We rent and our renal office is closed today. It snowed last night and we now don't have any hot water. There is a number for emergency maintanence. I have tried to call for over 5 hrs leaving message after message. He finally called and said that it isn't an emergency and would not be coming out unless I pay for it....WHAT!!!!!! I told him that it is an emergency, I am bleedind and passing huge blood clots and that I WON'T be washing my VAGINA with freezing cold water and he WILL come fix it and I WILL NOT be paying for it. Again it snowed last night and this is not my fault that the water heater went out again for the second time in 1 week. He hung up on me and won't call me back. We pay $1100 a month for this crapy place we live in. If not having hot water isn't an emergency...ummmm what is???? 3 months ago it rained and we had a small puddle from where they water came in from under the door. They rushed out to fix it but won't come fix the water?????. What are my rights as a renter? Can I go to a hotel and take it out of my rent? Can I break the lease for this? Again this is the 2nd time this week that it has gone out. They didn't fix it right the first time obviously. I need to take a shower here. This is now a health concern as well.

By Insaneusmcwife on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 04:29 pm:

Let me also add that I have talked to 2 different people from 2 separate apartment complex's that own the maintance company for our complex. They both say that it IS an emergency.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 04:37 pm:

First, check your lease.

And, I see you live in California, and you do have an "implied warranty of habitibility", which includes hot water. Here is a link to a page put up by California's state government which addresses landlords' and tenants' rights and responsibilities.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/problems.htm

Look at the section titled:
Conditions that make a rental unit legally uninhabitible:
....
Plumbing facilities in good working order, including hot and cold running water, connected to a sewage disposal system.


If it were me (and remember, I'm not a lawyer), I would first call the emergency service and tell them that under California's "warrant of habitibility" you are legally entitled to running hot water. Leave a message if you don't get a real person, and tell them that if they don't come out within the next hour you will call another repair serivicem, pay that repair service to repair it immediately, and ask them to make very explicit notes as to what the problem is and, if they can tell, why the first repair didn't work - and that you will, on Monday (Tuesday, if they are closed Monday) notify the rental office in writing that you expect immediate reimbursement for your expense in having the repair made, under California's "warrant of habitibility" law and their repair services refusal to make the repair on the weekend, and if they don't reimburse you, you intend to file a claim in your state's small claims court.

I see you live in California, and you do have an "implied warranty of habitibility", which includes hot water. Here is a link to a page put up by California's state government which addresses landlords' and tenants' rights and responsibilities.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/problems.htm
Look at the section titled:
Conditions that make a rental unit legally uninhabitible:
....
Plumbing facilities in good working order, including hot and cold running water, connected to a sewage disposal system.

Remember, I'm not a lawyer. But I know that is generally how Pennsylvania's "warrant of habitibility" works.

Also check out this page:
http://www.caltenantlaw.com/Habitability.htm

running hot water is on the "checklist" for habitibility items.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 04:38 pm:

Oh, and you're military. In your message to the emergency repair service, tell them you will involve the military legal assistance office.

By Insaneusmcwife on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 04:49 pm:

I'm in Virginia, I need to change my profile. I just found a list they gave us when we moved in that states that
Emergency Maintenance List
Maintenance will come out after hours for any of the following problems.
1. No Electricity
2. No Heat
3. No Hot Water
Etc....

By Insaneusmcwife on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 04:56 pm:

Thank you Ginny, I didn't even think about the Military Legal Assistance. I will definately be calling them Tuesday morning as well as the base housing office. Dh just got a hold of a supervisor from another apartment complex owned by the same realty company and that supervisor is going to see what he can do. I wonder if VA has the same laws about being able to call an outside repair man and making them pay for it.

By Alberobello on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 05:32 pm:

Good luck darling! I know how hard is to chase the landlord to come and fix an emergency. Once our boiler broke so we had no heating for about three weeks and it happened during winter. They came to do cheap fixes about three times and nothing worked. My dh very wisely told them that we would withold that month's rent until the boiler was fixed. The next day they came and installed a new boiler, which until this day works beautifully.

I am not saying you should not pay them because you could get into trouble,but for us it sure did the trick.

By Kym on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 05:41 pm:

I live in an area with on again off again water, a completely other subject. but I have BTDT, if it is truly an emergency for you to clean yourself, just boil water and "git r done".

I would not take matters into my hands financially unless it's clearly stated in your lease you will be re imbursed. You can wait to get into that until Tuesday.

By Insaneusmcwife on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 05:56 pm:

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA).
VRLTA Section 55-248.12

You have the right to a decent and safe place to live
Virginia law requires that the landlord:

Meet the requirements of local building and health codes concerning the condition of your apartment.
Make the necessary repairs to keep your home in livable condition.
Keep all common areas shared by two or more apartments of the property in clean and safe condition.
Maintain in good and safe working condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning units as well as other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord.
Provide and maintain good quality trash cans and trash pick-up services in common areas of the apartments.
Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times as well as reasonable air conditioning, if provided, and heat when needed.

And ;)....I do have baby wipes which I have been using to cleanse my self for medical reasons but I still need to take a real shower.

