No Heat!

[brandy101010]

I have been without heat for a week. Something happened to my heater and all the wires are melted together and something got fried. It won't even turn on. My land lord has no money and can not do anything about it until friday.
the heater guy said that it is so bad that it would be cheeper to put a whole new heater in then to have this one fixed. We don't have that kind of money right now so we can't even pay our rent early to get it done sooner.

The gecko racks are on a thermastate so the temps are doing good there. but my snakes, bearded dragons and iguana all had to be moved to the front part of the house. We leave the oven on and block off the rest of the house to keep warm. My iguana is stuck in a dog kennel all night because his cage can not be moved out of his room. If I leave the house the oven has to go off and I just have to pray that the cats do not knock over heat lamps and start a fire.

I'm very stressed...

 

[gecko_man2]

That is a very frustrating cituation. I can relate, hang in there.

 

[Jeanne]

That is really messed up. What kind of landlord lets their tenants go without heat for a week? I wouldn't stand for that, I would report him/her.

 

[RoseT]

That bites. I agree with Jeanne!

 

[gixxer3420]

If not report him/her at least make sure he takes of money from your rent. If he doesn't do that then make sure you report him! Land Lords are suppose to fix what ever breaks in a timely matter. If he doesn;t have money then he should sell his apartments. Really all the money he gets from the apartments from rent should go into a seperate account. Sounds like he uses the money instead of being smart in case of an emergencey.

 

[brandy101010]

See, It's a sticky situation. The Land Lords are my friends. I know for a fact that our rent money and the check he gets once a month for being a disabled veteran is the only income they have. His wife just got a job but they hold a week back. So she has not even got her first check yet. There have been a lot of problems with this house and it is very aggravating. We were planning on buying our own place in the spring. Last night I offered to buy this house so They do not have to worry about it and it would be our problem. We would just sell it when we are ready to move. They are not sure if they want to do that yet so we will see. It would be better for them because they would get a big check to live off of for awhile and they would never have to worry about this house again. It would be better for us because We could do whatever we want with the house and not have to deal with a land lord every time something happens. It would also get us started in real estate. We would just fix it up and sell it and then we would have a nice big down payment for our next house.

 

[gixxer3420]

Yup sticky situation when you rent from friends and or family. Been there dome that, never doing it again. Buy the house fromt hem fix what you want on the house, live in it for 3 years and then go buy the house you want for your family. you will never have to pay tax on the money you make off of the house this way. This is what I would do if i were you and they do end up selling to you. Good luck and I hope everything works out for you. Please keep us posted.

 

[BalloonzForU]

Oh man, that stinks. But look at the upside, it's not the dead of winter yet, it could be much worse if it was.

 

[brandy101010]

Thanks guys! Yes I am lucky that it happened now and not in the dead of winter. As it is now I am able to keep the front of the house more then warm enough.

I really hope they do sell it to us becaue there is alot around here I would change lol. I'm not even aloud to paint the walls...

 

[BalloonzForU]

Yes it would be awesome if you could talk them into letting you guys buy the house. Keep us updated!

 

[gothra]

Good luck, Brandy.

 

[Perefalcon]

from a landlord point of view, I can understand that they go through tough times with an older house that is being used as a rental. Sometimes no matter how smartly I try to do my money something always seems to take up that little bit I saved up for a project....LIKE THE ROOF. when I bought this place I had to put in an entirely new furnace sicne the one in here was literally falling apart. That was a good chunk out of my pocket at $2700...now I have roof issues and to put the metal roof on (which ends up being less than a shingle roof) I need $9000 luckily it can be done in stages, and I can get 1/4 of it done at a time...but still coming up with 1800 to do the worst part of the roof is a challenge. People who aren't landlords don't always understand exactly how frustrating and difficult it can be at times.

 

[Jeanne]

I understand that everyone has problems, but, as a Landlord, it is their resposibility to heat the unit. I am sure the State wouldn't want to hear about money problems.

 

[nicolenadia]

There must be someone on this forum wo lives where brandy lives and can help her out by housing some animals? i would totally help you if lived in VA.

