I am debating on my next action. My fiance and I moved into our current apartment in August. It is a 2 bedroom apartment, and there are 8 similar units in this building. The building is 3 stories tall- the first floor is 4 garage stalls, storage, and laundry. The second and third stories are all apartments, 4 on each level. There are two hallways with stairwells separating apartment buildings that go all of the way down to the garage level. The problem we are having is with heat, in Michigan, in winter. The outside windows are all single pane (Which sucks) and it is hard to keep the place warm with the electric heat that is in place (Which we regulate and pay for). Until 2 days ago, the heat in the common areas (Hallways, stairwells, and storage areas) had been on and had been keeping these areas warm. On Monday, the landlord decided that heating the common areas with electric heat was too expensive, and turned it all off. Flipped the breaker off, so no heat at all in common areas. They are now cold. The thermometer I put out there says 45 degrees. Given that it is an apartment building where the common areas of the building are typically heated, the insulation towards the inside of the building isn't great, if is even there at all. The front door of our unit is just a wooden door: large gap underneath, no weather stripping. My question is whether the landlord is responsible for these areas. I understand that if this was a house, outside would not be heated- but it also would likely be insulated for the cold. What actions do you think should be taken in this situation? Do I have any standing for making any sort of arguement, or am I going to have to suck it up and pay up when the electric bill comes, since apparently I am now responsible for heating common areas? Cliff notes... (Sorry that got long, but I figured I would consult with MNsubaru Location: Apartment in Michigan Concern: Common areas of the apartment building have no heat (45 degrees currently) Question: What should my next move be? Go Packers!
24. COLD WEATHER RULE Regulated Utilities The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission developed the Cold Weather Rule to protect a tenant (or homeowner) from having their heat source disconnected in winter if they are unable to pay their utility bills. The rule is in effect from October 15 through April 15 and applies to utilities regulated by the state. Minn. R. 7820.1500 (1993). The Cold Weather Rule does not prohibit shut-offs but does provide three levels of protection: 1) Inability to Pay status, Minn. R. 7820.1900 (1993); 2) Ten Percent Plan, Minn. R. 7820.1600, subp. (5)(a); Minn. R. 7820.1900 (1993); and 3) Payment Schedule, Minn. R. 7820.1600, subp. 4; Minn. R. 7820.2100 (1993). In order to qualify for Inability to Pay status or the Ten Percent Plan a tenant's annual income must not be more than 185 percent of the federal poverty level (current poverty level is $14,800 for a family of four, so income must be less than $27, 380 to qualify for this plan) and the tenant must be willing to set up and keep a payment plan. Eligibility for Inability to Pay status requires the tenant to have a current account as of October 15 when the Cold Weather Rule season begins. Any residential customer, regardless of income or account status, may qualify for a payment schedule. Minn. R. 7820.2100 (1993). The rule also provides a Reconnection Plan for those who meet the income guidelines and whose service remains disconnected on October 15. Minn. R. 7820.2300 (1993). For more information about eligibility, or about applying for protection under the Cold Weather Rule, contact your local utility or call the Consumer Affairs Office of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission at (612) 296-0406. Unregulated Utilities Customers of unregulated utilities - cooperative electric associations and municipal utilities - also have some protection from having their heat source disconnected in the winter. Minn. R. 7820.1600, subp. (6)(a) (1993). A municipal utility or a cooperative electric association cannot shut off the service of a residential customer between October 15 and April 15 if: The disconnection would affect the primary heat source. The customer has declared an inability to pay on forms provided by the utility. The household income of the customer is less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. The customer has no overdue bills from the billing period immediately before October 15 (or, if there was an overdue bill, the customer had arranged with the utility to repay it and is reasonably current in making scheduled payments under the repayment plan). Minn. R. 7820.1800 (1993). Regulations for Disconnection Without receipt of a written disconnection notice, a customer's utility service cannot be shut off. The consumer must be informed of the date that disconnection will occur, the reason for disconnection, and options to avoid disconnection. The notice must be written in easy-to-understand language and must be issued at least five days prior to disconnection, excluding Sundays and legal holidays. Minn. R. 7820.2400 (1993).
