# Landlord refuses to repair central heater - Please look at this letter. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078 "2011-11-16T00:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/81 "2011-11-16T23:11:07Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > So. There we are. What the hell should we do? Start packing. Seriously. I know you don’t want to move, but the alternative is to prepare for a long and drawn-out struggle with him. I guess it depends on whether you feel like a fight or not. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/82 "2011-11-16T23:14:08Z")
Why are you so dead set on not moving? 1. You need a home. 2. It should be heated appropriately, safely and reliably. 3. You should pay reasonable rent. Can these three items be met at your current place? If not, perhaps you should move. If it can, pick the option that best meets 2 and 3. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/83 "2011-11-16T23:17:30Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I’m not complaining about the reasonableness of OP’s demands. My problem is with the timing. Basically, by making it seem like she was ok with the situation, and then waiting until mid November to tell landlord she wasn’t, she limited the options of the landlord for no good reason. No, she did not. The landlord decided to ignore something he knew needed to be fixed, hoping that he could screw over his tenants instead of paying for needed repairs. I didn’t see anywhere in her letter that she was demanding a fix RIGHT NOW, just within a reasonable timeframe. We got it done in ten days. This guy has had ten months. Why is his failure somehow her fault? From the OP’s links on tenant laws: > [@](#): > > Civil Code §1941.1(d) is clear that a unit is untenantable if it lacks “heating facilities that conformed with applicable law at the time of installation, maintained in good working order.” Space heaters are not facilities and have never, ever conformed with applicable law. > [@](#): > > As a landlord you have to provide a heating system that complies with the building and fire codes, and space heaters are illegal. [EnergySavers.gov](http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12600) > [@](#): > > Electric space heaters are generally more expensive to operate than combustion space heaters, but they are the only **unvented space heaters** that are safe to operate inside your home. (bolding mine) [ElectricalContractor.net](http://www.electrical-contractor.net/Safety/Space_Heaters.htm) > [@](#): > > A space heater is a self-contained, free standing air heating appliance intended for installation in the space being heated and not intended for duct connection. versus your “space heaters meet code, my post is my cite”. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/84 "2011-11-16T23:19:06Z")
I’m thinking it’s time to start apartment shopping. I don’t think the resolution to this is going to be satisfactory for you. I would also report your landlord for code violations all over the place. After you’ve found a new place. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/85 "2011-11-16T23:25:12Z")
**Maggie** , if you’re absolutely dead-set on staying, then send him a letter. List all of the options he gave you. Ask for numbers on the rent increases and his estimates of increased costs for running the space heaters and oven (!!!). You know, so you can figure out what you want to do. You’re basically getting him to document for you his plans to illegally raise your rent. Then call code enforcement and they’ll make him replace the central heating. Then spend the next several years fighting with this idiotic asshole over rent increases, as well as everything else. Or just move and report him to code enforcement and any local tenants-rights groups. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/86 "2011-11-16T23:27:44Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Okay. I just got off the phone with the landlord. I’m writing it down here to keep it fresh in my mind. > > He basically offered the following options: > 2) I could use the oven to heat the apartment (!!!) So, it remains unsettled whether the landlord is a moron, sociopathic or both. > [@](#): > > He also said that the space heaters wouldn’t raise my electric bill much because the central heating also uses electricity to blow the hot air through the house. I suppose you could have the landlord move in with you. He appears to be blowing enough hot air to comfortably heat the entire neighborhood. > [@](#): > > What the hell should we do? I’d send the letter complete with references to codes and ccs to lawyer(s) and other interested parties, with a reasonable deadline (i.e. no more than 10 days or so) to have heating unit replacement work scheduled to begin. Failure to comply means reporting him to applicable authorities. Then, since there will be no living with this jerk unless you intend to pay for his heating fix in the form of significantly higher rent, use the month-to-month rent option you apparently have to look for another apartment, and get out of there at your convenience. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/87 "2011-11-16T23:40:50Z")
The good news is (as I think about it, calming down), I know for a fact that I’m going to be laid off sometime between April and June. This issue with the landlord means that, as much as I like the place we’re in, I can now expand my range of places to look for new work significantly. All I need to do is to hold out here until I find new work, then I can move to wherever that is. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/88 "2011-11-16T23:45:04Z")
