Warren County, New Jersey
We are a family of six renting a single family home heated by an oil furnace and hot water radiators. The landlord passed away last year and the "Estate" is managed by a local law firm. Since I am unemployed, it took a few months to save for a minimum delivery of 150 gallons of heating oil. Before firing up the furnace for the first time this season, I requested that the furnace be serviced, especially since I saw a wet area around the furnace. I was given a number of a service tech, however he never returned my calls. Almost a week later, I was told to pick someone out of the phonebook. Five days later, a technician inspected the furnace and said the boiler needed to be replaced. The law firm sent someone else (of their choosing) the next day for a second opinion. He also said the furnace had to be replaced, but suggested that the replacement be made with a natural gas furnace. We're told the work "may" start in another five days, or four days before Christmas. We've also been told that the 150 gallons of oil is our loss since we shouldn't have ordered the fuel with the furnace being inspected, but the company doing the work would be willing take it off our hands for $ .25/gallon. No relief has been offered for attempting to heat two bedrooms with electric heaters. One can see their breath in the rest of the house, and I'm assuming it's somewhere in the 40's F.
Does anyone know how long we legally can go without heat? It's been over two weeks, and will likely be one more before the new furnace goes online.
We are a family of six renting a single family home heated by an oil furnace and hot water radiators. The landlord passed away last year and the "Estate" is managed by a local law firm. Since I am unemployed, it took a few months to save for a minimum delivery of 150 gallons of heating oil. Before firing up the furnace for the first time this season, I requested that the furnace be serviced, especially since I saw a wet area around the furnace. I was given a number of a service tech, however he never returned my calls. Almost a week later, I was told to pick someone out of the phonebook. Five days later, a technician inspected the furnace and said the boiler needed to be replaced. The law firm sent someone else (of their choosing) the next day for a second opinion. He also said the furnace had to be replaced, but suggested that the replacement be made with a natural gas furnace. We're told the work "may" start in another five days, or four days before Christmas. We've also been told that the 150 gallons of oil is our loss since we shouldn't have ordered the fuel with the furnace being inspected, but the company doing the work would be willing take it off our hands for $ .25/gallon. No relief has been offered for attempting to heat two bedrooms with electric heaters. One can see their breath in the rest of the house, and I'm assuming it's somewhere in the 40's F.
Does anyone know how long we legally can go without heat? It's been over two weeks, and will likely be one more before the new furnace goes online.