our heat went out!

[SnowyShiloh]

Our heater has stopped working! It's 50 degrees inside. Paul called the apartment management this morning before he left for work. They said they'd send someone out sometime, I wonder if this means today? I hope so, I have things I want to do that don't involve sitting on the couch waiting for the repairman. And thank GOODNESS the heat went out now and not some other time, it's 16 degrees outside right now whereas a couple weeks ago it was 40 below zero! If we hadn't frozen to death during the night, we would have had to pack up all the pets and plants and take refuge at a friends' place.

Has anyone had their heat go out in their apartment before? How long does it usually take to fix? They can't charge us, can they? When we moved in, none of the telephone lines worked and they told us it was OUR responsibility to pay for the phone company to come out and fix it :X

 

[slavetoabunny]

Brrr.....that sounds cold! And to think it's 60 degrees outside and I have my space heater running in my office because I'm freezing.

I'm certain they can't charge you to fix that. It's part of providing a habitable place to live. I've seen cases like this on Judge Judy and the tenant always wins.

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

We had our electric go out in an ice storm about a month ago, we dont live in an apartment , we had to wait for the electric company to fix it which took 2 1/2 days!!!!!!!.no electric meant no heat,lol.It was freezing in our house, and we only a small generator to heat the house. For the animals I got blankets and all the yards of fleece that i had and put it around their cages to keep them warm.



Hope you get your heater fixed soon, you could always get an electric heater to plug into a room to keep you guys warm.

 

[pamnock]

Telephone lines are generally the renter's responsibility.

Unless your rental agreement states otherwise, the landlordshould beresponsible for furnace repairs.

One of our renters calledme at 6:00 this morning to say their furnace was out. I had a small electric heater for them to use until my hubby came home. Luckily, it appears to be a cheap fix - the gas apparently went out for some reason, but is ok now.

I'd advise purchasing a small portable heater to use for emergencies.

Hope you are warm again soon!



Pam

 

[maherwoman]

Yeah, they shouldn't be charging you to fix that, if you weren't the cause of it needing fixing. They shouldn't have asked you to pay for the phone wires being fixed, either. Ugh...people...lol...

Anyway, I hope your heater gets fixed SOON! Keep us posted, ok?

 

[trailsend]

I hope you get your heat fixed quickly! I've lived without heat before, but not in an apartment, in an old farm house one winter. I had a wood furnace that didn't work and that was all... So I feel for you! Plus it's cold in Fairbanks!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Hooray! A guy came out and fixed it! It's nice and warm again Bunnies rejoice! I was getting worried about my birds because cockatiels were not designed for such temperatures. The guy didn't even come into our apartment, I could hear him banging around in the one next to us though. I wonder if everyone's heat was out? That would make sense.

As far as the phone lines, I don't see why it should have been our responsibility. Of course we expect to pay the phone company for service, but none of the lines worked after we had service set up because the lines themselves were damaged when we moved in. Pam, since you rent to people, why would something like that be the renters' responsibility? In any case, Paul's Dad brought some stuff over and fixed it himself so we didn't have to pay anyone for it :biggrin2: The apartment also wasn't cleaned before we moved in, which was pretty darn gross especially since the previous tenants smoked and were slobs. The management said they had cleaned it and we weren't able to check before signing the lease because the office is several miles from the apartment, we didn't get the keys until after we signed the lease and we didn't have any reason to think they'd lie about something so simple.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Also, more good news! I called the apartment management about leasing our apartment for another year since it expires in May, and they said that would be great! I also told them that we will soon be getting our third bunny and they said that isn't a problem I'm so glad! The things I've mentioned are the only issues we've had and they had a guy out hear to fix the heat within less than 3 hours, which is pretty nice. Plus the apartment is one of the very few pet friendly ones we've found and it's super close to where Paul works and where I'll be working soon, as well as everything else so we don't have to spend a ton on gas.

If they'd said they didn't want to rent to us again, that would have been okay because there's another place that's nicer, has 2 bedroom apartments and costs $200 more per month to rent and we could move there, but I'm glad we're staying here. We might try to move to the other place (called Yak Estates, how lovely) next year.

 

[maherwoman]

Wow...good news! Glad to hear they're okay with you having Mr. Monroe!

I'm also happy to hear your heater is now fixed, and you can warm up again!

Hope things continue going so well!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Well, I was all set to reply saying you poor thing having no heating etc...

But now I can say, yay! I'm glad it's fixed for you! And that's great that they're ok with Monroe arriving as well... :biggrin2:

 

[pamnock]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

As far as the phone lines, I don't see why it should have been our responsibility. Of course we expect to pay the phone company for service, but none of the lines worked after we had service set up because the lines themselves were damaged when we moved in. Pam, since you rent to people, why would something like that be the renters' responsibility?

Phones are an optional "luxury" that most landlords don't cover. We also don't pay for any expenses associated with cable. This may be different in apartment buildings (We rent out houses).

Things like heat, water & electric are necessities.

Pam

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Ah, ok. Thanks, Pam

Paul wanted to move when the lease ran out because our apartment is so little, but I suggested we go through all our stuff and get rid of things we don't need anymore and see if the apartment seemed sufficient after that. We did, and had SO much stuff to give to good will! It does seem like we have more space now and he agreed that we should just stay here longer, it's so convenient to everything (except school unfortunately which is on the other side of town). When we move to Yak Estates, we won't be closer than 10 minutes to anything. Yak Estates allows cats and dogs, but I think I just want my bunnos. We could potentially put them in the second bedroom, but I really like having them in the living room where I can see them all the time.

Thanks for the positive thoughts, everyone! And to make the day even nicer: Yesterday we went to Sam's Club to get the fancier model KitchenAid mixer (Paul gave one to my for my birthday a couple weeks ago, but he got it at a different store b/c Sam's Club was out. This new one, while silver instead of red, cost $40 less and has a more powerful motor) which I'm going to make bread dough with tonight, and a box just arrived holding a very nice indoor grill from my mom, this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001XASWQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It is a late birthday present. I'm so spoiled!