

air conditioning not on the list.

[Pesare]

That has happened to me before where I had to wait a few days for my landlord to fix my AC.
Because of making me wait a few days he discounted $100 off of my rent.
If you can live without AC, I am assuming you have to wait a few days until his maintenance guy comes back I would talk to your landlord to see if he will give you a discount on your rent for the inconvenience.
Usually my landlord though is pretty quick in sending somebody to fix any issue.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

read A Colorado Tenant

air conditioning not on the list.

The list is not exclusive:

This is not an exclusive list. Other conditions that make an apartment or home unsuitable to live in could count as an uninhabitable condition. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-12-505.

It can get so hot that it is dangerous inside your house, but I don't know if there is a set temperature. You might want to call the city or county to find out. My guess is that temps need to be above 90 degrees inside for this discussion to even take place.

[davidv]

Right now it is only 80 degrees in my non-air conditioned house. There are strategies you can use to cool down you and your house cheaply so that it is more comfortable. Until your air conditioning gets fixed, you should:

Buy a box fan or two (they are less than $20 at Target) and a spray bottle. If you have a cool mist humidifier, that works too. See if your landlord will buy them for you. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Your temperature inside the house will be hottest between 11 am and 11 pm. Keep your windows shut during this time. Use the fans indoors, but they will provide no cooling by themselves unless they are pointed at you.

If you have a cool mist humidifier, fill it with ice water and run it behind the fan. The fan will blow the mist and cool the temperature of the room. You could also soak a thin piece of cloth or even a clean furnace filter in cold water and put it behind the fan. The air has to be able to pass through. Or you can spritz water from a spray bottle behind the fan. It's a cheap version of a swamp cooler.

During the daytime, do not let the sun shine directly through any window. Close the curtains before this happens or you'll get a greenhouse affect.

After 10 - 11 pm, open your windows and put a box fan in the window to blow in cooler air. Leave it there overnight. You can turn on your bathroom fan to help blow out warm air if you wish.

These are all stopgap measures that will cool you down until the a/c is fixed.