I currently live in a crappy apartment complex, and the management here has already proven once that they are pretty much unyielding when it comes to helping out the tenants.
Which brings me to my current dilemma. Something is wrong with the electricity in my apartment. It started with one of my ceiling fans lights dimming and blinking, then a bulb went out, then came back on. Then my computer monitor started having trouble powering on. My Xbox dies out after extended period of use, and last night, my tv turned off my itself. I also notice the lights dim a little when I plug in an iron.
I’m worried that the wiring is bad, and it’s going to require some major repair work by maintenance. My fear is that this job may extend beyond a day, adn I get home from work with no electricity! Could a landlord legally leave my power cut off? At the bare minimum, my food in the fridge would go bad and I lose money on that, not to mention not having any heat in the cold weather.
If repairs are needed, what else do you expect your landlord to do? A “reasonable” time without electricity while repairs are being made is legal, yes.
But I wouldn’t assume the worst quite yet. Electricians often work pretty quickly, and they can work in “zones” so that they don’t leave important stuff off overnight. You may get the kinks worked out in your living room and bathroom on Monday and the kitchen on Tuesday, but Monday night have your kitchen electricity, such as it is.
If it does need to be off overnight, get a few bags of ice from the corner store and use your fridge/freezer as if they were large camping coolers. Ice, quick, infrequent door openings, and put your milk and other highly perishable things on the bottom shelf where it will stay colder.
Most states (like Canadian provinces) have minimum standards for rental housing laid out in what passes as a “landlord-tenant act”; heat, hot water, running water, functional toilets, etc.
I’m pretty sure electricity is in there too. Plus, weird electrical problems would indicate the distinct risk that the cause is also a fire hazard. Fire hazards and other “building not up to code” issues are also illegal.
The question is “then what?” If the building is totaly uninhabitable or unsafe, there is the risk that the city will simply close the building until repairs are made, sucks to be you. OTOH, bylaw violations or landlord shortcomings might take months to work through court. Like employer rights in the USA compared to civilized countries, it’s possible landlord rights still fit the feudal ages, where you can’t do much.
I think they should at least not charge me for rent those days, or pay for hotel costs. Why should I have to suffer because they did a crappy job with the wiring? These units are only 5 years old!
According to this website, I don’t have to pay rent if it is unhabitable.
But I looked up tenant law for my state (Arkansas) and it says Landords don’t even have to make repairs at all! WTH??
I think the OP is not concerned that the repairs will require the electricity to be shut off, but that the landlord will shut the electricity off and not make repairs quickly. Ie, shut the electricty off on Monday while he does a cursory inspection, leave it off until Tuesday when an electrician comes, who says he’ll come back on Thursday to do the job, etc. That’s most likely in violation of local landlord-tenant laws, but it depends on your jurisdiction.
As others have said, electricians rarely need to shut off all of the power for days at a time. I can’t imagine a routine scenario that would require that.
In fact, based on your cursory explanation, it sounds like you are experience surges, which could simply be due to an overload circuit. Regardless, I’d wager that more than 90% of electrical issues can get resolved in a few hours.
Try checking with your city government; they may have rental housing laws that give you additional rights, along with building codes that might be violated by sub-standard wiring (if indeed the wiring in your building is sub-standard.)
Power off a few hours, maybe even a working day? Sure. Once it gets to overnite, the landlords going to have problems. So, if they give the tenants notice, and cut the power at 7AM, then back on at 5PM, really you can’t say much.
I don’t know. Is it? Hopefully I’m freaking out over nothing. The main annoyance was my computer monitor would stop powering on completely like it couldn’t get enough juice. However, I replaced it, and it powers on just fine.
If you have a fusebox, are you using the correct sized fuses? Many older places are only 40-amp service, and if you have four plugs and have 25-amp fuses in those plugs, you are maxing out the capacity of the system. That’s on YOU, not the landlord.
If you AREN’T paying the electric separate, there’s a chance you are in an illegal apartment, and if things are futzed up, you don’t have any recourse.
I just have a circuit breaker, and I have to pay for the electricity. I started getting really worried when my Xbox would shut off after 3 hours of use and give me a red light on the power brick. It would go back to green though when I turned the power strip back on and off. I read that is an indication of bad AC power.
Sounds like an overheating power brick to me. 90% of Xbox problems (at least newer ones) are due to overheating-- the Xbox itself needs to be cooled, most people finally got the memo on that one, but stupidly the power brick can also overheat independently of the console.
That sounds like what’s happening to you. If it’s in an open space where there’s plenty of airflow, then it might need replaced. If not, put it in an open space with plenty of airflow.
Oh, and you want to make sure you’re using a good power brick. When it shuts down like that there’s a tiny (but non-zero) chance it could damage something else in the Xbox.
If you’re Xbox is 1st or 2nd gen, expect it to die any day and maybe consider proactively replacing it before that happens. Yes, it sucks. Yes, those old Xboxes were unacceptable quality, but it’s better to face reality than deny it.
We just got a brand new (not refurbished) with the big honkin’ hard drive. Are they less prone to the RROD than the older ones? (I hope I hope I hope). I got the bigger hard drive (250, I think?) in hopes that with the ability to save the whole game to the hard drive and not play off the disc, there would be fewer moving parts and thus less friction and thus less heat during game play. But, obviously, I know nothing about xboxes really!
Except for similar problems with the monitor, the TV, light bulbs, and the iron. Enough power surges and it could a bad Xbox fairly quickly.
OP, are all these problems from a single socket, or distributed throughout your house?
As for the question, I would doubt that you’d lose electricity overnight from a repair, unless all the wiring had to be torn out or something. It depends on what is wrong, of course.
The thing to do is to ask your landlord to send an electrician. You might want to document all your problems to help convince him, and make sure the light bulb is screwed in tight. I think that withholding rent is mostly for things like no heat, not one day repairs. Then ask the electrician how long it will take. How many circuit breakers do you have? You might be able to plug the refrigerator into a circuit that isn’t taken down for the fix.
In my apartment the lights dim slightly whenever I turn on the electric water heater. But it is rated at 4kw. An iron is 1kw max, it shouldn’t cause the lights to dim.
There definitely is some electrical problem in the OP’s house.
That is an indication that your power strip has tripped out.
How many breakers does your electrical panel have? how old is the building. The voltages need to be checked. You need to talk to your landlord.
