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camosmom23 · Dec 9, 2010, 12:33 PM

We have had some trouble in the past few days during the freezing weather with our heat messing up. We called the landlord since it was 52 degrees in our home and we have a one year old child. She had the repair guy go out there and said nothing was wrong with our unit and that it was off at the breaker outside. The landlord said since nothing was wrong, its our fault and we have to pay the repair bill. First of all, i didn't even know there was a breaker box outside. If it was off or tripped, that is no fault of ours, as the heat was working the day before. Isn't she responsible for this bill since she is the landlord??

tkrussell · Dec 9, 2010, 01:23 PM

>>>>> Moved from Electrical to Real Estate Law<<<<<<

This is a legal issue, not an electrical issue.

camosmom23 · Dec 9, 2010, 01:36 PM

Yes I know, I moved it to law related. But I figured if an electrician or someone saw it here and had dealt with this before, it could help me. Thanks for pointing that out though.

camosmom23 · Dec 9, 2010, 01:38 PM

Did you seriously MOVE my question?

tkrussell · Dec 9, 2010, 01:52 PM

After I moved it, I saw the other post in Law.

Any electrician arriving on site has no idea who is responsible for maintaining the exterior circuit breaker. The landlord called for service, so the electrician is working for the landlord, and sends the bill to him/her.

I certainly can understand that you did not know the breaker existed, only that the heat was not operating.

The issue is now who is responsible for this service call.

My opinion, for whatever it is worth, is the landlord is responsible, UNLESS, in any written agreement, such as a lease, that the tenant is responsible for maintaining the system.

Gets sticky here. If there is this written agreement ,the landlord needed to go over this system, such as the location of this breaker.

Sounds like the breaker is accessible to vandalism.

There should be already existing a method of locking access to the breaker, to prevent someone from walking by and turning it off.

Hopefully there is a lock on it now.

As far as the bill, without knowing if your responsible for maintaining it or not, is there vandalism involved or not, I cannot tell you who is responsible.

This is why I am an electrician, not an attorney.

excon · Dec 9, 2010, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by camosmom23

ISNT SHE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS BILL SINCE SHE IS THE LANDLORD????

Hello c:

Please turn of your caps.

I don't think she is... At SOME point, the tenant is responsible for routine maintenance. I know it's a stretch, but if you didn't know that a light bulb had burned out, and the landlord sent an electrician, who do you think would be responsible for that bill?? I understand you didn't know the box was outside.. You should have...

But, it's an iffy question... I don't think the landlord is responsible, but the answer isn't written in stone... You MIGHT be right... The question is, even if you are right, what are you going to DO about it. Obviously, the landlord thinks the bill is on you. If you don't pay, you'll be evicted. I don't know whether you want to make a battle over this... If you do, and your landlord evicts you, file a small claims lawsuit against them

excon

camosmom23 · Dec 9, 2010, 02:42 PM

Its states in the rental agreement that tenant is resp for maintaining the "condition" of appliances, etc and that landlord is resp for all repairs, maintenance. We are resp for letting her know in a timely manner that we need repairs done.

camosmom23 · Dec 9, 2010, 02:43 PM

SHeis saying since they didn't find anything wrong with the unit, other than the thermostat needing replacing, that its OUR bill. That we shouldve checked the breaker first. I am NOT an electrician. I didn't even think to check it. She couldve asked me

excon · Dec 9, 2010, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by camosmom23

SHeis saying since they didnt find anything wrong with the unit, other than the thermostat needing replacing, that its OUR bill.

Hello again, c:

Look. You're preaching to the choir. I HATE landlords. The question is, what do you want to DO about it.

But, you offered a bit of NEW information... The electrician replaced the thermostat. That changes EVERYTHING. It CANNOT be your responsibility to pay, even if it had NOTHING to do with the problem... However, the thermostat is the unit that CONTROLS the heat. If IT was faulty, and it was, who is to say that IT didn't cause the breaker to go out?? If you DID replace the breaker, and the thermostat was bad, that wouldn't have fixed the problem.

What do you want to do? I'll write a GREAT letter for you to use. But, you WILL be evicted. Is that cool with you?

excon

tkrussell · Dec 9, 2010, 03:48 PM

Excuse me?

Originally Posted by camosmom23

other than the thermostat needing replacing,

You didn't think this information would have been good to let us know about in your first question?

What happened first?

Before anyone deals with this little tidbit of info, we need to know exactly what happened when, in order.

If the electrician came out, changed the stat, and oh by the way the breaker was off, and the landlord is trying to get you to pay the entire bill because of the oh by the way, then something is very wrong.

ScottGem · Dec 9, 2010, 05:43 PM

The issue of the thermostat is a key one. But let me ask you this. Lets say all the power went out in 2 rooms of your unit. But you had power in other rooms, What would you have thought the problem was?

Also please don't use t5he Comments feature for followups. Use the Answer options instead.

camosmom23 · Dec 13, 2010, 02:14 PM

Ha. Well thanks for the offer, but I really like my house. We are still fussing over who pays by the way. She says we shoudnt have even had to call her, but like I said before, it was 52 in my house. I told her politely that if she wanted to AVOID having to

camosmom23 · Dec 13, 2010, 02:15 PM

Pay for things like that if nothings wrong, then she should learn how to look at it first before she calls someone to come out. She didn't like that and said she would discuss it later.

camosmom23 · Dec 13, 2010, 02:21 PM

Okay, time of events... FIRST, we realized it was 52 in our house, I called the landlord, after turnign it off and on, and realizing it wasn't changing. She calls the people that installed the unit. They said nothing was wrong, that the breaker was off on the outside box. The one to the "strips". She said it was our bill cause nothing was wrong. I then gave it another day and it still was like 58. So I called again and she said she would get someone out there AGAIN. So then I found out by calling the repair man myself, that nothing was wrong with the actual unit, but something with the thermostat was about 5 degrees off and so they replaced it. Since then, oddly enough, there has been no problems. I told her even if nothing is wrong, its still her place to pay the bill and if she wants to avoid that, then she should take classes and learn how to FIX things herself.

ScottGem · Dec 13, 2010, 02:32 PM

What "bill" the bill for the repairman? If there was a problem with the thermostat and replacing the 'stat fixed the issue, its her bill.

camosmom23 · Dec 13, 2010, 02:37 PM

Well, she swears that the thermostat wasn't the problem. That it was off a littl ebit, but that wouldn't make the breaker flip, or the air run cool out of the vents.

ScottGem · Dec 13, 2010, 03:56 PM

She can swear what she wants but the repairman said the 'stat was the problem and once replaced the problem ceased to exist. Those two facts say she's wrong.