so i had a tenant who is pulling a hissy fit...

She emailed me around 11:30pm to tell me her ac is out. And she emailed me again at 7am... she also says she called me 3-4 times this morning..

however... she knows i work til around 5am and i never check emails before noon... and my cell does NOT have any missed calls...

so i actually talked to her around 10am and she's pissed because i cannot find an AC repair guy immediately and on memorial day...

she has an alaskan husky that she says can't take the heat if its over 100 degrees.... and i checked and it's averaging 73-4 degrees at night... so i dont thinks she's running the stove at night, so no idea why it would be hot inside... dont think she's being truthful as she says her thermometer inside the house was over 95 last night...

so.. she bought an ac window unit and installed it.. also probably cracking a window while installing it, but she says it was there before she moved in, but its not on the inspection form she filled out when she moved in..

so she says im obligated to fix it immediately cause it is life threatening.... i told her that it has to be above 95 inside and dont know if thats for elderly people or what, and i told her the average temperature is 73-4 degrees at night..... she's about 25 years old, not elderly..... my wife grew up without any ac at all...so... dunno..

ive told her that i will have an ac person there in the early afternoon tomorrow... Ive spoken to my guy and thats confirmed.... he just cant come on memorial day, and other ac people won't even answer their phones...

she's still mad...

what's your opinion?

i told her im trying my absolute best...

so what happens if a tornado rips out the electrical, but doesnt damage the house.. and she's without power for weeks.. my insurance should pay for her to have a place, if we can find one that allows large dogs, i think.... but im unsure on that... doubt any hotel will allow huge dogs....

d

This is a good learning experience for her...if she ever owns a home one day and the A/C goes down on a Sunday or Holiday, she will face the same situation in that it is hardly ever an instantaneous fix.

You are doing your best. The heat is obviously frustrating her but you are on top of it so she will have to learn there is a process.

Even if it was an emergency prior to the window unit installation, how is the inside temp in the room with the window unit still above 95?

that language says ordinarily, not never. he hasn't confirmed what the temp was. he only has her word and an educated guess. that's not crystal clear to me.

it sounds like he is trying to get it repaired but i agree he doesn't sound particularly motivated to do so either.

dubi said:

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expresswrittenconsent said:

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It doesnt really sound like you are coming close to trying your absolute best.
Now, it also sounds like you are doing what you are required to do, so I dont think you are in the wrong, but again, words have meaning and this seems pretty far from anyones absolute best.

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Absolute best would be a penthouse hotel room?

Seriously he has met the legal requirements of a Texas lease. She needs to suck it up or get a hotel room. There are BCS hotels that accept pets.

It is very hard to get repairs on a holiday weekend.

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do the words confuse you, also? Hell my post specifically said it sounds like he has met his obligations and is not in the wrong. But the minimum legal requirements of a Texas lease are not the same thing as doing everything you can. Are you really disputing this?

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she says im obligated to fix it immediately cause it is life threatening.... i told her that it has to be above 95 inside and dont know if thats for elderly people or what, and i told her the average temperature is 73-4 degrees at night..... she's about 25 years old, not elderly.

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https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.92.htm

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Sec. 92.052. LANDLORD'S DUTY TO REPAIR OR REMEDY. (a) A landlord shall make a diligent effort to repair or remedy a condition if:
(1) the tenant specifies the condition in a notice to the person to whom or to the place where rent is normally paid;
(2) the tenant is not delinquent in the payment of rent at the time notice is given; and
(3) the condition:
(A) materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant;

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The question is "what defines 'diligent effort'?" and "what constitutes 'affects the physical health or safety'?"

If it's really 95 degrees, I would get her a motel for tonight (assuming the A/C guy is coming tomorrow). It's probably more like 82 degrees at night, though, which she should be able to put up with until tomorrow with a fan.

I think you are handling it as best you can and the tenant has to understand. I had a landlord that had a home warranty. That process was beyond ordinary. You wait a week for them to come out go service then wait weeks for the part to come in. Then another week for the tech to come back. We didnt have a fridge for 6 weeks.

