No Heat or Water
KRS 383.640 — when a landlord willfully cuts heat, water or power, the tenant has three remedies after written notice
If the landlord willfully fails to supply heat, running water, hot water, electricity, gas or another essential service, the tenant may give written notice naming the breach and then choose one of three remedies.
- Get reasonable amounts of the service during the outage and deduct the actual, reasonable cost from the rent.
- Recover damages for the drop in the unit's fair rental value.
- Get reasonable substitute housing during the outage, owe no rent for that time, and recover reasonable attorney's fees.
Not a way to evict. A landlord may not take possession by cutting off heat, electricity, water, hot water, gas or another essential service, except on abandonment, surrender, or as the act permits.
A tenant using these remedies may not also use the repair notice or repair and deduct remedies for the same breach. These sections are part of the landlord tenant act, which applies where the city or county has adopted it.
Sources for this section (3)
- KRS 383.640 — Wrongful failure to supply essential services
- KRS 383.690 — Recovery of possession limited
- KRS 383.500 — Local governments authorized to adopt provisions of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in their entirety and without amendment
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Kentucky attorney.