Walk It Through: The Air Conditioning In July
A dead air conditioner, a leaking roof and a backed up drain, in a Nevada rental.
July, and the air conditioning the landlord supplies stops working.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One rental through a summer and a fall. Retaliation, conditions the tenant caused, the full list of what makes a unit habitable, and how a court sets damages are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Essential serviceHeat, air conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, a working door lock or another essential item a landlord is required to supply. A willful or negligent failure that makes the place unfit, left unremedied 48 hours after written notice with weekends and holidays excepted, opens the tenant's remedies.
- HabitableThe condition a landlord keeps a unit in throughout the tenancy. It is not habitable if it violates housing or health codes or substantially lacks weatherproofing, working plumbing, hot and cold running water, adequate heat, safe electrical systems, or the air conditioning and appliances the landlord supplies, among other things.
- Rent escrowThe account the justice court provides for rent a tenant withholds over a habitability failure the landlord did not remedy within 14 days of written notice.
- Repair and deductHaving a smaller repair done after 14 days' written notice and deducting the reasonable cost from rent, where it costs less than $100 or one month's rent, whichever is greater, up to that amount in any 12 month period.