Does your landlord have to keep your apartment warm? State Law There is no Minnesota law requiring a landlord to maintain a specific temperature for their tenants. However, some state laws offer tenants a few options. Minnesota Statute § 504B.161 requires that every landlord of residential premises, whether the lease is in writing or oral, do the following: keep the premises and all common areas fit for the use intended by the parties; keep the premises in reasonable repair during the term of the lease or license; maintain the premises in compliance with the applicable health and safety laws of the state. Additionally, Minnesota Statute § 504B.381 allows a tenant to file an ETRA (Emergency Tenant Remedies Action) with the courts for the loss of running water, hot water, heat, electricity, sanitary facilities, or other essential services or facilities that the landlord is responsible for providing. If you have a question about the requirements for heat in your city and/or what rights you have to enforce a city code or a state law, call our tenant hotline: (612) 728-5767 … or call us toll-free from Greater MN at: (866) 866-3546 http://www.results.net/US/MN/Brooklyn_Center/Blog/Does_Your_City_Have_a_Heat_Code http://homelinemn.org/blog/2010/09/16/are-you-in-for-a-chilly-winter-lack-of-state-heat-code-or-local-ordinance-could-leave-tenants-in-places-like-bemidji-hastings-and-minnetonka-in-the-cold/
http://www.mi.gov/ Every state has different tenant rights. Changes between counties too sometimes. Look them up. Some cold weather areas have some sort of "must heat to 6x degrees xx amount of feet from the floor and exterior wall" law that you could probably pursue.
oops... oh well, still good info. search for similar. google is your friend. I read this: ortho004 Spectator Join Date Oct 2008 Location Minneapolis Posts 184
Yeah maybe I should change that... I did look it up, but couldn't find anything on common/public areas of apartment buildings. The only thing I found was that they have to provide the ability to heat your "dwelling" to 70, which I could probably do, if I left my heat cranked. Not sure if the hallway of the building is part of the dwelling, and whether turning the heat off constitutes a "reasonable and healthy" maintenance of public area.
Are you or your wife currently in school? If so, do they provide any discounted or free legal services?
I am, but I haven't looked into it yet here. I know U. of MN. did, and I would assume there is something similar here. Hoping to get this taken care of without going that route, but documenting everything at this point just in case.
Take pictures, of the windows, door frame, thermometer, everything. Especially over time. In and out of your apartment. Can never have too much info/proof.
Unless you find the laws specific to this I bet you'll end up in the same boat I was in with my apartment down here in TX, except it was heat instead of cold and it really doesn't deal with common areas (because I have none here). As long as your heat or AC can keep up with the inefficient weatherproofing then they don't have to do anything. Your electricity/gas bill will become tremendous to cope with the heating needs but that isn't any impact to the landlord because he's not paying your bills. However if your heat isn't keeping up with the cold air drafts from the windows and doors then they'll probably have to get you a bigger heater (if possible) or do a better job weatherproofing. After a lot of documentation and testing of my apartment's HVAC inefficiency they finally agreed to upgrade me to a 2-ton unit and redid the weatherstripping on my garage, entry, and patio doors. Windows are still crappy (but at least they're double-pane).
Common areas are the responsibility of the property owners if heated separately from tenant heat. ie if its a house they tenants end up paying and if an apt building then the landlord pays. I was able to put rent into escro till the landlord turned it on the one time I had to deal with a situation like this, but that was MN. I would suggest getting a hold of someone at the city that deals with rental housing, and they usually can give you good information and advice as to your legal rights as a tenant. Or the dick move is nit pick a bunch of little things wrong with the building like, Fire Doors blocked by garbage cans near Elevators, Paint chipping and pealing, an other little stuff like that. Then report that to the Housing Authority and they will give the place a look over and if its only 45 degrees in hallways that will be noted in the report. But the downfall to this is if they find enough problems the can condem the building till the landlord fixes it up and has a new evaluation, but that means our out of a place to stay till then.
I would be really surprised if they can legally NOT heat the common areas. Send a letter to the MI Attorney General and your state legislature representative. They'll point you in the right direction. Also search the MI government site for "Tenant Rights" or similar. Edit: this looks like a great place to start http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dleg/Tenants_and_Landlords_304581_7.pdf
I found this, and didn't see anything specific to heat. My apartment was 55 when I woke up this morning... Thanks StanmoXT, we will see what happens today...
Not that you shouldn't pursue the landlord to get the heat turned on, but you might also think about what you can do to drop your cost and make things more comfortable. Stick on weather strips are a few bucks at Home Depot and would seal the door and help a lot. Putting plastic up on the windows is cheap and does a lot to keep the heat in. This would probably make a huge difference in both comfort and cost. I have lived in old houses all my life and found it to be very helpful.
I just hope you don't burn the fly rod that I built you to stay warm. Did you ever end up trying it out?
