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REASONABLE means like within a week. Not overnight or even necessarily 48 hours.
However as a responsible LL I own two things. One is a portable air conditioner that can be plugged in and vented through a window. The other is a point of use electric water heater. I can tie this into the hot or cold water lines of most of my properties using flexible PEX hose and heat at least a shower if not the whole house.
It's a lot cheaper than fighting with tenants or paying for hotels.
I own a few things... like a portable under-counter refrigerator, a couple of oil filled radiant heaters and always keep a spare water heater in the storeroom.
Then maybe you too should look into state landlord tenant laws and the habitability clauses, then read further to find the "within a reasonable time" clauses and then look further to see what has been adjudicated in civil courts. Cheers!
In NYC, it is required that landlords of rent regulated apartments provide hot water 24/7/365 and the tenant can apply for a rent reduction if it's not provided. They do have to file a report before they can apply for a reduction. I'm just throwing that out there. I grew up in a rent regulated apartment and remember seeing signs up occasionally that there will be no hot water between X and X for repairs or maintenance. It was a pain but these things happen.
I don't agree with running to report someone if something breaks and they are trying to fix it. Yes, it's a terrible, terrible inconvenience but if something needs to be replaced, it's not going to be finished in an hour. I will say that if I was a LL, I would definitely offer a rent reduction for the month so the tenant can use that money to offset having to go to the Y or the gym to shower for a few days. Things do happen though and being furious at the inconvenience is fine but running to authorities is unreasonable to me.
If he was ignoring the situation that would be something else entirely.
In NYC, it is required that landlords of rent regulated apartments provide hot water 24/7/365 and the tenant can apply for a rent reduction if it's not provided. They do have to file a report before they can apply for a reduction. I'm just throwing that out there. I grew up in a rent regulated apartment and remember seeing signs up occasionally that there will be no hot water between X and X for repairs or maintenance. It was a pain but these things happen.
I don't agree with running to report someone if something breaks and they are trying to fix it. Yes, it's a terrible, terrible inconvenience but if something needs to be replaced, it's not going to be finished in an hour. I will say that if I was a LL, I would definitely offer a rent reduction for the month so the tenant can use that money to offset having to go to the Y or the gym to shower for a few days. Things do happen though and being furious at the inconvenience is fine but running to authorities is unreasonable to me.
If he was ignoring the situation that would be something else entirely.
Not everyone belongs to a gym or Y, so that few bucks a day rent reduction is moot. A hotel room to shower in is much more costly than a few bucks a day. Also, what about washing dishes? A tenant should not be responsible for heating water on a stove to wash dishes. Hot water is part of what makes an apartment safe and habitable, and not supplying such puts a landlord in violation of the lease.
In the past as a tenant, I also got those notices about hot water being off for a period of time. But it was never for more than five or six hours at a time. There's a big difference between being notified in advance of not having hot water for a few hours, and without notice not having it for days on end.
I looked up what the law actually says about this for my state, which of course will be different than other states. In Idaho, if a landlord has refused necessary repair (of which availability of hot water is included, as it should be), the tenant has to send a written list of violations and requesting repairs. The landlord then has 3 days to do the repairs. If they don't, then the tenant can take them to court. So 3 days from written notice is the magic number in Idaho. Not 24 hours, not "immediately". Idaho considers 72 hours to be a reasonable time in which to effect "safety and health" repairs. No mention is made of any need to reimburse for damages (unless the landlord forces the tenant to take it all the way to court, at which point the judge would determine the amount) I would guess many other states are similar.
In this particular case, if the tenant opted to take it to court, first off, the judge would consider the fact that the problem was likely resolved before that point, and second of all, that the landlord had not refused to repair, and made a reasonable effort to repair correctly and reasonably quickly. They might grant a small amount to the tenant, but probably not much more than would cover court costs. Just my opinion.
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