Took our landlords a while last year to get ours fixed when it went down. We had a window unit we used and borrowed one from a friend. The first night before we got them in, we stayed in a hotel. All on our dime. Wasnt our landlords fault that everyones ac breaks in the summer...

expresswrittenconsent said:

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dubi said:

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expresswrittenconsent said:

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It doesnt really sound like you are coming close to trying your absolute best.
Now, it also sounds like you are doing what you are required to do, so I dont think you are in the wrong, but again, words have meaning and this seems pretty far from anyones absolute best.

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Absolute best would be a penthouse hotel room?

Seriously he has met the legal requirements of a Texas lease. She needs to suck it up or get a hotel room. There are BCS hotels that accept pets.

It is very hard to get repairs on a holiday weekend.

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do the words confuse you, also? Hell my post specifically said it sounds like he has met his obligations and is not in the wrong. But the minimum legal requirements of a Texas lease are not the same thing as doing everything you can. Are you really disputing this?

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I always put myself in the other persons shoes. You aren't required to do more than you have...legally...the bare minimum. I've generally found that when I, personally, need to ask others if I've done all I should, then the answer is usually "no". No offense intended.

Here is the thing - aside from offering to put her up in a hotel, there is nothing more the OP can do other than what he has already done. He's getting the repair service out there ASAP, and their availability is beyond his control.

If the situation Is as dangerous for her and her dog as she wants the OP to believe, she would already be in a hotel (or staying with a friend) and would be asking the OP for reimbursement for that. But she hasn't done that. The OP didn't even say she asked for reimbursement for the window unit she installed. She's just demanding he get it repaired immediately - which simply is not possible.

And I say this as a tenant who had the exact same thing happen to me when I very first moved to College Station. Within two days, the A/C broke. In June (luckily not a holiday weekend). My landlord responded in exactly the same way. Within a day or two, I had a whole new unit. I was appreciative that he handled it as quickly as he did and, I knew what my options were if I couldn't handle the discomfort.

I'm going to call Bull on the 95 inside the house part. Unless this rental in in Phoenix or somewhere else. I was gone Saturday morning thru Sunday afternoon and kicked my AC to vacation mode. My 1977 built home was 85 when I checked in on the temp before heading home Sunday afternoon.

I don't believe that a healthy 25 yr old with a Husky constitutes an emergency.

I was checking just out of curiosity to see when the Honeywell thermostat would think it would need to cut on to have the house ready for my arrival.

I have also had a Husky in the past. They do not require cold temps, and they do just fine in hot temps as long as the owner knows what they are doing (aka - brushes out their winter coat). In the summer, they are like any other medium-long haired dogs (border collies, labs, shepherds, etc).

We once stayed at my wife's friends house in Puerto Rico that had no AC. Got there in the evening and the first night was tough. In the morning I filled up the biggest pots they had an put them in the freezer. At bed time I set them up on a chair in the bedroom with a fan blowing over them. That room almost got a bit chilly that night. Repeated process for the test of the stay. Winning; not whining.

This may permanently settle any thought i would ever have of being a landlord. Are you guys serious that, if my rent house AC breaks down and it's hot... That I have to ensure the comfort of my tenants until it gets fixed?

Where does that requirement stop?

I get that if i rented a place it sounds really great to be able to pick up the phone and place the burden on someone else whenever something is wrong .. but why is the burden of immediately remedying tenant discomfort, resulting from a normal occurrence, also on the landlord?

cjsag94 said:

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This may permanently settle any thought i would ever have of being a landlord. Are you guys serious that, if my rent house AC breaks down and it's hot... That I have to ensure the comfort of my tenants until it gets fixed?

Where does that requirement stop?

I get that if i rented a place it sounds really great to be able to pick up the phone and place the burden on someone else whenever something is wrong .. but why is the burden of immediately remedying tenant discomfort, resulting from a normal occurrence, also on the landlord?

