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Melodic_Apple_9504 t1_j1o6sdb wrote

Reply to comment by Master-Ad-5153 in Lost heat 36 hours ago- landlord said it won’t be fixed until Monday due to holidays by manchegoaway

This is the only answer. 👆

You should consider, wait you need to call legal aid on Monday morning. There is absolutely no excuses. The landlord and or management companies have to make accommodations. They are both on the hook here. Please don’t hesitate to DM me any questions you may have.

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Bezexer t1_j1o8llk wrote

It’s terrible advice to tell someone to go straight to legal when they are encountering an issue over the holidays. There aren’t many judges or attorneys that will support an argument that the landlords should be able to magically fix the problem on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The better suggestion would be to advise OP to speak with the landlord about possible solutions, like reimbursing a space heater. You can’t threaten legal action without first attempting to mitigate damages. It’s a poorly thought out strategy.

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Master-Ad-5153 t1_j1og63f wrote

All I did is post public documents on how the law applies in this particular situation which includes methods for remedy and/or redress - I'm not giving any legal advice.

Otherwise, I'm definitely not blaming the HVAC crews dealing with a high volume of calls on a holiday weekend.

Edit: perhaps I should read your reaction was to the poster commenting to my post above yours - however, it's up to OP and their landlord's response as to whether or not there's any need for legal redress.

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Bezexer t1_j1ogh20 wrote

You did indeed post a document with how to handle this situation as a tenant. My response was to the person above, not to you.

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DonBandolini t1_j1oeek4 wrote

last i checked the law doesn’t exempt landlords from their duty because “it’s Christmas”

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Bezexer t1_j1oepqk wrote

What, pray tell, shall the landlord do for this tenant…who has stated they have a source of heat?

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DonBandolini t1_j1ofoy6 wrote

🤷‍♀️ they should have prepared better. maybe don’t be a landlord if you can’t provide the absolute bare minimum to your tenants.

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Bezexer t1_j1ofvel wrote

How are you supposed to plan for heat going out over a major holiday weekend when contractors aren’t working? Are they supposed to have a contractor that specializes in everything on retainer and on call? I hope when someone is bestowing an unrealistic expectation on you, you remember this conversation and apply the same words you put on someone else onto yourself.

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Economy-Maybe-6714 t1_j1x1l0v wrote

I have extra space heaters just in case something like this happens to one of my properties. If i couldn’t get over and deliver the space heaters I would offer to put them in a hotel for the night. Its not that hard.

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Bezexer t1_j1x91xj wrote

That’s good for you. I have my systems serviced regularly to avoid potential problems as well as heaters and AC units for system failures. The extra mile is certainly appreciated, but no one is a bad landlord for being unable to predict major heat outages over a cold snap. At some point it goes from reasonable expectation to tenants expecting better treatment than one can expect to give themselves simply because they are tenants. There’s a difference between one heater going out because of lack of maintenance and state-wide heat emergencies due to the weather.

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McCheetah t1_j1ogv20 wrote

I’m gonna say yeah, they should have an emergency 24/7 contact that can fix basic needs like heat in the winter.

At a minimum, they should be prepared and ready to provide alternative solutions when immediate needs can’t me met. If that’s space heaters provided until central heating can be fixed or alternate accommodations until the issue is fixed. They should at least make an attempt to remedy the serious problems immediately.

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GrumpyNewYorker t1_j1shpmu wrote

i don’t know about here, but in NYC larger apartment buildings have a dedicated superintendent that performs maintenance in exchange for reduced or free rent. That’s easy for a large millionaire landlord to swing. Mom and pop renting out a second property obviously can’t do that. At most, they have a property management agency that acts as a middle man to hire third party companies to do maintenance like this. They can’t do that if there are no technicians available to hire because demand spiked on Christmas. At the end of the day, the landlord isn’t going to be found negligent of anything here. It’s a freak cold snap on a holiday that took out heat for many, many homes. They have an obligation to repair it within a reasonable timeline, and reasonable isn’t going to be same-day given the circumstances.

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GMUcovidta t1_j1v1je2 wrote

In some apartment buildings, that have hundreds of units and are paid for with extra fees. Not at all comparable to RVA.

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DonBandolini t1_j1ogi7t wrote

found the landlord lol

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Bezexer t1_j1oh01v wrote

I am a landlord, yes. I am also a tenant and have been a tenant longer than I have been a landlord. The home I am in actively has no heat. I would never expect my landlord to magically fix a problem on Christmas Day. That is completely unrealistic. I set up my heaters, discussed a game plan with the landlord, and have set my expectations accordingly. It’s not their fault that no contractor in the area is available on a major holiday.

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GrumpyNewYorker t1_j1sgje0 wrote

It does, you’re just too dumb to realize it.

>The landlord shall perform the duties imposed by subsection A in accordance with law; however, the landlord shall only be liable for the tenant's actual damages proximately caused by the landlord's failure to exercise ordinary care.

An extreme cold snap that spikes demand for HVAC techs on a weekend where very few HVAC techs are working ≠ demonstrate a landlord’s failure to exercise ordinary care.

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