No hot water for a week. What are my options?

[SteelCityRising]

Our furnace died last Winter during a Polar Vortex. We were freezing. After receiving comparable estimates we paid AirPro out of O'Hara Township to come and install a new ignition system, paid for it, and then deducted it from the next month's rent check, which included a copy of the receipt for work performed. Our landlady didn't care. She was probably just happy we took care of it ourselves as quickly and cheaply as possible.

[HarryRSpooner]

You did the right thing. Most landladies and landlords should salute a tenant proactively making a repair. Not all tenants can afford to shell out the money. There is a misconception that landlords secretly get excited when a problem arises in one of their properties and that somehow all landlords are rich. Nothing could be further from the truth in many, but not all cases.

[Copanut]

I took care of things when I was a tenant and have been fortunate to have tenants now that do the same. If you treat people with respect you usually get the same in return.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by crae09

lol i like your sarcasm, but even if was 105 degrees i still wouln't take a freezing cold shower. i pay rent to not have to do so. Thanks for the laugh in the midst of my frustration though.

I did it for a month just to challenge myself and actually it wasn't that bad. It sounds like the landlord did give you the option to go to a hotel, so it's not like he's leaving you completely high and dry no pun intended.

BTW, I also bathed out of a bucket outside when it was 40 to 60 degrees for 6 weeks while doing work in the mountains of southern Mexico. It's really no big deal.

[HarryRSpooner]

Copanut is exactly right on the money. I find the screening process is essential. You also have to ask yourself: do I really want to deal with this person through thick and thin? Is this someone that is going to be a troublemaker and call the authorities when a light bulb goes out or are they a bit more reasonable? Sometimes landlords deserve the bad tenants they get and bad tenants deserve the deadbeat landlords they get.

[guy2073]

It doesn't matter how the tenant treats the landlord, I don't care how my tenants act towards me, as long as my property is safe, the rent is paid, and they live up to the terms of the lease, there are alot of mean miserable people out there, they deserve a place to live to, but there is no way the op should have lived without hot water for more than 24 hours. That is a basic need and your landlord should have been ashamed of himself. In pa a tenant has the right to fix a problem and deduct it off the rent.

[HarryRSpooner]

Houses aren't perfect and sometimes unfavorable things happen. Sometimes tenants cause damage whether they are aware of it or not. Tenants cannot expect a Landlord to respond in split seconds. 24 hours without hot water is not a good or defensible response time. My concern is when tenants take advantage of a situation to simply not pay rent. From my experience I seldom ever have issues at the properties where tenants pay on time. But magically, when a tenant is short a few bucks or doesn't have the rent they are so quick to point out every single solitary flaw to justify their own lack of responsibility.

Sure sometimes things happen and sometimes you work with an otherwise good tenant. But I can tell you from having done this is several states for way too long, problems begat problems and I care very much how I am treated. After all, I'm entrusting someone with a piece of property worth a lot of money.

[Copanut]

I posted a few weeks back that my furnace went out during the sub-zero weather and I could not get a repairman here for 2 days. It was not pleasant, but not life threatening. If the same thing happened when I was a tenant I probably would have reacted the same, got a bunch of space heaters and stayed in one room. I'm not downplaying the lack of hot water being an inconvenience, but I do believe this country is becoming a nation of pansies. No offense, SCR.

[HarryRSpooner]

Which brings up another point. Landlords are sometimes pennywise and pound foolish. Space heaters are notoriously dangerous. I always make certain furnaces and hot water tanks run amazing before winter sets in. Even then, there are no guarantees and tenants need to realize that Landlords don't secretly seek to sabotage these devices to create drama.

[SammyKhalifa]

when my water heater died it exploded water all over the floor into my bedroom. At like 4 AM.

luckily they were pretty good replacing it that morning.