Speaking as a landlord, he is an ass. If you can’t move, I’d report him tomorrow morning. The city came after me even though they hadn’t paid the rent when one of their kids plugged a TV into 220v. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![depocali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@depocali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/depocali)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/89 "2011-11-17T00:58:24Z")
Look, not having the heat fixed for over six months is objectively ridiculous even if it is SoCal. Yes it doesn’t get as cold as Minnesota, but houses aren’t made to withsatnd the cold either and that is why **surprise** there is a law that mandates that landlors provide heat. Now let’s see what reputable sources say, like well the City of Berkeley rent stabilization board: \*Q: I have just moved to Berkeley. Upon moving into my apartment, I asked the manager to turn on the heat. He suggested I call P.G.&E. since he did not know how to start the heater. When the P.G.&E. technician inspected the heater, he declared it a hazard and disconnected it. I informed the manager of the problem immediately, and sent him a copy of the technician’s report. It has now been more than two weeks and although the building has a repairman, I am still without heat in my unit. I need to get my heater fixed and I would also like to get a rent discount for the time I have not had heat. What should I do? Under California Civil Code § 1941.1, a dwelling is considered untenantable if it does not have adequate heating facilities that are maintained in good working order. In other words, you have an absolute right to have a working heat source when you rent a unit. Since you have notified the manager of the building in writing (by forwarding the P.G.&E. report), you should next request an inspection of the unit by the City of Berkeley Housing Department and concurrently, file a petition with the Rent Board. Since the lack of heat is a breach of the warranty of habitability, under Regulation 1269(B)(3), you would be entitled to no less than a 10% rent reduction. You are entitled to a retroactive rent reduction from the time you first notified the landlord of the problem, and continuing each month until the heater is fixed. In addition, you may be able to use the “repair and deduct” remedy (Civil Code § 1942). Where a violation of the warranty of habitability is not corrected within a “reasonable time” after proper notice is given, a tenant may arrange for the repair independently and deduct the expense from the next rent payment as long as the cost does not exceed one month’s rent. Two weeks appears to be more than a reasonable time to fix a defective heater during winter. To use this remedy, you should be sure to follow the statutory requirements.\* So, yeah you should let the landlord know in writing, cite that you had already brought up the problem last spring. Good luck ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/90 "2011-11-17T02:27:11Z")
This thread is interesting. I have always thought of Los Angeles California as a place where you could do without a heater for the vast majority of the year. In looking at the LA wiki below I actually (as a single man) think I could get by without a heater, but I would need to bundle up on winter nights. Women are usually less cold tolerant so a heater would probably be necessary if you wanted to have a relationship. > [@](#): > > Los Angeles has a Subtropical-Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), and receives just enough annual precipitation to avoid Köppen’s BSh (semi-arid climate) classification. Los Angeles enjoys plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually.[19] > > The average annual temperature in downtown is 66 °F (19 °C): 75 °F (24 °C) during the day and 57 °F (14 °C) at night. In the coldest month, January, the temperature typically ranges from 59 to 73 °F (15 to 23 °C) during the day and 45 to 55 °F (7 to 13 °C) at night. In the warmest month – August – the temperature typically ranges from 79 to 90 °F (26 to 32 °C) during the day and around 64 °F (18 °C) at night. Temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on a dozen or so days in the year, from one day a month in April, May, June and November to three days a month in July, August, October and to five days in September.[19] Temperatures are subject to substantial daily swings; in inland areas the difference between the average daily low and the average daily high is over 30 °F (17 °C).[54] The average annual temperature of the sea is 63 °F (17 °C), from 58 °F (14 °C) in January to 68 °F (20 °C) in August.[55] Hours of sunshine total more than 3,000 per year, from an average of 7 hours of sunshine per day in December to an average of 12 in July.[56] ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/91 "2011-11-17T04:50:26Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > I’m thinking it’s time to start apartment shopping. I don’t think the resolution to this is going to be satisfactory for you. > > I would also report your landlord for code violations all over the place. After you’ve found a new place. I don’t think I can improve on this advice. This guy doesn’t understand what it means to be a landlord - it’s HIS responsibility to provide a decent rental unit with all the things that includes (like plumbing, heating, electricity, etc.), and charge you rent for it. It is not right for him to increase your rent to cover his cost to repair something that he is obligated to provide, and was provided when you made your original rental agreement. You didn’t agree to rent a place that wasn’t heated (or had any of his half-assed heating solutions) - he’s breaking the deal. How about you ask him for a rebate on all the rent you paid this summer for an apartment that didn’t have a working heating unit? That makes as much sense as expecting you to pay for his heating unit. