whatthegeek
Junior Member
Located in: NJ
I live in a small four unit apartment building with two units upstairs and two downstairs. I've lived in this apartment for almost three years now. The first winter, we noticed that the heat didn't work well. In order to keep the apartment at a comfortable temperature, the heat had to be cranked to around 70 degrees. The thermometer on the thermostat did in fact reach the temperature the heat was set to, however, the thermostat is located in the center of the apartment. Two of the vents on the far end of the apartment actually blow air that ranges from slightly above room temperature to downright cold, depending on the outside temperature. If I had to guess, I'd say that most of the apartment isn't getting up to the temp that the thermostat is indicating, though I haven't put thermometers in each room yet to verify that.
That first winter, heating bills were around $400 a month for a small one bedroom apartment. With the dial set to 68 - 70, everyone in heating and air that I talked to said this was EXTREMELY unusual for an apartment this size, and the gas company admitted as much as well.
I approached the landlord about the issue as soon as I realized it was an issue, and he was actually pretty good about getting someone out to look at the heat. The heating guy found some small leaks in the gas line. The gas company also came out and replaced the meter. Shortly thereafter, the landlord sold the building to someone else. I told the new landlord what was going on, and in fact, so did another tenant who had been having similar problems. The new landlords promised to look into it, but never did. Despite constant verbal and written requests, they have yet to do anything about the problem. They did, however, fix the problem for the other unit having heating issues. The moved into one of the upstairs units (not the one with the problem, but the other unit) and chose to renovate their apartment, as well as replace the two upstairs heating units, while ignoring my issues. After last winter passed, and it came time to renew the lease, they still wouldn't agree to fix the heat, but due to financial restraints, I agreed to stay anyway. They did, in fact, raise the rent, despite not fixing the issue.
Last winter was spent with the heat at more like 63, and with a coat on indoors at most times. I only cranked the heat up on days when it was particularly cold, and even then, I only did so for a few hours at a time, and the bill still clocked in around $200 most months. The landlords are currently renovating another apartment in the building, and maintain that they just don't have the money to fix the heat.
If you got through all of that, hopefully you know whether or not there's something I can do about the situation legally. I'd rather not move if I don't have to, as I like the apartment itself, and the location, however, the heating situation is out of hand - I would just like to know if it's legally out of hand.
I live in a small four unit apartment building with two units upstairs and two downstairs. I've lived in this apartment for almost three years now. The first winter, we noticed that the heat didn't work well. In order to keep the apartment at a comfortable temperature, the heat had to be cranked to around 70 degrees. The thermometer on the thermostat did in fact reach the temperature the heat was set to, however, the thermostat is located in the center of the apartment. Two of the vents on the far end of the apartment actually blow air that ranges from slightly above room temperature to downright cold, depending on the outside temperature. If I had to guess, I'd say that most of the apartment isn't getting up to the temp that the thermostat is indicating, though I haven't put thermometers in each room yet to verify that.
That first winter, heating bills were around $400 a month for a small one bedroom apartment. With the dial set to 68 - 70, everyone in heating and air that I talked to said this was EXTREMELY unusual for an apartment this size, and the gas company admitted as much as well.
I approached the landlord about the issue as soon as I realized it was an issue, and he was actually pretty good about getting someone out to look at the heat. The heating guy found some small leaks in the gas line. The gas company also came out and replaced the meter. Shortly thereafter, the landlord sold the building to someone else. I told the new landlord what was going on, and in fact, so did another tenant who had been having similar problems. The new landlords promised to look into it, but never did. Despite constant verbal and written requests, they have yet to do anything about the problem. They did, however, fix the problem for the other unit having heating issues. The moved into one of the upstairs units (not the one with the problem, but the other unit) and chose to renovate their apartment, as well as replace the two upstairs heating units, while ignoring my issues. After last winter passed, and it came time to renew the lease, they still wouldn't agree to fix the heat, but due to financial restraints, I agreed to stay anyway. They did, in fact, raise the rent, despite not fixing the issue.
Last winter was spent with the heat at more like 63, and with a coat on indoors at most times. I only cranked the heat up on days when it was particularly cold, and even then, I only did so for a few hours at a time, and the bill still clocked in around $200 most months. The landlords are currently renovating another apartment in the building, and maintain that they just don't have the money to fix the heat.
If you got through all of that, hopefully you know whether or not there's something I can do about the situation legally. I'd rather not move if I don't have to, as I like the apartment itself, and the location, however, the heating situation is out of hand - I would just like to know if it's legally out of hand.