I’ve never claimed any special knowledge of California housing codes. All I’ve done in this thread is offered laymans advice to the OP. And be able to comprehend basic facts.
Anyways, the definition of install is:
So when a space heater is placed in position and ready for use, it is installed.
To the OP, the only suggestion I would add to your letter is to specifically ask for a time frame for when the heating for your rental unit will be repaired. Better yet, insist that it be repaired within x days. Otherwise, the owner can agree to the repair but will delay indefinitely. This comes from my experience as both a renter and a landlord. BTW you are well within your rights in your demands to the owner.
a space heater is something that is plugged into a wall and free standing. Yes, a window ac is similar to this, but space heaters have an extremely high frequency of starting fires. It would also make her electric bill jump up to maybe 3x what it currently is. Why should she be forced to pay higher bills because her landlord doesnt want to fix something that should have been fixed when the problem first presented itself?
Also, like stated, I would go a little softer at first with the landlord. Because you are on a month to month (and correct me if im wrong because every state is different) he could evict you without any real warning for no real reason. So he may see your current letter as a threat and decide to evict you.
I would call, and follow up with a letter so you have documentation.
*Dear landlord, per our telephone conversation on --insert date here-- please advise when you will be able to fix our current heat situation as space heaters are no longer an option. *
Everyone:
Thanks very much for your input. I’m going to be calling him tomorrow afternoon, and will explain to him that the space heaters are not going to cut it. If we aren’t able to come to some sort of terms, I’ll mail the (revised, softer) letter.
The reason I was going to send this letter instead of telling him in person (well, over the phone) was because I’ve got a nasty feeling he’s going to try to raise our rent to cover his expenses in repairing the heater. We can’t afford that, and I wanted documentation of our complaint in case it becomes necessary to try to prove illegal retaliation.
Note: For those who were arguing that the space heaters do or should fulfill his requirement to provide heat, I direct you to the two bottom links in the letter. Both of those are from rental law attorneys, stating specifically that space heaters do not meet that requirement.
Like I said, I don’t really know. I’d be surprised to find that merely having space heaters doesn’t count. I’d certainly want more than random internet posts saying so before I write threatening letters.
Installed means it requires tools to remove. This is a term used in electrical, plumbing and hvac codes. Only licensed professionals may ‘install’ items. Some area’s make exceptions for home owner occupants.
I guess if the landlord wanted to have an electrician bolt some space heaters to the floor it might pass but even that would be difficult as the cords and lack of dedicated circuits would fail the electrical code end of things.
I’d still send the letter communicating you’d like your heat working, It provides a paper trail not available with verbal communications.
You can’t prevent him from jacking your rent later–he could still do it, and you’d have to address it in court (I read the link you provided). It says, “If the tenant produces all of this evidence, then the landlord must produce evidence that he or she did not have a retaliatory motive.” I’m not a lawyer and I don’t rent in California, but is it not sufficient justification that he needs to retroactively cover the cost of repairing the heater?
You should still make it your mission to get the heater repaired, of course. Even if you end up moving out, you’re helping the next guy.
I don’t have any internet links, but I’ll add to the anecdotal evidence and say from first hand experience that space heaters seriously increase the electric bill. And the one that I had didn’t really heat much of anything.
The landlord was notified last year that the heat needed to be replaced. Any sane person would have handled that over the summer in the off-season, when prices are better. At the very least, that should have provided time to save/budget for replacing the heating system for this cold season.
No, space heaters do not meet code. The landlord should know this.
Our tenants called a few weeks ago because their heat was out. We’re still in fall weather, so we’ve had a couple of nights down into the 30s - not enough to freeze pipes or anything since daytime temps are in the 50s to 80s.
We (and by “we”, I mean the SO, who handles all the rental property stuff) had the repair guys out within a couple of days, as soon as they had time available. The central heat was unrepairable and required a new unit. Please note that we called the repairmen, met them at the house, and discussed everything with them. The tenants should not be expected to pass messages back & forth between service providers and landlords.
Because we weren’t satisfied with their bid and wanted time to get a few more, we purchased and delivered several space heaters (electric oil radiators) to the tenants immediately AS A TEMPORARY SOLUTION in case the weather turned bad during the interim.
We obtained several more bids over the following few days and had new central heating installed within about ten days of the original complaint.
Fortunately, we had cash on hand to pay for the replacement but, if we hadn’t, we’d have borrowed it.
Please note that all of this happened while my SO was spending 6 to 12 hours per day at the hospital with her 94-year-old mother who had just broken her hip.
This guy has had MONTHS to get this fixed and hasn’t bothered? That’s his problem, not the tenants.
OTOH, I do agree that starting soft and building up is the way to go. No point in getting nasty and hostile from the get-go, more flies with honey, etc.
If nothing else works, call code enforcement and get the unit condemned - they’ll take care of making the landlord replace it. And I’d definitely do everything in writing, since this guy is obviously an incompetent dick.
On the bright side, we found a new company to do our heat & a/c work from now on. They were terrific. 
