Electrical Issues in Rental Housing: Safety and Reporting

Your landlord is responsible for repairing the wiring, outlets, switches, light fixtures, and electrical panel in your rental, unless you or a guest caused the damage. Report any electrical problem in writing, and treat sparks, a burning or rubbery smell, warm or discolored outlets or switches, a shock from an appliance, and loss of power to part of the unit as urgent. If you see smoke or flames, get out and call 911. You can safely reset a tripped breaker or a GFCI outlet and replace a bulb with one of the right wattage, but work behind a cover plate or inside the panel belongs to a qualified electrician arranged by the landlord.

Which electrical repairs are the landlord's?

• California: Civil Code section 1941.1 requires electrical lighting, with wiring and electrical equipment that met the law when installed, "maintained in good working order." California treats a unit that substantially lacks it as untenantable, meaning legally unfit to live in.
• Washington: the landlord must keep all electrical facilities it supplies in reasonably good working order.
• Texas: the landlord must make a diligent effort to repair any condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant. You must give notice of the condition to the person or place where you normally pay rent and be current on rent when you give it. Seven days is presumed a reasonable time, and the severity of the hazard can make a shorter time reasonable.

Your own lamps, cords, power strips, and appliances are yours to replace. Damage you cause is also yours: Washington and Texas relieve the landlord of the repair duty for conditions the tenant or a guest caused, and California's tenant guide names overloading electrical outlets as an example of improper use. Working electricity is part of your right to a habitable home.

Which electrical problems are emergencies?

Here is what to do first. Except for smoke and a power loss, each sign below is on the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) list of reasons to call your landlord or a qualified electrician.

Our guide to emergency repairs covers reaching a landlord after hours.

What you can safely check yourself

1. Reset a tripped breaker. First turn off or unplug appliances on the affected circuit. Open the panel door and find the breaker whose handle sits at off or between on and off. Push it fully off, then back on. If it trips again right away, leave it off and report it.
2. Reset a GFCI outlet. A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet has "test" and "reset" buttons and cuts power when it senses a shock risk; CPSC recommends them in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, unfinished basements, and near laundry tubs. Press "reset." To test one, plug in a lamp, press "test" (the lamp should go off), then press "reset" (it should come back on). If either step fails, ask the landlord to replace the outlet.
3. Replace a blown fuse with the same size. Before removing the fuse, unplug lamps and appliances that were in use when the circuit failed, and turn off power at the main switch. CPSC warns that the wrong size can let wiring overheat; if you do not know the size, ask the landlord.
4. Use the right bulb. Match the wattage marked on the fixture. If it is not marked, CPSC suggests 60 watts or less.
5. Unload outlets. NFPA says to plug major appliances, such as refrigerators, dryers, washers, and stoves, directly into a wall outlet rather than an extension cord or power strip, and to run only one heat-producing appliance, such as a space heater or toaster, per outlet at a time.

Leave everything else to an electrician: removing cover plates, replacing outlets, switches, fixtures, or breakers, and opening the panel's inner cover. NFPA advises having all electrical work done by a qualified electrician. Even where state law lets you arrange a repair and deduct its cost from rent, it limits who can do the work: Texas requires an independent contractor, licensed where the city requires it, and bars you and your family from doing the work, and Washington requires licensed or registered workers where the law requires them. For exits and other fire protections your unit needs, see fire safety in your rental, and make sure your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors work.

What if the landlord cuts the power or does not restore it?

A landlord who shuts off your electricity to pressure you out, or for any reason other than repairs or an emergency, breaks the law in many states:

One exception matters in Texas apartments where the landlord bills you for electricity measured by a unit meter or split from the building's bill. That landlord can disconnect it for an unpaid electric bill if your written lease allows it, the bill is unpaid 12 days after it was issued, and you received a separate written "electricity termination notice" at least 5 days ahead. It cannot disconnect during freezing weather or a heat advisory.

If your lease says the landlord pays the electric bill and the utility cuts service because the landlord did not pay, Texas lets you pay the utility to reconnect and deduct that amount from rent, with the utility's receipt, or end the lease in writing and move out within 30 days of the utility's notice.

When power stays off because of a repair problem:

1. Write to the landlord with the date and time the power went out and which rooms are affected, and keep a copy.
2. Ask your city or county code enforcement office to inspect if the landlord does not respond. In Texas, you can use repair and deduct for an electrical problem only after a local official notifies the landlord in writing that it affects health or safety. Texas Property Code section 92.0561 also requires you to notify the landlord that you intend to arrange repairs and describe the proposed work. For an ordinary electrical hazard, you may arrange the work only if the landlord has not remedied the condition within seven days after delivery of your notice of intent to repair. Deductions cannot exceed the greater of one month's rent or $500 per repair or in total per month.
3. Never run a portable generator indoors; Ready.gov warns against it.

For the wording of a written request, see how to report maintenance issues to your landlord.