Dh left a message with the code number and info from above on the answering machine and they are now back tracking and carrying on about never refusing service. I got on the phone and told the supervisor that he was full of it and how dare him argue with me, that he was wasting time and has until 6pm to get here and fix it or the real plumer will be on his way! He continued to tell me that he wasn't arguing and that I was being impossible and that they could fix it tomorrow. Not! Men! I then told him that if he wasn't arguing with me then he would not still be on the phone and that he would be doing his job, either calling someone to get over and fix it or to come fix it himself. I told him that I've been a supervisor before and one of the sucky parts is that when your people don't do their job its his responsibility to take care of it. He didn't like that one bit. However, I will tell you this...before I could finish typing he was out there "fixing it". I will let you know in 30 min if I have hot water or not.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 06:03 pm:

Kristie, looks like you found the Virginia Landlord & Tenant Act already. See also Section 55-248.13,A.4.

And here's Virginia's Office of Consumer Affairs, which governs such matters:
http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/consumers/f-landlord.html

It lists some agencies you can call.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 07:07 pm:

Wow. I'm late to this, but was already guessing that no hot water, makes a place untenable! Sheesh. I hope he gets your hot water going again.

By Feona on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 09:43 am:

I don't know the exact story. But you may have to move.

I had no heat and moved. Sued the landlord for $600 due to no heat. Won in Small claims court.

You can get all aggrivated thinking you have rights but the rights are too hard to enforce that is if you have rights.

If it is a one little building it is hard. If it owned by the army that is different.

By Insaneusmcwife on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 11:04 am:

They came and turned it on alright but they are acting as they did no wrong. I asked them what they were going to do about what happened and I was told there was nothing they were going to do about it and that the hot water was on. They said they put papers on everyones door stating a change to thier emergency policy, they say they don't have to come out if they are open the next business day. So If I would have called Saturday night they would have come out no problem on Sunday. But as I showed them the papers about them having to get any changes approved in writing and signed by us that there changes didn't mean squat they back tracked and uh uh uh. I'm still going to contact the base and see if we can't move. Any one know of any vacancies?????

By Insaneusmcwife on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 04:49 pm:

One of the idiot managers for Lawson Companies finally called me back today and told me she doesn't see what the problem is because they came out and turned on my hot water. Well duh! The problem is they should have done it the first time I called not make me track down a supervisor in the next city over to call the supervisor over here to get them to do their job. Ya know a simple apology from them might have calmed me down but they want to be idiots about it so now I'm fired up and I'm going to make it my business to tell everyone I know what slum lords Harpers Square Apartments and Lawson Companies are. Tomorrow when everything opens up again I'm going to call 10 on your side, the BBB and Fair Housing and the Base. The base gives out referrals to the military members for places to rent out on the local economy. I'm going to do my best to see to it that they are black listed.

By Crystal915 on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 04:54 pm:

Stay on this, Kristie. I've seen crappy things with rentals off post, but this is ridiculous!

By Pamt on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 04:55 pm:

I know I would be angry and frustrated as well. When DH and I were newlyweds and living in an apartment out a/c went out. In Mobile, AL. In August. It was absolutely miserable and my best friend was there that weekend to visit. They wouldn't do an emergency repair either. Well, when the inside temp. is 100+ it IS an emergency. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in the pool, at the mall, and at the movies.

Hope you can find something new soon.

BTW, I just *have* to ask... Did you really say, "I am bleeding and passing huge blood clots and that I WON'T be washing my VAGINA with freezing cold water." If you did---that's too funny. You have some guts!

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 07:12 pm:

Kristie, I thoroughly agree with talking to the base housing people and the BBB and the Fair Housing people. I would suggest you not get in touch with any media though - simply because you don't want to (a) get sued for libel/slander or (b) be evicted or have eviction proceedings against you before you find new housing that you like. I suspect that between the base housing people and the Fair Housing people, this management will clean up its act fairly quickly.

By Crystal915 on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 12:31 am:

Pam, isn't that insane? If your heating goes out it's an emergency, but if your a/c goes out in deadly hot temps it's not?? We've faced that in TX. Another situation we ran into while I was pregnant involved the apartment above ours. She was also very pregnant, and they were replacing the stairs up to her front door. They took the old ones down, and LEFT A LADDER for her to climb when she got home. I told her she was absolutely NOT to climb that ladder, and we would personally rent them a hotel room if need be. She raised a stink, and worked it out with the management, but I was angry for her, that is just ridiculous!!

By Insaneusmcwife on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 07:21 am:

Yes I did ! have you not noticed my screen name??? I'll let you know what dh finds out at housing today.

By Insaneusmcwife on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 05:58 am:

UPDATE! Dh went to base housing yesterday and we are moving Feb 22. Its going to cost us 1025 to break the lease, thats 1 months rent but thats cheaper than legal fees and we will be in a safer friendlier neighborhood. And we are moving to base housing which means no pet fee, no deposit no first an last months rent. It looks like once we move I will no longer be working as well. Dd's preschool is going to be too far for either one of us to take her and with my hours it wouldn't work out anyways. A friend of mine is a bus driver in another city but she said that in Virginia Beach they start out at 9 an hour and I have the added bonus of being able to bring dd with me on the bus. She said they will install a car seat for her. So I will definately have to look into that one. She said they also allow you to bring your bus home with you so I won't be using my car to drive back and forth. Another option would be for me to open a home daycare and take in 2 infants and 1 toddler. I wouldn't want more than that. That would get my itch for a baby taken care of and dd would have a play mate. I'm still going to call bbb and fair housing on my next day off.