Can I reasonably expect my apartment management to cover my vet bill?

Factual Questions
1

I live in Pennsylvania, in an apartment building owned by a management company which owns several properties.

Bottom line: my apartment’s A/C broke on Saturday, I was promised several times it would be fixed “first thing tomorrow” and after two “tomorrows” it has not been. It has been 90 degrees in my apartment for the past 2 days, and my cats have stopped eating or drinking. I took them tonight to be boarded at the vet’s office until the A/C is fixed so that they won’t die of heat exhaustion. Do I have cause to believe it’s reasonable for my apartment building management to cover the boarding expense?

Long story: [spoiler]

On Saturday afternoon, the central air conditioning in my apartment stopped working. This had happened before back in March, the problem had required that the compressor be replaced, and it took the HVAC company subcontracted by my building’s management (BM from now on) over a month to even come out to this property to check out the problem.

So on Saturday, the same thing happened again. The A/C’s fan still blows, but the air that comes out is just recycled air, and the A/C’s switch in my circuit breaker is flipped off and won’t let me flip it back. I called the emergency maintenance line around 5 pm, left a message that said basically, “My A/C’s broken, it’s 85 degrees in here, last time this happened it was the compressor, I have two cats and don’t want them to suffer, please fix ASAP.”

I got a call back from the guy who works as our everyday maintenance man later that evening, saying he had called the HVAC repair service contracted by BM and asked them to come first thing tomorrow (Sunday) morning, and to let him know if it hadn’t been fixed by the afternoon.

Sunday I waited until noon, no one had showed up, so I left to run errands all afternoon. Got back at 4:30, not only had the A/C not been fixed, but the temperature in my apartment was at least 88 degrees (picture of my thermostat). My cats had barely touched their food or water, one was hiding under the bed, the other was prostrate on the kitchen floor. I called the emergency maintenance line again, said, “I was told the A/C would be fixed this morning, it has not been, last time it was the compressor’s fault, it’s around 90 degrees in here, I and my cats are suffering, please fix today or tomorrow, thanks, bye.”

I also wrote an email to BM, with a picture of my thermostat, explaining the situation and saying, “Last time this happened, it took that HVAC service over a month to fix it, and I’m not waiting that long this time because I have pets who are suffering. If it’s not fixed tomorrow, what are my options? I’m thinking I could hire my own repair service and have the amount I spend on the bill taken out of September’s rent – would that work?”

An hour later, I got a call back from our everyday maintenance man, who said he had been in touch with the HVAC people, who claimed not to have gotten his message requesting service. They assured him they’d be here tomorrow (today, Monday) first thing in the morning.

This morning, I ran into the everyday maintenance man in the hall on my way to work, and he assured me that the HVAC people said they were coming, and if they didn’t, he’d have to have a Come to Jesus talk with them." I said, “Great, thank you!” and left for work. Later that morning, I got a terse email reply from BM saying, 'They will be there first thing in the AM."

So I come home from work today, and as I thought, nothing had been done. It’s 90 degrees in here (only 88 now!), my cats have not eaten or drunk anything and are lethargic, and I’m pissed. I call BM and talk to the woman who had emailed me this morning. She says, “Yeah, the HVAC people say it’s the compressor that needs to be replaced and they’re looking for a spare one. They can’t do anything until they find one. In the meantime, just open your windows and it will cool down.”

And I’m a stupid dumbass who’s been conditioned to be polite and nice at all times, so I’m just super nice and say, “Well, okay, I guess! I understand you can’t do anything and we just have to wait for the compressor ([del]which is what I told you 3 times was the problem[/del]). But, uh, you know, I do have the windows open, and my ceiling fan and my oscillating fan and the nice everyday repairman left me a box fan that are going, and it’s still 90 degrees in here, and I’m really worried about my cats, so…”

Her response was essentially, “Welp, whatareyougonna do?” and hung up.