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/92 "2011-11-17T09:48:38Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > The fact of the matter is that that the landlord has a budget - you increast his costs, he needs to recoup them. This is not correct. **Maggie** did NOT increase his costs. As a property owner and landlord, he needs to take into account, like every other landlord, the fact that there are costs associated with renting out housing. If Maggie, through her own carelessness, ruined the floor and it had to be replaced, then yes, SHE would have raised his costs. But taking care of heating that conforms with state law is just a normal part of what it means to maintain property. Property experiences wear and tear, and property owners have certain obligations to handle that. You don’t raise your rent every time there’s a maintenance issue - unless perhaps you’d like to DECREASE your tenant’s rent because the refrigerator you expected to last for 5 years is still going strong in year 6? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/93 "2011-11-17T10:52:35Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > This is not correct. **Maggie** did NOT increase his costs. As a property owner and landlord, he needs to take into account, like every other landlord, the fact that there are costs associated with renting out housing. If Maggie, through her own carelessness, ruined the floor and it had to be replaced, then yes, SHE would have raised his costs. But taking care of heating that conforms with state law is just a normal part of what it means to maintain property. > > Property experiences wear and tear, and property owners have certain obligations to handle that. You don’t raise your rent every time there’s a maintenance issue - unless perhaps you’d like to DECREASE your tenant’s rent because the refrigerator you expected to last for 5 years is still going strong in year 6? So he didn’t do his budgeting properly. Fact of the matter is, he has to spend $xx today that he hadn’t budgeted for. He is giving Maggie the choice - I’ll cut you a break on the rent or I’ll provide you with heat. You can’t have both. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/94 "2011-11-17T11:55:22Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > So he didn’t do his budgeting properly. Possibly that’s correct - or maybe he’s just a cheap bastard. Either way, _Maggie_ didn’t “increase his costs” because of anything she did. As long as that point is conceded, I am not saying that the rent should never be increased. Whether it is legally or morally appropriate for the landlord to increase the rent in this particular situation to cover his costs, I can’t say (although it would pretty clearly be morally wrong to raise the rent as a _punitive_ measure when Maggie is only asking for what the law requires him to do anyway). ---
**Author:** ![jem\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@jem\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jem_1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/95 "2011-11-17T12:20:34Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. He would replace the central heating with … he described it but I didn’t quite understand - some sort of window unit? This would be the cheapest permanent solution for me in terms of raising the rent. So, he is offering an alternative to a space heater - with something safer-? How about having electric baseboard heaters? I have them in my basement and my rental units have them. My son’s house is heated with them, and we live in the Midwest with very cold winters. (I can’t comment on window units as I’m not familiar with them.) Baseboard heaters: [HVAC Basics, Guides & How Tos](http://homerepair.about.com/od/heatingcoolingrepair/ss/elec_htr_types_3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Soliloquy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Soliloquy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soliloquy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/96 "2011-11-17T16:22:33Z")
In CA landlord/tenant laws heavily favor the tenant, so you’re in luck there. If the landlord refuses to pay to fix your heater, you have the option to withhold rent and repair it yourself, then deduct the cost of repairs, provided repairs do not exceed the amount of one month rent. It may land you in court if the landlord wants to go there, but he will have no recourse to evict you or to ask for back rent. The amount of record keeping you need to do for this is crazy, but in my case, the threat of withholding rent was enough to get the repairs my fiancé needed. Because it is a habitability issue, if the repair is not done, should you decide to move, CA law says you may do so without giving notice, without paying any additional rent. Again, you may end up in small claims over the security deposit because the landlord may decide to keep it if you don’t give notice, but there is no legal recourse for the landlord in this. If he/she has been doing this a while, he will know this. Get a tenant’s right handbook from your county. