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AC Maintenance Issue

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KDC

Junior Member
I rent an apartment in Columbus Ohio. Last summer (2014) my apartments Air Conditioner started to lose the ability to keep up with outside temperature. All of last summer and is continuing this season, when the out side temp goes about 80 degrees. my AC will run non-stop and as the outside temp rises to lets say 90 degrees, the ac running non-stop can only keep inside temp at about 79-82 degrees.

All of last summer and now starting today, maintenance has been here maybe a dozen times telling me its working fine. I complained to regional and their supervisor of maintenance came on a day the outside temp was 78 degrees meaning, the AC was working fine at that temp. The Supervisor of maintenance concluded the AC was working fine.

Now is the start of the warmer temperatures and the AC issue is unchanged. Today Maintenance came to look at it and again claims all is ok all the while standing there seeing the temp difference with his laser guage as well as my digital thermometer. His idea is, he will tell one of the other guys to come and check it again tomorrow after noon. In other words, the run-around continues from last year.

If the apartment complex drags their feet again this season, do I have any legal recourse to make them fix it or replace it?? Aside from that issue, I like living here and prefer to look at moving as a last resort.

Thanks for any help :)

Kevin
 


Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
The unit may be underpowered for the size of your rental or it may only be able to lower the temperature by a 10 degree difference between the inside and outside temperature as many units only can. The point is, if it comes on and runs...and management has responded to your requests to have it checked out, it's working. You cannot force them to replace the unit. Sometimes folks have an unrealistic expectation on how much lower the temperature a unit can provided between the inside and outside temperature.

To help cut electrical costs, have you considered a small window unit in your bedroom to run at night? They are not very expensive and most are built to be energy efficient nowadays.

Gail
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I think the OP is trying to say that the unit used to cool much better than it's cooling now...
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Possibly but he has no legal precedent to force management to get him a new unit. And from his posting, it appears that management has responded to his requests to address his concerns; just not to his satisfaction.

Perhaps if he continues to request repairs they may order a new unit if they get tired of hearing from him. Course they could also give him the option of the "happy clause" or simply not renew his lease if it's up for renewal or if he's on a month to month lease if they're tired of hearing from him.

Gail
 

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