[Xeirus]

Hello, I have been living in my apartments for about a year and up until last week things have been fine.

I wrote my rent check and gave it to the apartment on the 1st, after viewing my bank statement a couple of days later I noticed I had wrote the checkf or $20 under the needed amount, I quickly called the apartments and told them the bank was sending the other $20 ASAP, the assistant manager who I talked to acted like she could care less, she took no apartment number she didn't even write it down.

So today I wake up and there is a note on my door saying I need to come to the office NOW and pay the $20, so I call and talk to the actual manager and she says she didn't know anything about me calling and the assistant is on vacation. Not only that but I woke up this morning and there is NO hot water, none. So while I am having it out with the manager I mention the no hot water thing and she says "It should be fixed in a week"... so they had time to type a paper about the $20 missing rent which I ALREADY talked to them about, but they felt no need to tell me about the hot water which happened the night before they left the paper. So I have to wait a week to take a hot shower... there HAS to be something against things like this, can't I get maybe 1/4th my rent back, isn't there a law about living conditions ? I looked online but couldn't find anything about the law regarding apartments.


Also, I live in Texas if that helps

[landlord advocate]

Landlords should never accept late or partial payment, without first posting an eviction notice. You offered a partial payment and they reacted to it. I am surprised that after eleven months, you could accidentally write a check for $20 less than the other checks you have written. My answer may sounds a little harsh... but think of how many people called the office to say they were "short".

Hot water: If it is an apartment complex, chances are there is an empty apartment in another building... which has hot water. Ask to use the shower in the closest empty apartment. This is probably a boiler problem and they are attempting to fix it. It is in their best interest to fix the problem as soon as possible. Unless parts have to be ordered or a boiler replaced, the chances are it will take less than a week to fix.

[ScottGem]

Is it only your unit without hot water? If so, I find it suspicious. If its more than your unit, then its proably coincidence.

They do have to provide reasonable living conditions, but if they can prove there really is a problem with the heating system, you are out of luck.

As for being short I don't understand this business about the bank sending the extra $20. That isn't the way it works. IF you wrote the check for the correct amount and the bank cashed it for the wrong amount, they might do that. But if you wrote it for the wrong amount, then YOU have to write another check for the difference and you should have delivered it right away.