So after a few minutes of trying and failing to get my cats to drink something, I decided, to hell with this, I have to get them out of here, so I called my aunt and uncle to help me wrestle them into their carriers, and we took them to be boarded at the vet’s office until the A/C is fixed. (I made sure to tell the staff to check them for dehydration, too.) Boarding costs $30/day, plus they needed their rabies shots and I’ll get billed for the health check.)

My aunt and uncle were shocked and pissed that BM didn’t offer to give me a window A/C unit, let me stay in a vacant apartment (if there are any), or offer to pay for a stay in a hotel. I said, well, they seem to be doing all they can and they can’t do anything until the compressor can be found, so it’s not like I’m being ignored or shrugged off. They told me to check my lease to see if anything like this is mentioned.[/spoiler]

I checked my lease and saw the clause that says, “Landlord is not responsible for any inconvenience or loss caused by an interruption of utilities services.” But isn’t asking a tenant to stay in a 90-degree apartment a violation of some kind of health code? I don’t mind for myself [because miraculously for PA summers, it’s not humid(!!!)], and I’m okay with sitting in front of a fan and sipping ice water. But my poor cats! :frowning:

Would I have a leg to stand on if I asked management to cover my vet bill?

2

I am pretty sure there is no enshrined right to air conditioning, in Pennsylvania.

3

most places require a rental unit to have heat, but I’ve never heard of requiring AC.

4

That’s beside the point, as you never complained that you couldn’t tolerate the heat.

5

You’ll want to contact your local tenants rights group, but in most areas AC is not considered a necessity in the way that heat is. And while landlords are required to maintain conditions fig for human habitation, anything above that would probably have to be spelled out in the lease.

But the tenants rights group will know your local regulations, and there is a good chance your landlord would decide it wasn’t worth fighting.

6

If a unit is advertised as having A/C and you rely on that representation, do you not have the right to expect working A/C? If you pass up a cheaper building because you’ve been lead to believe this one had A/C, can the landlord take it away after you’ve signed the lease and say “SUCKER!”?

7

[Trying to fix this common mistake, one post at a time]

Not “lead” to believe, it’s LED to believe.

[Yes, I’m certainly trying]

8

That is one of my biggest pet peeves on the interwebs so bless you Gary, you’re fighting the good fight.

9

Ooops!
Thanks.

10

Are you sure there’s anything wrong with your cats? As far as I know, most housecats are perfectly comfortable at 90 F, and simply get lazier than usual as the temperature goes up. They’re eating and drinking less because they’re moving less. Laying prostate on the kitchen floor is not exactly “suffering” for a cat. Maybe if they were elderly or had some other health problem it could be an issue.

Wikipedia says:
For instance, cats are able to tolerate quite high temperatures: Humans generally start to feel uncomfortable when their skin temperature passes about 38 °C (100 °F), but cats show no discomfort until their skin reaches around 52 °C (126 °F),[53]:46 and can tolerate temperatures of up to 56 °C (133 °F) if they have access to water.[63]

11

I would think this is the sort of thing for which you have renter’s insurance.

12

[giggle] … just how many peeves do you keep as pets?

=≠=≠=≠=

First off, if Pennsylvania State Law requires A/C in each and every rental, then you’d have something to stand on. If not (and I’m pretty sure it ain’t), then you have nothing under the law.

Let’s go ahead and assume A/C is explicitly included in your written rental agreement. Normally, and your States Laws may differ, the management has a certain amount of time to initiate a repair, say 24 hours. Then the management has to make a “good faith” effort to complete the repairs as soon as reasonably possible. Yes, waiting for a part to ship in is a very good reason.

More bad news, your rental agreement specifically states the management’s “limit of liability”. These things happen and from your long story version I’m not seeing any wanton abuse or negligence, seems these folks are right on the job.

Finally, house cats are very tolerant of high air temperatures, much more than humans. It’s said that for a cat, temperatures feels like about 20ºF lower than for humans. My cats hate winter, and suffer terribly. They don’t get comfortable until the hottest days of summer. They are domesticated from the Libyan Wildcat, from the Libyan Desert, where temperatures routinely reach 120ºF or more.

