is this reasonable RE: renting a home/repairs

[megs4413]

My BFF is currently renting a home. It's a friend of a friend situation and the "landlord" has been difficult and unprofessional the entire time they've been there (which is about to years now.) The a/c unit in the home leaks every summer. Every summer, the landlord sends out a friend of hers to "fix" it. It is leaking again this week. My friend is 8 months pregnant and it's 100+ outside right now. The landlord is out of town and her friend is unavailable until tomorrow (made aware of the problem yesterday) and she is asking my friend to turn off the air and leave it off until the repair person arrives tomorrow. My friend is unwilling to do that in her current state of "super-pregnant" and has asked that either she be able to leave it on OR the landlord provide a refund for a night at a reasonably priced local hotel. The landlord is calling my friend totally unreasonable. Do you think this is totally out of line to request? I know we have some posters here who rent out houses, so I wondered if there was any insight. TIA!

[BunnyBee]

Going to depend on state/local landlord/tenant laws. If this has been going on for years, they could've gotten it written into the lease. If she wants to renew her lease next time, I'd consider adding that.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Her requests seem totally reasonable to me but I'm not a landlord.


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[bisous]

Does the leak cause damage? Is that why she can't run it? I think it sounds unreasonable to have no AC in 100 degree temps. So I think your friend sounds reasonable. If the LL could have a 24 hour window to fix it, could your friend get by by visiting establishments with AC for a day?

[boolady]

nevermind.

[gatorsmom]

Any updates? I'm curious to see how it turned out.

As a landlord, we have had similar situations happen (sewer backed up into the basment, heater went out during a very cold stretch, etc.), and if we couldn't get it fixed right away or it was unsafe, we put the family in a hotel until it was done. While it's true that you really only have to look to see how things are handled in the lease (and it's important to know local laws and statutes regarding renting), idk, we just thought it was important to treat people how we would want to be treated. Granted, the hotels weren't 5 star joints but they were safe and clean. And we got the repairs done quickly.

If the a/c is listed in any way on the lease as an amenity OR simply if it has always been part of the property (iow, it's not a relatively new window unit), then the tenants would expect to have use of it. If the landlord isn't repairing something the tenant has always had use of, the tenant could say that the lease isn't being upheld and could withhold payment of the rent. That was explained to us by our lawyer 10 years ago. We had a related situation. A previous tenant left a/c window boxes in one of our apartments. It would have cost too much to install central air so we told potential tenants there was no a/c but they were welcome to use the window boxes until they stopped working and they could purchase and install their own. A tenant complained that we needed to provide a/c when the boxes stopped working and threatened to sue us. But we stipulated in the lease that a/c wasn't an amenity that we were providing and that protected us. Hth

[MamaMolly]

LL is being unreasonable. If the 'fix-it friend' can't come then the LL should find someone else, immediately.
It isn't healthy for anyone to be in temps that high, much less a woman who is that heavily pregnant.
If I were the renter I'd tell the LL to get someone out now, or that I'd take the cost of a hotel room off the next month's rent.

I have been a renter and am currently a LL.

[megs4413]

So some answers to some questions and an update:

-there is no lease. The landlord said she was going to have them sign one, but she never did. This is not a professional landlord situation. it's a friend of a friend renting out a house. Obviously, it's not ideal.

-using the A/C causes further damage, which is why the LL requested that it be turned off. The water is rising and extending. It has damaged some of my friend's possessions at this point (minor stuff, but still a big bummer.)

-the LL only uses friends to fix stuff. I'm assuming as a cost-saving thing. That's why it has to be this one specific company. My friend requested that she either send out a different company who could come right away or be allowed to leave the air on until the repair company does come.

So the update is that the LL relented to letting my friend continue to run the a/c even though it's flooding the house. So all told from calling to let her know it was leaking, to the repair people's EXPECTED arrival (they aren't there yet) it's about 48 hours. it's better than the 4 days the LL originally requested.

My friend is looking for another place ASAP. Her big concern is that the LL will keep the deposit out of spite and it will be hard for them to forfeit that much money. It's also really daunting to try a last minute move when you're 6 weeks away from your induction with 3 and 1 year old children already at home.

[niccig]

Ugh, I feel for your friend. We once rented a house from someone DH used to work with, who had moved out of state. We did have a lease etc, but it was such a PITA as the owner didn't treat it as a landlord/renter relationship and would expect us to do things/allow things because she was an acquaintance of DH. Your friend is right to move as soon as possible. DH kept telling me to be nice and bite my tongue until we got our deposit back, which I did. Then after moving, getting deposit, returning keys, the owner emailed asking us to be at her house to let plumber in etc. DH wrote a much more diplomatic letter than I would've done telling her that we no longer lived there, no longer had any keys and had our home to be at for repair people etc.

Tell your friend to keep being nice until they get their money back.

[BunnyBee]

So some answers to some questions and an update:

-there is no lease. The landlord said she was going to have them sign one, but she never did. This is not a professional landlord situation. it's a friend of a friend renting out a house. Obviously, it's not ideal.

-using the A/C causes further damage, which is why the LL requested that it be turned off. The water is rising and extending. It has damaged some of my friend's possessions at this point (minor stuff, but still a big bummer.)

-the LL only uses friends to fix stuff. I'm assuming as a cost-saving thing. That's why it has to be this one specific company. My friend requested that she either send out a different company who could come right away or be allowed to leave the air on until the repair company does come.

So the update is that the LL relented to letting my friend continue to run the a/c even though it's flooding the house. So all told from calling to let her know it was leaking, to the repair people's EXPECTED arrival (they aren't there yet) it's about 48 hours. it's better than the 4 days the LL originally requested.

My friend is looking for another place ASAP. Her big concern is that the LL will keep the deposit out of spite and it will be hard for them to forfeit that much money. It's also really daunting to try a last minute move when you're 6 weeks away from your induction with 3 and 1 year old children already at home.

There's a deposit but no lease? Google landlord tenant laws for her state, specifically tenancy at will or tenant at will. Find out how she needs to give notice of leaving the property for her location. She should document document document everything in writing. Do something in writing to commemorate the agreement re: running a/c and damage and everything. Landlord can't just keep the deposit out of spite. There are legal remedies for that IF she follows the law on her end.