Is our landlord responsible for providing an appropriate unit for our rental home?
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Is our landlord responsible for providing an appropriate unit for our rental home?
Last summer the A/C had to be replaced by the landlord. However we were told by the technicians the unit was “a piece of junk” and it was too small to cool off our house without running for a long time. It does indeed take a couple of hours to cool off our home which results in extremely high electricity bills, as well as several calls to technicians when the A/C burns out.
Asked on March 26, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
A rental premises has to be fit for its intended purpose--i.e. residence. If it is not reasonably habitable, that could be a violation of the implied warrannty of habitability, which requires such fitness for the intended purpose. A violation of this warranty could give the tenant grounds to seek monetary compensation, to require the landlord to correct a condition or problem, or--in more extreme cases--to make the repair him/herself and deduct the cost from rent, or even to terminate the lease without penalty.
However, the issue is "habitability," not "comfort." From what you write, it is very unlikely that a weak A/C is a sufficiently serious an impairmenet of habitability as to render the premises functionally uninhabitable. Issues that merely affect comfort or inconvenience do not violate the warranty of habitabilty; that means that unless your leasee has a provision relating to A/C, which provision the landlord is violation, you most likely do not have any recourse.
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