Heat issues with tenant

[Warped]

What is the name of your state?VA

I recently inherited rental property from my mother. The property consists of two older houses that have been split into upstairs/downstairs duplexes. I reside in the lower part of one house and have for years.


I have a tenant above me that has been renting from my mother for about 5 years and is generally a good tenant. I need to cover a little history here before I proceed. This tenant moved in 5 years ago with the knowledge that the existing gas wall furnace was inoperative and that we would supply electric powered, oil filled radiator style heaters and she was fine with that.


Before my mother's passing, she had a friend who also owns rental property install a new gas wall furnace in the apartment in question around April of this year but the city inspector rejected the furnace because of new venting regulations that we were unaware of. During that time, I was busy working and taking care of my mother until mid September when she finally passed away due to cancer. My mother had her friend install this heater in a good faith effort to give this tenant a more energy efficient heat source.

The tenant reminded me in mid to late November about the heater so I shopped around online and in stores looking for a gas wall furnace that was similar to the original one and finally found a supplier that sold them but when I called a contractor that I've used before to install it, he told me that it too would not pass the current venting laws. He agreed to come by or send one of his foremen by to see what kind of solution we could come up with. The contractor missed the first appointment due to an emergency call from another client and set up another appointment for this coming Monday. In total it has been almost two weeks (one week since the cancelled appointment) and he hasn't been able to get over here because this is his busy time of year and I work pretty much the same hours as he does during the day. I've called other contractors and been given the same wait times. I've taken this coming Monday off to meet him at the apartment so he can check it out and come up with a solution. This is the earliest appointment he has been able to manage for me.

In the mean time, the tenant still has the radiator heaters which are in perfect operating condition but she claims that they are an "illegal" heat source and is alluding to taking legal action against me. Friday when I arrived at home her boyfriend, who does not live with her, had left a nasty-gram in my mailbox about the heat situation. What I need to know is, are the electric radiator style heaters indeed an illegal heat source for a small apartment? I read the Virginia L/T laws and it only states that the rental property is to have sufficient heat but it does not stipulate what source of heat is legal and which is not. I would appreciate any help any of you could offer in this!

 

[FarmerJ]

The thing is that the unit has a regular source of heat in it and its not working , that in itself is enough to make some cities inspections units come out and write a work order to force the repair . so what you need to do is document the attempts you are making at getting the unit operating and if you have to consider paying a higher labor fee to get faster service . Your local inspections unit will not care to hear about your recent loss and time spent with that and any other ill family member , you are considered a LL who is in a business and your business means that you must provide safe mechanical systems that work as they are supposed to . so just get your proof in order and hope it is accepted by a court should there be any further complaint from the tenant about the heat not working .

 

[Warped]

VA

Thanks for the response FarmerJ. I've been doing all of the maintenance work that didn't require inspection by the city on my mom's apartments for years but she always took care of the legal end of things. Anything to do with natural gas or electrical work has always been done by a contractor. Does it matter any that this woman moved in there with the foreknowledge that the apartment was heated with the electric radiator heaters? How would I go about proving that in court should that become necessary? The tenant signed a basic Office Depot 1 year lease when she moved in but when that expired, my mom didn't issue a new one. The old one doesn't say anything about what type of heat or heating source would be supplied.

I hope I'm not giving the wrong impression here. I'm absolutely not trying to give the woman the runaround or absolve myself of the promise that my mom made her to get a gas heater up there. I'm just at the mercy of the contractor(s) at the moment. I think I'm going to set up appointments with other contractors tomorrow while I wait on the first one to come, just in case. At least that way I'll be covered on that end.

 

[Who's Liable?]

As long as you are making a good faith effort to supply heat, calling, maiking appointments, and can prove it, there is nothing you or your tenant can do... She'll just have to be a little cold...

Another option is to let her out of the lease... you said she was on a yearly lease, but it ran out, that means she is on a month-to-month lease, and you can legally aske her to move out. Provided you give her 30-days notice...

 

[Warped]

As long as you are making a good faith effort to supply heat, calling, maiking appointments, and can prove it, there is nothing you or your tenant can do... She'll just have to be a little cold...

Another option is to let her out of the lease... you said she was on a yearly lease, but it ran out, that means she is on a month-to-month lease, and you can legally aske her to move out. Provided you give her 30-days notice...

The damned contractor broke the appointment again today but swears on his life that he will be here tomorrow. The tenant hasn't been cold up there other than when she turns the heaters off and leaves for 8 hours in 40* weather. Hopefully this will be resolved after tomorrow afternoon. Thanks again for your help Who's Liable?