 

[brandy101010]

Thank you Nicolendia. My animals are fine for now. I just had to move them to the front of the house. Lucky it has not been too cold and the oven is able to keep the temps where I need them for the animals. I have a stash of heating pads and red lights from when I used to have all my geckos in tanks so everyone that Is not in the nice warm rack, has got extra heat sources. I just feel bad for my Iguana because He is stuck in a dog crate because His cage can not be brought out to the front of the house because it was built in the room and the only way to get it out is to tare it apart and well...it would be useless then lol. But he gets to come out every day and walk around when I have time to keep an eye on him.

 

[LadyGecko]

Brandy
I understand what you are going through
I have been without heat before due to a non-working furnace and I have used electric space heaters and kerosene heaters to keep the house warm enough for us and all of the animals

Just last night our furnace went off because the regulator on the gas meter iced up
I had the gas company here at 2 am to fix it-thank God that they considered it an emergency
The man that came out was very nice despite the fact that he had been doing this very same thing at all hours for the past 2 days and he re-lit the furnace and the hot water heater- for some reason the pilot lights on the stove stayed on-maybe because they require so very little gas to stay lit
That is how I found out about the problem-I went to make some hot tea and the flame on the burner was very low when I turned it all of the way up
I then checked and we had no hot water and it was starting to get a bit chilly in the house

As for landlords responsibility-they are responsible for a working heating system in the properties that they rent out-plain and simple
There are many agencies that can be called with non-compliance of this

They (landlords) accept payment for the rent every month without any problem so if something as important as a heating issue should be dealt with as soon as it is reported
IMO if you accept the payment from the people living in your property then you accept the responsibility that there is a safely working heating system at all times
It also sounds as if the heating system that is in your house would not pass any inspection and the house could be rated unsafe for habitation until a new system is installed
As for renting from friends-they aren't the ones worrying about safely keeping themselves and their animals warm-you are

yeah-shit happens but it's bad enough dealing with power outages from the utility companies without having to worry about the basic systems being fixed when they malfunction in the place where you live
just my 2 cents

Sandy

 

[brandy101010]

I completely agree with you Sandy. If they were anyone else I would have called in a complaint by now.

Update: They came and installed electric heat panels in my living room, bathroom and kitchen. I have them all on high and I'm still cold. It's only going to get colder and they are stalling on getting heat in the back of the house. I realize they are low on money and christmas is right around the corner but I need heat in the back part of my house. I am paying $700 a month for half a house right now. My animals are suffering and I don't know what to do. You need a coat to walk into the back of the house where there are 3 bedrooms. I have all my Herps cramed in the front part of the house in any spot I could find. I have snakes in my laundry room. I have a dog crate in my living room ware a very upset and stressed iguana is living when he can not be watched. He needs his cage back. I'm worried about animals getting sick and stressed. If I have to take them to the vet I'm sorry but it's comming out of the rent. These people are my friends and I love them to death but I can't take this. I feel bad because I know they are doing what they can but it's not enough. I'm going to talk to my husband and see if we can aford to heat the rest of the house for them and and maybe we can deduct some money from the rent every month untill we are paid back. I hope he gos for it.

 

[LadyGecko]

Brandy
My fingers are crossed for you and you and your animals are in my prayers that you find a solution to your heating problem before you and you animals begin to have some serious health problems from this situation

Believe me-I've been there and I know how insane it is to be without central heat and hot water for over a month in the dead of winter
It is an experience that I will never forget and never want to relive
I hope to never have to use kerosene again to heat my house and hot plates to heat water
It was pure hell

I honestly don't see that your husband has much choice but to go along with your solution or you guys will be forced to look for another place to live
That is also not a pleasant alternative as moving is no fun at all in the cold this time of year especially with animals that can't really be exposed to the extreme cold

Good Luck Brandy

Sandy

 

[brandy101010]

Thank you Sandy. My Father who is my land lords best friend has been a great help because he has helped them instal the heater that they did manage to buy. And he has assured me that the rest of the house will be heated ASAP. I just have to hold on for a little longer and deal with having all my animals cramed in the front part of my house. It is 20 degres right now and when I open the door to the back part of the house, ( I have a door to my hallway Thank God!) it is freezing. I need to put a coat on to go back there to let my dogs out. I can't wait untill this is over!

 

[LadyGecko]

Hang in there Brandy
We are all with you in spirit
Too bad we can't be there physically-we could add some heat to the house just with our presence-LOL

Sandy