RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Frustrated Renter, Landlord Problems » Broken Furnace for 1.5 weeks – Rent adjustment?

Broken Furnace for 1.5 weeks – Rent adjustment?

By Als

So my two roommates and I discovered that our furnace was broken a week ago Friday. We contacted our landlord and he had a repairman out that day. The repairman told our landlord and us that the furnace needed replacing. The furnace was turning itself off but we could manually turn it back on to maintain the heat in our home, something we had to do every 45 minutes to raise the inside temp from 50 degrees to a comfortable 68. Over night and when we weren’t home to turn it back on, the heat would drop back to 50 degrees. 

Our landlord did not want to replace the furnace so he called another repair company to come in Monday, who told him the same thing. He chose to wait to order a new unit and even asked us after 3 days of a broken furnace if it happened to have "fixed itself". Finally he ordered the new unit, but according to him, the repair place is backed up and cannot install the new furnace until Monday. Totalling 12 days with either no heat or manually going outside to restart the furnace every 45 minutes.
The only help he’s offered us were three tiny space heaters to heat our two-level, three bedroom town-home. They cannot even be run all at once since they blow a fuse. Not to mention the electric bill will certainly reflect the space heaters having to be run often over 12 days.
Is it acceptable to ask for a rent adjustment due to these nearly unlivable conditions (temps have been in the 20s and 30s here)? If so how to go about it and what’s acceptable to ask?
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YARPP

Edited on: Friday, April 12th, 2013 11:02 am
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One Response to “Broken Furnace for 1.5 weeks – Rent adjustment?”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Marco

April 12th, 2013 11:12 pm

My suggestion is to go ahead and talk to the landlord as nicely as possible. Present your case and ask for the adjustment.

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