I think you’ve over-reacted … you may be able to bully the management to paying but you’ll create animosity between you and them … from your long version it seems they’re doing the best they can, you shouldn’t expect anymore … and your cats did not need vet care over this alone, not saying there might not be other problems with your cats, but just 90ºF in-of-itself is not harmful.

If you were my tenant and you brought this up … I’d give you the address and driving directions to the court house where you could sue me if you wanted to …

I have a black cat, Scottish Fold, who lays in the window in the sun. Her coat gets so hot I can’t touch her without feel pain, like I’m getting burned. She just lies there loving it. I’d guess her fur is about 130ºF, just the way she likes it.

13

Funny story.

14

Basically every cat I’ve ever had. It’s like petting a hot, furry mug of coffee. They only get irritated when the sunbeam moves and they’re now in shadow.

15

I don’t think any state requires an apartment complex to pay for you to board your cats if the AC isn’t working in a unit.

16

If you are leasing there because the units have AC and the AC is not working then you may be able to bill the MC for a stay in a hotel with AC.

The HVAC company that the MC is using is questionable. A compressor properly installed should last much longer than a year. And a month to replace the compressor. The exact brand compressor may take time to get delivered. But a month? If the HVAC company can not get the exact replacement compressor the go with another brand of the same tonnage, that would be an off the shelf item.

17

It’s hard to catch cats drinking water most of the time anyway, and getting them to drink on command is like, well, leading the proverbial horse to water. I run my window a/c for my own comfort and bump the units up to 88 when I leave the house, which means it’s close to 90 in here when I’m not home.

In the veterinary community I work in, we call it the “speed bump position” when cats spread themselves out on a cool floor and just lay there so you can trip over them. It’s indeed a hot weather thing, and mine certainly eat/drink less when they’re doing pretty much nothing but speed bumping. I make sure there are fans blowing air at floor level and feed canned food with water added to it (about a tablespoon per 3 ounces). Unless you’re using dinky dishes you can really see water consumption from, it can be hard to tell whether cats are drinking unless you measure it.

Evidence of cats self-cooling includes seeking cooler surfaces, like tile or vinyl flooring, even the bathtub sometimes. You may also see them licking themselves enough to make sizeable patches of fur wet - this is equivalent to you or me spritzing water from a spray bottle, to feel cooler as it evaporates. You can facilitate this further with a damp washcloth, just wetting their fur down a bit can help them cool off.

As with any change in weather, adjusting from being cool to hot can take a few days. You’ll see slightly more exaggerated cooling behavior in the first 48-72 hours during acclimation to new heat. Now if they are truly not drinking anything as per measurements, and are truly not eating anything at all, rather than simply a lot less due to inactivity, then yes, having them checked out at the vet is certainly a good idea. If you had to tell the vet to check for dehydration, then either you think the vet is an idiot, or the initial exam found totally healthy normal cats which were checked in that regard during the first 5 minutes and you just didn’t know the vet pinching the back of their necks and looking in their mouths was, indeed, that check.

All in all, unless they have some drastic underlying health condition, 90 degrees with floor fans blowing is not a dangerous condition for cats. Them having to acclimate to it takes a few days. But perhaps consider this in the future, you can save a heck of a lot on energy bills/consumption by bumping the a/c up when you’re not home, and the cats won’t have so much acclimation adjustment during times it goes out entirely.

18

That depends: Fahrenheit or Celsius?

19

My cat begins her day lying on the middle step of the staircase as the sun shines in. As the sun rises the illumination shifts gradually downward and he moves ever hour or so to stay toasty.

20

Notwithstanding the prior posts, this clause has nothing to do with your air conditioning. “Interruption of utilities” is loss of water or electricity (and possibly telephone). It doesn’t state it but this is probably intended to cover such failures that are not the fault of the landlord. IMHO it favors the landlord because it is not explicit; the landlord should be responsible for any utilities failures that originate on his property.