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/97 "2011-11-17T16:34:16Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Okay. I just got off the phone with the landlord. I’m writing it down here to keep it fresh in my mind. > > He basically offered the following options: > > 1. He would pay for “a couple hundred dollars” worth of space heaters. > 2. I could use the oven to heat the apartment (!!!) > 3. He could replace the central heating/AC fixture, but then my rent would go up to reflect his costs, amortized over a 5 year period. > 3a) He could replace the heating/AC fixture with only a heating, meaning the apartment would no longer have AC. My rent would still go up, but by less because the units are cheaper if there’s no AC. > 4. He would replace the central heating with … he described it but I didn’t quite understand - some sort of window unit? This would be the cheapest permanent solution for me in terms of raising the rent. > > Note: It is not legal for him to raise the rent in response to my complaint. > > He also said that the space heaters wouldn’t raise my electric bill much because the central heating also uses electricity to blow the hot air through the house. Riiiight. > > I affirmed to him that we don’t want to move, that we plan to live there for at least another 5 years. He seemed relieved by that. He reminded me that even though the lease expired in July, he hadn’t raised our rent and didn’t really intend to for a long time. > > So. There we are. What the hell should we do? Why did you go to a month-to-month lease if you intend to stay another 5 years? It seems to me that if your lease was for another year you would have locked in your rent at least for that year and you’d be in the position of forcing the landlord to fix the heater without him raising your rent. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/98 "2011-11-17T16:55:02Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > Why did you go to a month-to-month lease if you intend to stay another 5 years? It seems to me that if your lease was for another year you would have locked in your rent at least for that year and you’d be in the position of forcing the landlord to fix the heater without him raising your rent. Yeah - going month-to-month is a double-edged sword: You can leave on short notice, but the landlord could raise the rent on short notice even without the whole heating-system mess. If you had a lease, he could NOT raise it during the term of the lease. And if you make a stink, he could simply offer to have you move out instead of paying the higher rent. All nice and legal, presuming he follows whatever notice periods are required by law. Long story short, landlord’s a dick and wants you to let him violate the law, he has some power on his side because he can boot you out, and it sounds like one way or another you’re getting the shaft :(. Really, I’d consider moving at this point. The landlord has already screwed you on one semi-major repair, and is attempting to jack up the rent to cover routine maintenance. Yeah, rents increase to cover increasing ownership costs but to explicitly expect you to pay for that is really unethical. Oh - is he going to try to amortize the ENTIRE SYSTEM into your rent? or just the fraction of the expected life? For example, an 18,000 system should last 15 years, that’s 1200 a year, so your rent goes up 125 a month)? The only real power you have in this situation is that if (well, WHEN - you need to get out of there) you move, you can report the landlord to the authorities for not providing a legally-mandated service. Hopefully they wouldn’t get to it until after he’d rented it, at a lower price than he’d have had to charge if he did the damn work. FYI, the “window unit” might be one of those in-wall systems like some hotels have. My apartment in New York in the early 90s had those - one in the living room, one in the bedroom. It did both heating and A/C. When it crapped out during the hot summer, I had the privilege of sleeping with my apartment window open (high-rise, so fine from a safety standpoint but the reason Manhattan is called “the city that never sleeps” is because it’s TOO DAMN NOISY). In my case, a replacement was something like a thousand dollars and the landlord had me do so and deduct it from my next months’ rent. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/99 "2011-11-17T17:01:46Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > We can’t afford that I came in here to say “depends on what you can get elsewhere if you need to move”. Until 3 months ago, I rented from a not so great landlord from 2.5 years and saved about $200\month compared to other apartments in the area. I knew that this meant that certain repairs would go undone. So I basically saved six thousand clams in exchange for less than ideal repairs. **If you can’t afford to move and he’s charging less than market rate, you take your lumps.** Obviously thyis advice would be different if you lived in the north. Also, in the interim, I highly suggest this [space heater\outlet timer](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039UT73Y/ref=oh_o05_s01_i00_details) that you can set to turn on an hour before you get home from work. It’s easy; just set the dial to the time it is now and then push the pins in for an hour before you get home. I use this in the 3rd floor bedroom and it’s like magic. When you get home, just turn the side switch to “on” so it stays on as long as you like it. Also, if you can find any of these [radiator style heaters](http://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-EW7707CM-Oil-filled-ComforTemp-Technology/dp/B000TGDGLU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321549243&sr=8-1), they are excellent and super efficient. I got 3 on Craigslist for $25 apiece. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078/100 "2011-11-17T17:20:57Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > … > Oh - is he going to try to amortize the ENTIRE SYSTEM into your rent? or just the fraction of the expected life? For example, an 18,000 system should last 15 years, that’s 1200 a year, so your rent goes up 125 a month)?.. Note: the above math is slightly wrong, I posted without checking. The annual cost (over 15 years) is 1500. Oddly, the monthly figure is correct :). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-refuses-to-repair-central-heater-please-look-at-this-letter/603078.md?page=6)