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will be renting for the first time. The unit has two AC window units. Are these secure? Can't someone just pull them out. Or worse yet push them in to get into the apartment? Or are there usually window locks to stop the window from opening higher than just enough to hold the units? I only saw the apartment once a while ago.
And if the unit does get stolen, THEY have to replace it right? Also same with if it stops working? One of the units was left by a previous tenant, but normally doesn't come with their apartments. Are they obligated to maintain that one as well. I.e. aren't they obligated to maintain all the things I saw when I got the apartment - that those are the things that are technically part of the lease contract, because that's what I consented to/expected when I got the apartment?
Except for the security portion of it. Its not too hard to fix up a window so that the AC cannot be removed without doing extensive damage to the window-glass and frame.
any more details on how to do that with a window AC?
Has the LL told you he *won't* make the window and the unit secure?
Ask.
There are lots of ways to do it but any of the ones that actually work will require hardware secured to his woodwork.
In the event you do it yourself... google.
if the window a/c were left from the previous tenant, the tenants either didnt need them or felt it was too much of a bother to take them. It is probably not the responsibility of the LL.
Read the lease. It should list appliances and how many window units are included. If the previous tenants left the window unit behind, the LL can exclude responsibility for care and maintenance. It needs to be in the lease. Read it.
As for security, check with the LL if the window units are secure, that much the LL is responsible for because that is part of the security of the unit.
so people are saying "look at your lease". Well people, and I was pretty sure about this before even you guys said it, just beacuse something is in a lease contract doesn't mean it holds. Landlords have to maintain a property, period, and respond in a timely manner. Furthermore, if the don't, you can deduct any changes you make and spend money on from the rent. There are plenty of clauses in my contract that say that it's all up to the landlord's discretion, but they aren't enforceable. They still have to provide me with a livable area. For example, I already knew there is a law out there on the NJ books that explicitly says that LL's have to provide like 72 degrees at least during the winter.
On the AC unit specifically, the "truth in renting" handbook they have to give you says:
"As to air conditioning, the Superior Court, Appellate Division has held that air conditioning that is part of the original tenancy may be considered a "vital facility," and air conditioning failure effects the habitability of the premises.
And the more general not about landlords having to provide a livable space I also got from the handbook. Though the 72 degrees thing I knew about before even renting.
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The site I mean. Did you do that?
