Hey guys welcome back to the channel in this video we're going to talk about hvac when you are renting your home or apartment or or the space that you live in we're going to talk about what are your rights? What can you expect from your landlord or property management company? And i can say that i have a little bit of probably more perspective on this than the average heating and air guy, because i did for a number of years work for a property management company. And i was their heating and air guy and then eventually i was their facilities manager, the the manager of all of the maintenance and stuff i've taken classes on fair housing and all the things that you have to worry about. When you work for a property management company when it comes to the laws dealing with folks that are renting from you, so i just want to touch on a few things if you stay till the end, if you are a renter, i'm going to go over ways That you can protect yourself, so you don't have to deal with a lot of the headaches that a lot of renters deal with let's dive into this. The first thing i want to point out is: if you are renting a house or an apartment or whatever you need to realize that the landlord or the property management company, whoever you're dealing with like it or not, all they really care about, is their bottom line And that may seem obvious, but i feel like a lot of times when renters are renting a space.

They sometimes forget that. So i want to just start out and just point that out because, as we dive into this a little bit further, that will probably play a role. So in other words, if you pay s, let's just throw out some numbers. If you pay a thousand dollars a month for rent and that adds up to 12 000 a year, i hate to break it to you, but your landlord is not going to shell out 13 grand for an extravagant heating and air system.

If that makes sense, that may be obvious, but again i feel like a lot of folks when they're renting a space. They forget that, so they really only care about their bottom line, that 12 grand once they take out materials for maintenance, and maybe they had to pay a property management company and maybe they had to pay taxes and their mortgage and whatever, whatever that leftover is. If it's not worth it to them the headaches and all that for keeping up with a property, they may decide that it's not working out and they may sell the property or whatever. So i think that's something to keep in mind if you're, renting a space as you navigate these problems and dealing with your landlord or property management company.

So again like it or not, that's the first thing. I want to point out the next tip i have for you. If you're renting, a space is make sure that you have renters insurance, i'm not an insurance guy. I just know from experience that whenever we've had renters that didn't have insurance, there have been times that they regretted it.

I would just highly recommend in a lot of cases. It's not that much. I just remember it being super minimal. I can't imagine it being as much as say insurance for a home right, a lot of times.

It's just an add-on or something like that, and it's usually minimal and well worth it in the end. When we're talking about some of the things you might have to deal with, my next tip would be 90 of the time. You're gon na have a written lease. You know you're gon na have something in writing black and white paper, and i would highly recommend sitting down and reading that lease know.

What's in there know what to expect. I was dealing uh last week with a company that would you know they were the actual property management company and the lieutenant was saying hey. You know i haven't had ac in this many days and you're supposed to have it fixed. The laws say this and i remember the guy saying to me: well, they don't really know the laws.

You know the the laws actually say. I have to have it fixed in this many days, and i just remember hearing that i can tell you that all the years that i did property management, that was never, i didn't even know the law. That was never a conversation. We ever had to be completely honest with you.

That's a pretty piss-poor customer service. You know if you have a tenant, someone renting from you paying your bills essentially, and you know the law for how long you have to fix a problem. That just seems odd to me if the tenant has a problem, especially no ac, so that you know if they're calling you it's hot as heck and they have no ac, and you know the law for how long you have to fix their ac. That is really bad.

Customer service fix the ac. You wouldn't have to know the law if you just took care of them, but anyway read your lease. If you're renting read your lease know what's in there and that way, you're not hit with any surprises. If you did have an issue in case, you know, your ac did go out.

One example i can think of is. I did work for a company at one time and to be honest with you, they probably weren't the best company in the world. I was young and didn't know any better. This company had in their lease in their agreement that the tenant was responsible for replacing their own air filters.

The problem with that is when the tenant didn't and they had a problem with their ac. Because of that, the landlord could say: hey it's your fault, you're, the reason we you don't have ac now and this particular company would sometimes even charge the tenant to have the ac repaired or whatever, whatever the case was because that was in their lease. So again read your lease know: what's in there, so you're not hit with any surprises. My next tip would be because there are laws in place like i just talked about uh.

