[simontlaw]

I have a house in Trenton, NJ. I rented to a family (husband and wife only) last year. AT the month Feb. year 2007 our lease was expired and they rent the house base on month to month leasing. Last week, the air condition wasn't working. It will cost us $300 to $400 either to fix it or buy them a new one. At that point, we refused to do anything on that air condition.

My question is:
1) Is it our responsibility to repair the air condition?
2) If we do not do anything for that, can my tenant sue me because of that?
3) Can I terminate the month to month lease withthin 3 months of notification?

Thanks

SL

[ScottGem]

1) If they rented the premises with the understanding that you were to provide and maintain working A/C then yes its your responsibility to repair it. Unless the original lease stated anything specific about providing A/C then the presence of a working unit implies that the premises came with A/C.

2) As above, assuming that A/C was part of the rental then yes, they can sue you. Or they may be able to have the A/C repaired themselves and withhold that amount from the rental

3) Generally a month to month lease can be terminated upon notice of one full rental period. So if they pay on the first of each month, then you could terminate now as of July 31.

Unless there is a problem with them as a tenant I would just fix the A/C. You don't say if you raised the rent when the lease expired, if not, I would inform them that you will fix the unit, but that the rents will go up 30-$40/month effective August 1. That amount would cover the cost of the A/C repair over a 12 month period.