HVAC Maintenance: Tenant and Landlord Responsibilities

Your landlord is responsible for keeping the heating system it provides in working order: California and Washington require working heat in rentals, and Florida and New York City require landlords of apartment buildings to supply heat in the cold months. Air conditioning is different: it is usually required only when your lease includes it or a state or local law, such as Arizona's statute or Phoenix's housing code, requires the landlord to maintain cooling it has installed. Your part is routine care, such as using the system properly, keeping vents clear, and changing filters if your lease gives you that job, plus reporting a failure as soon as it happens.

Does your landlord have to provide heat?

The duty comes from different laws, and Texas has no specific statewide heat rule:

• California: A rental is legally untenantable, meaning unfit to rent, if it substantially lacks heating facilities that met code when installed and are maintained in good working order.
• Washington: The landlord must provide facilities adequate to supply heat as reasonably required and keep the heating system and any appliances it supplies in reasonably good working order.
• Florida: For apartments and other units that are not single-family homes or duplexes, the landlord must provide functioning facilities for heat during winter, unless you agreed otherwise in writing. For a house or duplex, the duty comes from the local housing code.
• Texas: No statewide temperature rule applies. The landlord must make a diligent effort to repair a condition that materially affects the health or safety of an ordinary tenant once you give notice, and the repair law names landlord-provided heating or cooling equipment that produces inadequate heat or cooled air.

Local codes often set the temperature. In New York City, from October 1 through May 31, the indoor temperature must be at least 68°F from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. when it is below 55°F outside, and at least 62°F overnight regardless of the outdoor temperature. Hot water must stay at 120°F all year. In Phoenix, heating installed in a rental must be able to warm every habitable room and bathroom to 70°F. For New York's statewide rules, see heat and hot water rights in New York.

When is air conditioning required?

California's list of required features includes heat but not cooling, and Maryland's rent escrow law presumes a missing air conditioner is not a dangerous defect unless it creates a serious threat to health or safety.

The rule changes when the landlord supplies the equipment:

Under Texas Property Code sections 92.056 and 92.0561, you must be current on rent when giving the required notices, and the landlord's repair duty must not have been validly waived. Give the repair request to the person or place where you normally pay rent. Send a second written notice after a reasonable repair period unless the first used certified mail with return receipt requested, registered mail, or another USPS or private delivery service with delivery tracking. At least one repair notice must say you intend to arrange repairs and describe the planned work. The landlord must have had a reasonable repair opportunity after the required notices and failed to make diligent repair efforts. Repairs generally require an independent contractor, and total repairs and deductions in any month cannot exceed the greater of one month's rent or $500.

If your lease lists air conditioning as included, treat it like any other appliance the landlord supplied: report a breakdown in writing and keep a copy.

What tenants are responsible for

The law expects you to use the system properly. Florida requires tenants to use and operate heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning equipment in a reasonable manner, and Washington requires tenants to properly use the heating fixtures and appliances the landlord supplies. Damage you, your household, or your guests cause is your responsibility: the landlord does not have to repair it in Florida, Texas, or Washington.

Your lease fills in the details. Common tenant tasks include:

1. Filters: Replace or clean the air filter on the schedule your lease or the equipment label sets, if the lease assigns this to you.
2. Vents: Keep furniture, rugs, and curtains off the vents that blow air out and the larger grilles that pull air back in.
3. Clearance: Keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet from radiators, space heaters, and other heat sources, as the U.S. Fire Administration advises.
4. Equipment: Adjust only the thermostat, and leave repairs inside the furnace or the indoor and outdoor units to the landlord's technician.
5. Reporting: Tell the landlord in writing when the system turns on and off every few minutes, leaks water, makes new noises, or stops reaching the set temperature.

You may also pay the gas or electric bill that runs the system; Florida allows a lease to make the tenant pay for fuel and utilities. See who pays which utilities.

How fast must a heating or cooling failure be fixed?

A loss of heat is treated as urgent. Washington requires the landlord to start repairs within 24 hours after written notice that the unit has no heat. In New York City, if an owner does not restore heat after receiving a violation and the indoor temperature was below 64°F from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. or below 58°F from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., HPD's Emergency Repair Program may hire a contractor and bill the owner for repairs plus related fees. Texas's 3-day repair-and-deduct option for inadequate heat or cooling depends on meeting all the requirements above; the state presumes 7 days is a reasonable repair time for other conditions. Arizona lets you act on a cooling or heating failure after reasonable notice, without a fixed waiting period.

For other states' deadlines, see how long your landlord has to make repairs.

What to do while you wait

1. Report it in writing and by phone. Use the emergency maintenance line, then send a dated written notice. Write down the indoor temperature with the date and time each day the problem lasts.
2. Call code enforcement if the landlord does not respond. In New York City, file a heat complaint through 311 after contacting the landlord.
3. Use space heaters safely. Turn them off when you leave the room or go to bed, keep them 3 feet from anything that can burn, and never use an oven to heat your home. Phoenix's code also bans unvented fuel-burning space heaters and using a stove or oven for heat.
4. Get somewhere cool in a heat wave. The CDC says to use fans only when the indoor temperature is below 90°F, because above that a fan can raise your body temperature. Go to an air-conditioned place, or dial 2-1-1 to find a cooling center.
5. Keep receipts. Space heater, fan, and hotel costs can support a deduction or a damages claim where your state allows one, such as Arizona's substitute housing remedy.

If a heating failure leads to frozen or burst pipes, see plumbing problems in your rental. For how to write the notice and escalate when nothing happens, see how to report maintenance issues to your landlord, and for after-hours failures, see emergency repairs.