Consider how you might manipulate the situation to your own benefit. If you think you can live with the space heaters, you could ask for a reduction in rent to offset the added electrical (and added inconvenience) in addition to him buying the new space heaters. Maybe you can look back at your old utility bills to estimate how much. That’s money in your pocket instead of money to the landlord if he replaces the furnace and raises your rent. You also lose money by moving and you might not be able to find a place with rent similar to what you’re currently paying.
Generally, a tenant’s recourse for a lack of habitability is as follows:
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Move out. The risk is the landlord sues for the rent. This is a bigger deal in lease cases and less so in month-to-month cases.
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Withhold all rent during each month the unit is not habitable. A tenant cannot withhold rent this month for a prior month’s lack of habitability. Rent withholding is a nice hammer to get the landlord to act. The landlord may respond with a 3-day notice to pay or quit and start eviction proceedings. One eviction defense is a lack of habitability. Another is retaliatory eviction. If the tenant gets proper paperwork, etc., from Code Enforcement, then there is an automatic rebuttable presumption of retaliation. This can be helpful in cases where issues of habitability and/or retaliation are not clear cut. The risk is getting tangled up in an eviction case. In grey area cases, the court may find the problem was not severe enough to make the property uninhabitable; thus, rent withholding was not justified, and the tenant gets evicted. If the court finds withholding all rent was not justified because the problem did not render the unit completely uninhabitable, then the court will rule in favor of the tenant on the eviction (judgment for possession) but will also decide what limited portion of the rent was justified to withhold and enter a money judgment for the landlord to get the tenant to pay up the difference. It’s wise to call Code Enforcement in the process early because they can be slow and cause a huge lingering delay. In some sever cases, Code Enforcement may shut the property down, kick the tenant out, and put the landlord on the hook for relocation costs.
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Repair & Deduct. This requires certain notice to the landlord, but has been generally explained already in this thread.
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Sue the landlord for damages (i.e., having paid full rent for a unit for x number of months that was not worth full rent due to the repair problem). This is a good option for people whose repair issue may not be severe enough to render the unit uninhabitable because there is no rent withholding being done. Thus, the tenant does not risk being on the wrong side of an eviction proceeding for nonpayment of rent. There isn’t much risk in going to small claims court.
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Give notice to vacate that would be otherwise proper under the law, move out, and avoid the legal entanglements. Being on the each other’s shit list for the remainder of your tenancy may not be worth the headache.
Notably, a tenant cannot waive the warranty of habitability. Even if a tenant “agrees” to live with an uninhabitable condition, the landlord still has a duty to fix it within a reasonable time of receiving notice of the problem. The landlord cannot use such an agreement as a defense against the tenant.
California Tenants Book (free online from Dept. of Consumer Affairs)
Small Claims Court Guide (free online from Dept. of Consumer Affairs)
Also, check your local jurisdiction for rent control laws, which are typically more tenant friendly than state law. California rent control cities.
Now you need to figure out what you want to do in your situation.
Does the timer handle 1,500 Watts? I’d want to see the ratings before I used it.
It’s handled it so far for two weeks, yup.
I suggested manual rather than an electronic programmable since far more user friendly and 20% of the Lux one ($30) I saw best reviewed. And I suggested that particular model because reviewers say you can’t lose the pins. Also, the outlet will prove handy for the window ac in the summer.
For $5 more this one is 15 amp.
Update:
I got a call from the landlord at 9:30 yesterday evening, saying that he had priced heater/ac units and that if he replaced the central heating then it old cost me an additional $90/mo. He asked what I wanted to do, and I told him that Husband and I need to talk it over, and said I would get back to him in a week.
He called again this morning at 8:45 AM and asked if we had made a decision yet (!). Fortunately, we had discussed it… I told him that we just cannot afford any increase at this time, since I’ve gotten notice thatI’ll be laid off in a few months. I’ll be laid off in a few months. We went back and forth, and he refuses to offer any sort of permanent solution to the problem without a corresponding rent increase. He feels that it is unfair for me to want something for nothing - ie, a new central heater without an increase in rent to cover the cost of it. I pointed out that he has had a year to save up for the expense; he pointed out that he could have raised my rent in July when the lease expired, in order to do so.
So. We can get through the (Los Angeles) winter with no heat other than the space heaters; we can accept a rent increase that we can’t afford; we can move (which I don’t want to do until I know where I’m gonna be working in 6 months); or we can call the Department of Housing & Safety people and force him to make the repairs, which gets us 6 months that he can’t legally evict us or raise our rent, but would really piss him off and would make it mandatory that we move once those 6 months are up, plus wipe out any chance of a good reference from him.
Oy.
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I’ve never lived in LA so I have no experience re LA winter temps, but I keep my house around 55-60 degrees F in the winter in Maryland. I’ll use a few space heaters If I’m sitting a while, and throw on a sweatshirt. The only time I’ll crank the heat pump up is when it gets consistently below 50 degrees inside and I’m staying inside. Using the space heaters as needed is much less expensive than using the heat pump to heat the whole house.