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It's not tenant discomfort. It's health and safety. 80 and breezy? Open a window. 105, no trees, tenant is an 80 year old? Window A/C or hotel until it's fixed. Not to mention if she dies, your liability is going to be a little more than the cost of a couple nights in a hotel room.

But this is a 25 year old, who had the capability to care for an Alaskan husky... No one has stipulated the requirement isn't in tact for her. But I'm still baffled by this...

My question is is the landlord really responsible for tenant well being/comfort, whatever you label it? You telling me if i own a rent house, the AC goes out, it gets really hot, and i tell them the repairman isn't available for 2 days ... That an able bodied person decided to stay put, and they die. It was my responsibility because i didn't put them up in a hotel?

What if there is a gas leak, they tell me, i turn off the gas, but tenant stays waiting 2 days for plumber... Turns out the gas was still present and they get sick.. is the landlord responsible for not at least suggesting tenant take precautions?

This is really crazy to me! Seems people should be required, where able, to be responsible for his or her own well-being. And, to be clear, I'm not questioning cases where gross negligence on someone's part (although that's what i'd call it as someone complains as they sat in a 95 degree home).

I am sure you mean well, but there are ALOT of ****ty landlords out there that would have no problem screwing over tenants to save a buck. That can't be allowed to happen.

Isn't there a very big gap between landlords screwing over tenant to save a buck and putting tenant in a hotel when the air conditioner is broken?

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This may permanently settle any thought i would ever have of being a landlord. Are you guys serious that, if my rent house AC breaks down and it's hot... That I have to ensure the comfort of my tenants until it gets fixed?

Where does that requirement stop?

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Some folks never stop complaining. What I do with complainers is make them schedule the repair - give them the number to your preferred maintenance company and say have them call me when they are there.

Being a landlord can be very easy if you make the rules. They do not need to be hard rules...just dont let someone think they own you when in reality you own the house...not them!

Also - buy two or three window units. They are cheap and can buy you time when A/C goes out and you cannot find a repairman.

nice drive-by OP

Diggity said:

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nice drive-by OP

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I am friends with the OP and he has been following the thread.

well you had the best answer for the OP in the first response so you're a good friend

Get the AC fixed as soon as possible and provide some window units in the meantime. It's the right thing to do.

I just don't get this "right thing to do" attitude. When my home AC goes out I may or may not go buy myself window units to get me by.. I may stay with family or friends, I may go to a hotel... Or i may tough it out for a few days.

I'm seriously curious... Do landlords feel compelled to keep tenants comfortable for these temporary outages? I guess i just don't understand the thought that renters should be treated like guests at a bnb. You are providing and maintaining a place to live .. This stuff is part of what happens.

I can't imagine expecting a landlord to spend an extra $500 for temporary units to tide them over? Does a lease establish an expectation that things will always be in working order? I would think this falls under an event being their control.

cjsag94 said:

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I just don't get this "right thing to do" attitude. When my home AC goes out I may or may not go buy myself window units to get me by.. I may stay with family or friends, I may go to a hotel... Or i may tough it out for a few days.

I'm seriously curious... Do landlords feel compelled to keep tenants comfortable for these temporary outages? I guess i just don't understand the thought that renters should be treated like guests at a bnb. You are providing and maintaining a place to live .. This stuff is part of what happens.

I can't imagine expecting a landlord to spend an extra $500 for temporary units to tide them over? Does a lease establish an expectation that things will always be in working order? I would think this falls under an event being their control.

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You sure seem worked up about a completely made up scenario considering 4 posts ago you decided you probably wouldnt be a very good landlord. But again, as long as you dont whine that you are doing the absolute best that you can when you really mean that you have met your legal minimum requirements, you'll probably be fine.

If I were a landlord I would keep a window unit on hand for situation like this, if I
Lived in the same town. They don't cost that much and will likely keep the tenant quiet until and AC guy can get there.

That being said, the OP is under no obligation to do so.