Haven't yet resorted to burning things, but that is one of the last things on the list...There just isn't much there to provide heat. I finally have a reel and line for the rod, but haven't fished with it yet-- fall ended up being a blur, and the fishing I did was for musky (For which a 2wt. would not have been anywhere near appropriate). I never put weatherstripping on the door to the hallway, since the hall was about the same temperature until recently. I have the plastic over the windows currently, but can't say whether it helps much or not (First winter here, and I put it up before it really got cold).
My link included this I would hope you intend to use the common areas as one normally expects; lack of heat inside a building is not fit for the normal intended use of the tenants. You can probably also angle the lack of heat in the common areas is negatively impacting the state of repair, or in other words aiding to a state of disrepair of the common area. I'd also find it hard to believe that a lack of heat in the common area would be acceptable to MI's health and safety laws. Hey when in doubt, you could always call the police, fire department, or city and register a complaint. And another thought, do the common areas have fire sprinklers? If so, definitely get the fire department involved. Those things could burst and pose a hazard to the tenants.
It does help a lot. You can peel back the plastic on one and feel inside. It will be much colder. If you ever end up with a window lacking the plastic you'll be able to feel the difference. Add the door strip. It will also make a difference. No sense wasting heat while waiting for your landlord to see reason.
I am in Houghton, in a building on 7th near Agate. The good news is he agreed to turn it back on, as long as it stays on low. The complaint he had was that the electricity bill was too high- to which I suggested that if heat is such a problem, put a sign, or even a lockbox near the thermostat (Which only has low, normal, and high settings). Apparently he doesn't want to do that, instead he would rather just turn it off to make a point. I am still contemplating whether to report it or not...
You should report it, doesn't matter if he turned it back on or not. The bill is too high? No ****! It's wintertime, it's one of the more cold winters that the midwest has had, and MI ALWAYS gets real cold in the wintertime. If he has never seen a high heat bill where the **** has he been living? If it's really such a problem, he should look into other means of paying for the heat, such as raising everyone's rent a slight bit to cover the costs. This sounds like laziness on the landlord's part, and while laziness isn't illegal, everything that the people mentioned in this thread is - such as fire sprinklers that could burst, leaks that could get worse because of expanding ice in the cracks, etc. So it comes down to this: does he want to pay a bit more to heat the common areas now, or pay out his ass later on when everything starts breaking down? I hate landlords, this is a reason i won't rent again. I had a similar situation here in minneapolis, the whole place was old and never got repaired when the previous owner sold it to the landlord. They basically went in, and said ok lets rent it out. There were leaks on all the faucets, my water would shut off upstairs in my kitchen if the girl downstairs used her sink, they never put vent covers in so i had open vents on my cielings, there was a door that couldn't be locked that led to outside, and the worst thing - the absolute worst thing, was that the stove smelled like gas... which made the whole kitchen smell like gas. I was afraid to even BE in my apartment. And the landlady did nothing to help me, all she did was complain that maybe i shouldn't have been a week late on my rent a couple of times. Even when i complained that hey there MAY be a gas leak... nothing. I could have won that case but I just took my stuff and didn't look back after my lease was up.
Exactly my thinking on this, I am just hesitant because 1. I can't afford to buy a house. 2. I have a 2 car garage, and they allow our dog (which is hard to find in a rental here) and 3. I am in graduate school and would (kind of, if the landlord stops being dumb) like to stay in one place for a few years, so upsetting the balance may not be in my best interest... The thing that pisses me off is that if he apparently has expectations about how he wants the heat handled, in public hallways, maybe he should just control it or explicitly say what his expectations are. Punishing tenants because apparently the heat was too high by turning it off for a few days is ridiculous.
Awesome, I lived on 6th and agate for 3 years, I would drive up and down agate when it snowed a bunch, just because I could and laugh at all the fwd cars who couldn't make it.
I didn't think there were any apartments over there among the houses. My sister lives in some apts not far from there on Portage which aren't any better from the sound of it. Is the landlord a local? I almost bought a new duplex up there east of campus that I was going to rent out to students but someone picked it up before I even made an offer. I'm up there almost every year for LSPR at least. My folks have a house on the lake over near Redridge so it's a place I can get away from city life and enjoy the quiet. If you ever need a referral for body work for the car let me know.
yea i hear that!! my gas bill jumped from $20 a month to $300 when we turned the heat on. Thats with plastic on all windows and a blocked off front entry that we put a bunch of insulation around the door to keep heat in. Its part of living somewhere like we do.
