Need some advice. Never been through this before. Me and my fiancé rent a house. The past few months…
Need some advice. Never been through this before. Me and my fiancé rent a house. The past few months our electric bill has gone up an insane amount. We’re paying $300/month now and it just keeps going up. Our landlord had someone come check our A/C unit out. Basically the guy said the thing is damn near 30 years old...it needs to be replaced. It was clogged up, the fan outside wasn’t running at all, and it needs to be upgraded to a 2 ton. But if we get it replaced, our rent goes up. I don’t even know what to do at this point because either way we’re losing money now when none of this is our fault. Why should we have to pay her for replacing the unit? Does this sound right?
Queen Meeks·
You’re renting, so you absolutely should not have to pay her for replacing the unit. It’s her property and her responsibility to have the correct unit installed for her tenants. When you guys sign another lease with her (if you choose to), she could then increase your rent to offset the cost of replacing it, but otherwise no.
Justgotaname ·
If you have a current lease, they can’t just raise the rent in the middle I wouldn’t think.
Deleted·
Agree with the others. If you have signed a contract with the person, read it. Make sure there is nothing stating they can raise your rent. Plus, the home repair is HER responsibility. It comes out of HER pocket. She can NOT make you pay for her inability to replace it with her own money. If she refuses this either move or take her to court.
Starsnstripes·
Мама сына (1 год)
Thats not right. You're not running the apartments, she is. She needs to invest in her property because the A/C is not working and causing her tenants to lose money. Thats her responsibility. I'd report her to HUD.. look up your tenants rights, laws, protections for your state
Emily·
Thanks for the advice, ladies. Our lease is up in 2 months. We were planning on renewing the lease, but we’re not so sure anymore. I don’t think she’s trying to raise our rent before the lease is up, but I don’t want it getting raised at all. It just doesn’t seem fair, but hey, life isn’t fair. We’ve just lost so much money because of this damn A/C and I’m not trying to lose anymore. If it gets fixed, great. But all the extra money we were paying towards electric will now be going towards paying off the new A/C. Nah, I’m good. And believe me, I read our contract. They can’t raise rent and A/C is completely her responsibility. I understand she has to get her money back for it, but why should I have to give her a dime when we’ve already lost so much money because of this. @rainbow-baby, @lovelily, @justgotaname, @queenmeeks,
Lisa·
*****sorry, I wrote this earlier and never posted*****
You can ask her to replace it with one that is more cost efficient, but to be honest, they’re not required to. If it’s not cooling, that’s a different story... that means it’s not working.... somehow I’m thinking that this is a wall/window unit and not a big AC unit... 18 years is how long my moms lasted, and she took really good care of it.....
That being said, check your lease, if you have one. If you’re month to month, they could give you a 1 month notice of hike...
I don’t remember if Florida has a rule of how much %% hike landlords can change at once, or per year....
Lisa·
@emilymarie1357, If you were a good tenant, she may do it without too much of a hike, and may want to keep you. Is it a wall unit or main big unit? Also remember insurance rates have hiked.... and the last hurricane didn’t help matters now... I just had to find insurance on a rental house, and it’s more than I paid for insurance on my house.... and half the size....
Most landlords want to keep the good tenants, so it’s possible that if phrase it in a way, she may do it.....