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Our a/c stopped cooling in the middle of the night last night. We are renting a house so I emailed our landlord this morning to let him know. He said he couldn't get anyone out until Monday to fix it. With the heat index forcasted tomorrow for 115 I didn't want to wait until Monday so I called a couple technicians. I talked again to the landlord to let him know I found someone to come out. Basically, he didn't want to pay the extra weekend charge so was going to push it off. I told him I was willing to pay the difference if that's what it would take to get my a/c fixed.
I've only rented apartments before when I was first out of school and I've never had this problem. There was usually someone on staff at the apartment complex that came out right away. For the last 15 years I've owned my own homes, but the economy and some major medical bills forced us to relocate and rent for a little while. Is this a normal way for a landlord to respond? What have other people's experiences been?
I have no experience but I think it is totally unreasonable for your landlord to expect you to go without A/C in this weather. You rented a house with central air and are entitled to have central air. Too bad for him it broke on a weekend when the cost to repair is at a premium. The onus is on him. Tell him you'll gladly go to an air conditioned hotel at HIS expense.
I think this post really belongs under the "Renting" category.
If you decide to go ahead and get the A/C repaired yourself, I think you probably should send something to your landlord in writing, including all of the information you've told us in your post. Keep a copy for your own records, of course. Maybe even send it certified, just to cover yourself later on...this way, your landlord can't say he didn't receive it.
Your landlord is a jerk. I had one landlord who would have done the same thing, not wanting to pay the weekend premium. We had our fridge die on a Friday and she did not respond to our call until the following Tuesday. I'm glad you have the resources to pay for the repair first and then bill your landlord. It is unreasonable for him to expect you to wait out a 115 degree weekend! Of course keep all receipts, etc.
I only offered to pay for the weekend premium, not the whole bill. Now I regret offering him that. I thought maybe it was standard practice to drag his heels on the weekend. But then I looked at my lease and it said all repairs would be fixed promptly. So, I'll pay it this time, but as soon as my lease is up, I'm moving.
WOW! I've owned rental properties for close to 10 years, and just learned something that I probably should have already known.
According to NC General Statutes, lack of air conditioning is NOT an emergency condition. Lack of ability to heat a home to 65 degrees when the outside temp is 20 degrees does constitute an emergency.
General Statute 42-42 outlines fit premises to be provided by the landlord.
Just last Friday afternoon, one of our tenants called to say the a/c was out and it was almost 95 degrees in the house. He had already called around and had been told by 3 repair companies that it would be MONDAY before they could schedule anyone to make the repair. Our tenant was just beside himself, as was I. Fortunately, we have a relationship with an HVAC company already established, and they were out to the house with in an hour. We were extremely grateful for the speedy repair.
Even if the law doesn't require something be done in a speedy manner, common decency should.
As landlords, my husband and I are grateful to the families who rent our properties. Our tenants stay with us as long as they can. We've had one family now for 7 years, and another for 4 years. Yesterday, a past tenant called to see if we had any vacancies as she is back in the area and looking for a place. She called us first because she knew we would take good care of her.
Taking care of the repairs, and maintaining the property helps retain good folks as tenants - that's just good business sense.
I am neither a landlord or tenant, but I tend to agree that this is NOT an emergency and if a serviceman comes on Monday that would be great. Humans survived for many years without AC and while you might not enjoy it, having a tech come on the next business day is pretty darn good. Yes, it would be great if he had someone come out at midnight, but in any legal sense, he is making a REASONABLE effort to get the place up and running and any effort and expense to fight it would probably be a waste.
I never thought it was an emergency. I lived in an old farmhouse without insulation, heating with wood (that we chopped ourselves) before we lived here. I'm used to living rough. But I am paying for a house with central a/c and HIS lease agreement says he will fix anything that is broken 'promptly'. The definition of promptly is 'swiftly, rapidly, quickly, without delay'. Waiting until Monday to even make the phone call is not being faithful to that agreement.
I never thought it was an emergency. I lived in an old farmhouse without insulation, heating with wood (that we chopped ourselves) before we lived here. I'm used to living rough. But I am paying for a house with central a/c and HIS lease agreement says he will fix anything that is broken 'promptly'. The definition of promptly is 'swiftly, rapidly, quickly, without delay'. Waiting until Monday to even make the phone call is not being faithful to that agreement.
Your side seems to be drifting a bit. In your original post you said the landlord said he couldn't get anybody there before Monday, now you are saying he didn't make the call and wasn't going to until Monday. Which is it? Or are you just guessing he didn't call yet?
Well, in my last post I said that waiting until Monday would have been the wrong thing to do and in violation of his lease agreement. Once I told the landlord I would be willing to pay the difference in cost for a weekend service call he told me to go ahead and schedule it, which I did. The hvac people came out and found that the compressor is blown and it'll cost about $2k to fix it. Landlord wants to call around and get some other quotes before he drops that kind of money. Understandable...but now I'll still be without a/c for a handful of days at least.
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A landlord's reply