We’re probably having this conversation because Maggie and the landlord are in California - the conversation would go a whole lot differently here (i.e. “Get this damned furnace fixed NOW, before we freeze to death and your building is destroyed by burst pipes!”).
I don’t think anyone is defending the landlord, just saying that going nuclear at this point isn’t the best option for someone who wants to retain any semblance of a working relationship with their landlord.
Regarding space heaters, they’re lovely - in addition to my fully functioning furnace, they do spot heating quite well. I would never consider them my main heat source, though. They’re just for warming my feet before bed. 
I’m defending him. As far as he knows, the problem was settled with the offer of space heaters. Now that may be in technical violation of code, but it’s not an unreasonable way to get through a LA winter. As the OP notes, no heat inside means wearing sweaters, not dying of hypothermia. Most importantly, he hasn’t yet outright refused to get the heater fixed.
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with OP wanting central heat, if that is what the code requires. The problem is that OP agreed to the space heater solution, or at least seemed to. Changing that now, a couple weeks before winter and demanding a rush repair isn’t cool. I assume that it is going to result in higher installation and purchasing costs for the landlord, due to the timing and speed required.
When I shelled out $4,000 to replace the heat and A/C, do you guys think I would have be justified in raising rent to cover part of the $170.00 loan payment? I didn’t, but I’m going to up it when I lose my most excellent tenant.
It seems to me that they agreed to use the borrowed space heaters as temporary measure since it was getting to the end of winter, instead of insisting the landlord fix the heater right then. Thus giving him all spring, summer and fall to get his rental unit up to code.
I think that the OP should have addressed the issue of the heater still not being fixed at least a month ago, but in reality, the tenant should not have to remind the landlord of his legal responsibilities. He should keep his property up to code no matter what may have been agreed upon.
Except, the landlord probably thinks the tenants are just fine with the status quo. Personally I’d start off with a fairly friendly letter (as others have said) then escalate as needed to citing the civil code.
We were in a somewhat similar position, back in 1988. We were moving to the DC area, and wanted to rent something short-term to give us a chance to look around, before committing to purchasing a home. We wound up subletting a 2-room efficiency from a retiree who was spending the summer in Florida. Win-win - he wanted to sublet for the same period we wanted to rent.
However - as I was moving my things into this old, small and rather dumpy building, the landlord decided to start some major renovations - including removing the furnace. This was October, and DC without central heat is generally pretty tolerable then.
To cover us and the other 2 occupied apartments (we were on 3rd floor, an elderly woman was on the 1st, a 40ish man on the 2nd), he brought in an additional electrical supply and gave every apartment several space heaters. The electrical supply was needed because the building’s wiring would not have supported them without blowing a fuse. Yeah - a fuse. No circuit breakers there!!
Unfortunately, he didn’t bother doing everything legally - no permits etc. - and so his work kept getting shut down. Which meant that by March when we moved out, the place still had no furnace. The basement of the building was basically open to the cold outside air, which meant the ground-floor tenant was freezing (we had heat rising from the other 2 apartments so with the space heaters, we were OK).
We were younger then, and spry enough that we regularly hopped over the cords running to the space heater without incident.
We would have reported it to the city but we were conscious that we were subletting; the landlord was aware of it and had granted permission, but we didn’t want to make waves.
I don’t think the OP is demanding a rush job at all - for example. she’s said she can live with space heaters another winter if the landlord really can’t afford to replace the unit right now.
I really think the landlord was hoping the tenants would be OK with letting things slide as they currently are, and wasn’t going to do anything until pushed a little.
Part of the problem is that it honestly didn’t occur to me that the landlord thought that the space heaters were going to be a permanent solution to the problem. I assumed (bad idea!) that it was just to allow him to save up money to get the work done. It wasn’t until the first cold snap hit, and he didn’t seem to think that any changes to the current system needed to be made, that I realized he didn’t actually intend to fix the problem.
Another issue is that, even though I’m the one who takes care of the finances, Husband is the one who is the main contact with the landlords (he isn’t working right now, so he’s the one who drops off the rent checks, chats with them when they come by to do the gardening, etc.), so all the communication has been through him. Husband is a wonderful man, but incredibly conflict-averse, so it’s very likely that he did not state clearly at the time that this wasn’t going to fly.
I will be remedying that on my lunch break when I speak with the landlord myself.
Also, Husband and I were trying to remember when the heater went out - we’re pretty sure it went out sometime in January, and it was February when the landlord told us that he wouldn’t be able to get it fixed and offered the space heaters.
As I said, we have never officially taken him up on the offer, and are still making do with the borrowed space heaters.
I think you should charge what the market can bear. If I am a tenant, I don’t really care why my rent is going up. If my rent goes up, I will look at other places on the market and then decide if I want to stay based on that information.
In exchange for a significant reduction in rent.
You notified the landlord of a serious habitability issue back in July. The landlord then has a reasonable time to fix it. I’d suggest that “reasonable time” has long past. The landlord is the jerk here, not the tenant. The repair is already long overdue. Document everything and push him. Call code enforcement.
Good that you’re going to talk to him first, but given the dishwasher incident I would still follow it up with a letter, edited to reflect whatever transpires on the call.