Air Conditioner is out - landlord will not fix - help!

[justme68154]

Nebraska.

Hello! Over the past 4 or 5 months, and for a few months last year, my air conditioner wasn't working. They landlord is very cheap and will not have a company come out to replace or repair it, but rather, he uses one particular contractor that is never, ever available. He tried installing a window unit to get me by, but it wouldn't cool my entire apartment, and it caused my electric bill to soar, and let bugs inside.

My AC crapped out on me again 3 days ago, and now it's getting to the point where it's in the upper 80's in my apartment, even if I keep the windows open with fans going for circulation. I have a few health issues, so super high heat is not good for me. I'm also a student and work from home, so I have to be here. I can't afford to get this fixed on my own.
I called my landlord yesterday and left him a voicemail. His crazy wife called me and said that they were out of town and couldn't have it looked at for another week. I explained that this has been happening for far too long, and that I rented an apartment with central air conditioning, and that they are not maintaining the central AC that I was paying for. She told me she was done discussing it and hung up.

What are my options here? For what it's worth, I'm currently month to month as my lease was up a few months ago and nobody asked me to re-sign anything. Some people have suggested having someone come to repair it and sending them the bill, but I don't know if they want money upfront (I have none), and I'm sure that they would give me a 30 day notice for doing that.
Please help!

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Your options are outlined in the attached below. And "repair and deduct" are not one of them:

https://www.landlordology.com/nebraska-landlord-tenant-laws/

From the attached the landlord has 14 days to address the issue. They have indicated looking at this sooner.

Couple of things to keep in mind.....As the attached states, the landlord must keep the air in good working condition. However, there is NOTHING in the statute that states this means central air. And it untrue that one window unit would cause an electrical bill to "soar"; in fact, the opposite would be true in regards to the cost of one window unit versus an entire central air unit.

You indicate you have a month to month tenancy at this time. Unless your lease states a shorter period of time required to terminate this you should be able to end it with the appropriate 30 day notice if this ongoing issue is enough to wish you to do this.

Duties

76-1419. Landlord to maintain fit premises

(1) The landlord shall:

(a) Substantially comply, after written or actual notice, with the requirements of the applicable minimum housing codes materially affecting health and safety;

(b) Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary, after written or actual notice, to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition;

(c) Keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition;

(d) Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him or her;

(e) Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish, and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit and arrange for their removal from the appropriate receptacle; and

(f) Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times and reasonable heat except where the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose, or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection.

Good luck...

Gail

 

[justme68154]

[QUOTE
Couple of things to keep in mind.....As the attached states, the landlord must keep the air in good working condition. However, there is NOTHING in the statute that states this means central air. And it untrue that one window unit would cause an electrical bill to "soar"; in fact, the opposite would be true in regards to the cost of one window unit versus an entire central air unit.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the information. I'll probably just have to save up for a couple of months and move out, I guess.

And yes, the window unit did cause my bill to go up quite a bit. Running a window unit 24/7, even on a new, efficient model, is going to be about $120/month. My central AC didn't need to run 24/7 as it evenly and quickly cooled the apartment. My electric bill jumped up about $65 or so.

If windows units did an equal job and cost less, everybody would just use those.

I'm going to try to find an attorney that does free consultations this week. Someone on a local forum said he had a similar situation, and his lawyer argued that he rented a place with central air conditioning, so that's what he should have been getting. He said the judge ordered 3 months rent and the security deposit returned to the former tenant.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Since it appears you didn't read the link I posted on statutes regarding repairs, I'll include it here:

"Tenant Allowed to Repair and Deduct Rent: No. Tenant remedies for landlord’s failure to make repairs in violation of statutory Landlord Duties include:
giving written notice to landlord that tenant will terminate the lease 30 days from the date of the notice if landlord does not fix the problem within 14 days;
contacting a local housing code enforcement agency (if any);
notifying landlord in writing that landlord needs to fix the problem within 14 days or tenant will pursue other legal remedies. See Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Landlord and Tenant Handbook for more details."

Your initial posting did NOT say that the landlord refused to address the air conditioning issue but rather that it couldn't be looked at for another week. That repair would still be within the 14 day deadline.

Gail

 

[justme68154]

Since it appears you didn't read the link I posted on statutes regarding repairs, I'll include it here:

"Tenant Allowed to Repair and Deduct Rent: No. Tenant remedies for landlord’s failure to make repairs in violation of statutory Landlord Duties include:
giving written notice to landlord that tenant will terminate the lease 30 days from the date of the notice if landlord does not fix the problem within 14 days;
contacting a local housing code enforcement agency (if any);
notifying landlord in writing that landlord needs to fix the problem within 14 days or tenant will pursue other legal remedies. See Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Landlord and Tenant Handbook for more details."

Your initial posting did NOT say that the landlord refused to address the air conditioning issue but rather that it couldn't be looked at for another week. That repair would still be within the 14 day deadline.

Gail

I read everything that was posted. I'm not sure what you're trying to convey. I stated in my original post that this has been an issue since last year. My landlord isn't going to hustle to finish anything with a 14 day notice - they'll likely just give me a 30 day notice to vacate as my lease is over and I'm month to month. The problem is that I can't move right now because I couldn't afford to pay a full month of rent plus a deposit upfront to move somewhere else. So I basically am at the landlord's mercy, though it seems that it's possible that I can try to recover previous rent, though that process will likely take a couple of months and doesn't really help me in the meantime.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"they'll likely just give me a 30 day notice to vacate as my lease is over and I'm month to month."

Yes; it is possible they might consider this since you now have a month to month tenancy. This forum cannot guess if the landlord might consider this.

Gail