Colorado landlord question

[sudofdisk]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

I own a house and rent to tenants. They informed me that the AC was not keeping up so I sent a service company out to look at it. The service company called me and said that it needed some general maintenance which I authorized. They called me back and said that while the employee was doing the maintenance he mistakenly broke the condenser and that they would repair it at no cost, but it was going to take a week to get the part. They provided my tenants with portable cooling units. This was almost a month ago, the AC place is having difficulty getting the part from the supplier. They just informed me that it should now be arriving Monday the 18th.

What is my obligation to my tenants? They report that the portable units are helping but it is still too warm for their liking.


Can I request some kind of compensation from the AC company? They have caused my tenants to go without AC (but provided a semi-solution) for over a month.


Thank you for your time.

 

[Zigner]

Sure, you can ask...but how do you even know how much to ask for?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

I own a house and rent to tenants. They informed me that the AC was not keeping up so I sent a service company out to look at it. The service company called me and said that it needed some general maintenance which I authorized. They called me back and said that while the employee was doing the maintenance he mistakenly broke the condenser and that they would repair it at no cost, but it was going to take a week to get the part. They provided my tenants with portable cooling units. This was almost a month ago, the AC place is having difficulty getting the part from the supplier. They just informed me that it should now be arriving Monday the 18th.

What is my obligation to my tenants? They report that the portable units are helping but it is still too warm for their liking.


Can I request some kind of compensation from the AC company? They have caused my tenants to go without AC (but provided a semi-solution) for over a month.


Thank you for your time.

When you say "it is still too warm for their liking", does that mean that it is still pretty hot in the house or that they like it really cool and the portable units aren't cutting it? Are those your words or theirs?

Whether or not you need to do something really depends on how serious the problem is. "too warm for their liking" implies a somewhat trivial problem.

 

[Zigner]

When you say "it is still too warm for their liking", does that mean that it is still pretty hot in the house or that they like it really cool and the portable units aren't cutting it? Are those your words or theirs?

Whether or not you need to do something really depends on how serious the problem is. "too warm for their liking" implies a somewhat trivial problem.

@sudofdisk - are the tenants asking for compensation?

 

[adjusterjack]

Can I request some kind of compensation from the AC company? They have caused my tenants to go without AC (but provided a semi-solution) for over a month.

Is anybody (you, your tenants) losing any money over all this?

If not, you have nothing to ask for.

 

[sudofdisk]

When you say "it is still too warm for their liking", does that mean that it is still pretty hot in the house or that they like it really cool and the portable units aren't cutting it? Are those your words or theirs?

Whether or not you need to do something really depends on how serious the problem is. "too warm for their liking" implies a somewhat trivial problem.

They said they normally keep the house at 70 and the portable units are only cooling to 75 and only in parts of the house.

@sudofdisk - are the tenants asking for compensation?

Not as of yet, I am just trying to prepare for the possibility. They are good tenants and we have a good relationship, I want to keep it that way.

Is anybody (you, your tenants) losing any money over all this?

If not, you have nothing to ask for.

No one is losing money currently, I just wanted to make sure if they ask for some kind of compensation I know what the right thing to do. I read a little about what makes a residence uninhabitable under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-12-505 which mentions non-functioning appliances and I don't know if that includes AC.

Thank you all for your replies, they are helpful. Please keep them coming.

 

[adjusterjack]

There is nothing uninhabitable about a residence being cooled to 75 degrees. If they normally keep the place to 70 I hope they are paying for their own electric.

Being good tenants doesn't mean they get to take advantage of you.

 

[Taxing Matters]

You are not required by Colorado state law to make the place as cool as they want it. Local city and county codes may impose greater requirements than the state does, but I'm not aware of any locality that goes so far as to mandate a/c that can go down to 70°F. The issue is more a contractual one, and without reading the lease I cannot say for sure that the tenants have no remedy for the unit being warmer than they want. You've apparently done every reasonable thing you can do to get the A/C working correctly again, and as a result it's likely that a lawsuit against you for this would fail unless the contract provides some assure that they'll be able to have a particular temperature in the place. Moreover, on most days in most parts of Colorado this wouldn't be that big a deal except for the string of unusually hot days we've had. You are not responsible for God cranking up the heat over our state.

 

[LdiJ]

I agree with AJ and TM. 75 is perfectly acceptable for AC. Most HAC guys set their thermostats at 76. I understand that they prefer cooler, but I don't think that you owe them any compensation either. However, because they are good tenants and you want to keep them, you might offer them a discount off next month's rent.

 

[sudofdisk]

Thank you all very much.

I did decide to give them a small break on next month's rent and they were very appreciative. It is a not fun situation for all involved, that being said I greatly appreciate the information provided by everyone in this thread.