Faulty workmanship runs up HUGE electric bills

[charismadea]

We have recently rented a small house in Florida(lease began Feb09) and during the months of more extreme temps (Feb. was COLD and June has been HOT) we have been running the C/H/A and recieving enormous electric bills. We recently discovered that the air handler located in the attic had not been installed properly, leaving at least an eight inch gap through which our hard earned dollars were pouring through and heating and cooling the attic!!!(an unusable space accessible only through a trap door in a closet)My husband spent two hours up there driving screws and wrapping duct tape and finally the house reaches comfortable temperatures. My question is....Can I hold my landlord responsible for some of the inflated electric costs, since it was her maintence person who did such an inexplicably poor job?Not to mention(but I will anyway...!)my husband's time and energy to fix it. To have an A/C repairperson come on a weekend and do that work would have cost her a mint, so I feel that we are due some compensenation toward the electric bills at the VERY least. Is there a legal leg to stand on here?

Stacey L.
Clearwater, Fl

Unless you gave the LL a written request to repair this and she failed to do so in a reasonable amount of time, you cannot charge her for this. She had no more knowledge of it than you did. (Doubt seriously she was there when the guy installed it wrong.) You must notify her and let her correct any problem before you may take any other legal remedies. So if you didn't ask her to fix it, you can't ask her to pay.

State laws allow certain legal remedies for problems in a rental. You can repair and deduct expenses if you notify the LL in writing and the LL fails to correct needed (not cosmetic) repairs within a reasonable amount of time. You can rent withhold by depositing rent with the clerk of court if the same thing happens and it is a habitability issue (like no heat or hot water). But unless you write the LL and request a repair, she is considered to have no knowledge of a problem. You would have to prove she knew of this problem and didn't fix it to be able to collect. Sorry.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by charismadea We have recently rented a small house in Florida(lease began Feb09) and during the months of more extreme temps (Feb. was COLD and June has been HOT) we have been running the C/H/A and recieving enormous electric bills. We recently discovered that the air handler located in the attic had not been installed properly, leaving at least an eight inch gap through which our hard earned dollars were pouring through and heating and cooling the attic!!!(an unusable space accessible only through a trap door in a closet)My husband spent two hours up there driving screws and wrapping duct tape and finally the house reaches comfortable temperatures. My question is....Can I hold my landlord responsible for some of the inflated electric costs, since it was her maintence person who did such an inexplicably poor job?Not to mention(but I will anyway...!)my husband's time and energy to fix it. To have an A/C repairperson come on a weekend and do that work would have cost her a mint, so I feel that we are due some compensenation toward the electric bills at the VERY least. Is there a legal leg to stand on here? Stacey L. Clearwater, Fl

Doing the work your husband did may have done more harm than good.

The LL is still required to make the necessary permanent repairs to fix the problem, but he could potentially come after you to pay for part of or all of the repairs to put it back the way it should have been in the first place.

LL has no idea what the condition of the air handler installation was before you messed with it - even if he believes you, he will still have a hard time now proving that the problem was caused by poor workmanship because further repairs have been done since the installation was completed. No way to prove who did what and when.

The smarter thing would have been to advise the LL when you knew there was a problem and let him handle it entirely. Your good intentions may just come back to bite you.

Hope you don't end up having to pay MORE for this mistake...