I’ve heard (in years past) that many southern California houses had no central heat and the occupants got along fine. In looking at these temp ranges for Los Angeles in the winter, on a practical basis is central heat really all that big a deal or a necessity?
It’s what you’re used to. It’s 59 here and Husband and I are huddled in bed with all our blankets on and a space heater aimed at us.
Yes, we can get through the winter without heat, and we won’t die from it, which is awesome - but one of the big reasons people live here (and the demand to do so is why rents are so high) is that the weather is rarely unpleasant, and when it is less than ideal it can easily be corrected.
Going through the winter without central heat will be uncomfortable, and we will get less done than we usually would (due to most time at home being spent huddled under blankets), but it is doable. The question is, is it worth it? The law clearly states that we are in the right, that permanent heating is required to be provided.
Bad landlord! Bad! Yes, he’s in the wrong, but he’s obviously not seeing it (I assume it had working heat when you moved in, so he’s just putting it back to your move-in condition which is his responsibility since it was normal wear-and-tear that wore out the heater).
I’m sorry - I don’t think there is a good solution to this. I honestly don’t know what I’d do in that situation - my first instinct would be to stick it to the landlord who deserves it, but as you say, you don’t want to cut off your nose to spite your face.
I definitely suggest getting a radiator style oil-filled space heater like I mentioned on page 2. They are the most efficient to run – any kind of heater that heats the air is totally inefficient.
I don’t understand how if you can’t afford the market rate for a place to live (as you mentioned) and don’t know what your situation will be like when the least is up how you could put yourself in the position in which you’d get the housing authority involved. Correct me if the LA rental market is different where you are from what family\friends have told me but you’ll need to provide references from your past landlord when looking for a new place in the future. Why would anyone rent to you on one income and with bad references?
I know that new oil-filled radiators go for $35 at big box retailers. Call around and see what you can find or try craigslist; get yourself that timer so your place can be toasty when you get home from work. Get a radiator for the living room and one for the bedroom; you’ll be able to recoup 75% of the cost by selling them next winter on craigslist.
What kind of sense does this make? Any electric heater turns 100% of the electrical energy it consumes into heat. There can be differences in how it distributes that heat through the room, but not in how many kWh’s it takes to raise the average temperature of the room. You could stick 15 100w incandescent lightbulbs into a black box with a fan blowing through it and it would generate exactly as much heat as a 1500w space heater.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/repairs.shtml
Self-help measures involve reducing rent or abandonment. This site gives a good discussion of these things. Note: I’m not qualified in your jurisdiction, not your lawyer, this is not legal advice, etc.
http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=22462661
Pretty good, too…
And this
Two minutes of Googling. Not sure if it will help.
Thanks, I hadn’t seen some of that before. AAAARGH stupid world piling everything on me at once!
I believe you are correct, but the oil filled heaters aren’t a fire hazard and radiant heat in all directions rather than providing a “hot wind” as it were. OTOH, I had great results with an electric convection heater under a large window.
Oil filled radiators are safer (less likely to catch fire than a fan) and more efficient. All research indicates they’re the cheapest way to heat a room continuously because once it’s hot, it stays hot link. Even if you turn them off, they still generate heat. “Experts recommend oil-filled, radiator-style heaters for well-insulated rooms where the heater will be on for long periods of time.”
From home depot: “Convection heaters are the most energy-efficient choice for heating large, frequently used living areas for short periods of time. Convection heaters use a permanently sealed heat transfer liquid, such as oil, and an electric heating element. The liquid, which is safe from leaks and never needs to be refilled, stores heat and distributes it using the natural circulation of air in a room…”
Don’t know if this has been covered or by now my info is out of date (10 years ago) or if a school is coded diffrently than a rental but . . .
I had no heat in my classroom in LAUSD which the principal rectified with an ineffectual space heater. When I called the county I was informed that that situation was completely illegal.
I wish I could say the landlord’s reply is surprising.
I don’t think we are talking efficient at converting electricity to heat, but in heating a room comfortably. Oil filled still uses electrical current; and, like the light bulb mentioned, part of the resistance/fan forced heater energy use produces visible light, and some of the current runs a fan.
I bet with those minimum temperatures you would do very well with convection heaters under windows, but I bet the landlord doesn’t want to spring for paying to wire them.
Have you mentioned to him that like I did, he can buy the furnace/AC or convection heaters and depreciate it on his income tax for years?
I think you need to look at this long-term. If you suck it up this winter, what are you going to do next November? Suck it up again? Moving is going to suck, but do you see an option that doesn’t involve moving? No heat over the winter ever again?
I lived in LA for 35 years and for 20 of those years my only winter heat was two oil-filled radiators. I have owned them for a long long time and they still work just fine and are very efficient. I really recommend them. And, if you choose to go that route, you can put off making a decision about the apartment until you figure out where you will be working without burning any bridges. (I always vote in favor of putting off a decision, personally.)