You know when property management companies or your landlord has an amount of time that they have to repair your problem. I would have a plan b in place sucks that you have to have a plan b. I feel like a good property management company, the one that i worked for, that was a little more higher class um. We actually had portable acs, so if the tenant their ac went out, they wouldn't have to go to bed that night without having you know at least their bedroom cooling.

So they wouldn't have to try to sleep sweating through the night as the tenant, not all property management companies care about you or your problems, and so because of that, if your ac goes out, i would recommend having some kind of plan b in place, whether that Be some way of cooling your space renting from someone that would give you a portable ac or maybe having somewhere else, you could stay while you're waiting for that repair to be done. The next tip i'll touch on is fair housing laws. If you think you've been victim to some sort of fair housing, discrimination or your property management, company or landlord, has broken some sort of laws when it comes to fair housing or, just in general, a renter landlord relationship. You know there are laws that they have to abide by if you think that your property management, company or landlord has broken any of those laws, i'm gon na put a few links down below, but each state is different so, depending on what state you're in might Play a role in who you need to contact, usually just googling.

It will help you know who to contact so now that that's all out of the way. How can you protect yourself? So if you are renting from a landlord or property management company - and they have been not fixing your ac you're going on day number, whatever day number 10 day number 20 whatever. And you wonder, how can i protect myself through all of this, and so the first thing, i would say, is keep good documentation if you have a property management company that gives you the option to call in your maintenance or send it in on email or some Form of writing through their website. I would do the writing part or both, but at least at bare minimum one way that you could keep good documentation hey.

This is the date that i made the request. This is the date. You know that it failed, etc, etc. Keep good documentation and if that means, recording them or videotaping them.

I believe now again, every state is different, i'm not a lawyer, but i believe at least in some states. You are legally allowed to do that. If you just happen to live in a state where that's not the case, i don't think that it would be that out of the ordinary for you to say to your landlord or property management company - hey just so you know, i'm recording this conversation, i'm making a Request to have my air conditioner fixed again, i'm not a lawyer, talk to a lawyer that knows your state and your rights and laws and all that good stuff. I can tell you, after working for a company like that, it would not be a big deal for us, because this is probably no secret, but the property management company at least a good one - would also be keeping good documentation of all of that.

The company i worked for, we would document this is when they called this is when we were showed up. This is when we made the repair. This is when it broke again all that stuff. So that way we could protect ourselves.

In case we ended up in a courtroom and unfortunately, if i was renting, i would think of it that way. Every situation realized. I could be in a courtroom someday talking about this going on right here. The next thing i would say, because you could end up in a courtroom someday, is never lie if you do end up in a court and they found out, you lied about one thing, even if it was something small.

The rest of your evidence or case will probably fall flat. Your credibility would be out the window at that point. So if you kept good documentation - and you called in on this date - then don't say it was another date and then the last two things the first one would be just keep in mind that a lot of property management companies will share your history with other property Management companies. I remember that being a thing when i was in property management, if you didn't pay your rent regularly or if you skipped out on the rent or if you were evicted or whatever.

If you go to rent another place in the future and they call that company they can share, they will share sort of like reminds me of like medical records where they'll share your medical records with one another. Well, renters history is also shared and again i'm not a lawyer. I i'm not saying that that's legal in all states or or anything like that, but i can tell you as someone that has worked at a property management company that that does go on that. You know they will share hey.

You know that person didn't pay rent like they should have. That leads me to my last tip, and that would be just realize even doing all of the things that i just said, making sure you're, keeping good documentation, making sure you're. Knowing what's in your lease and getting renters insurance and all the things you're trying to do to protect yourself, but i will still say the old analogy, you would attract more flies with honey than you would with vinegar. I can tell you when i did work for the property management company.

There were tenants that were handfuls, and you know they were jerks at times for no reason, if you want to have a good relationship or someone that wants to go to bat for you, you know someone to take care of you. I would dare say that. Maybe you should be nice to him if you've got a maintenance guy that came out to your apartment in the middle of the night, and you took time away from his family to try to help you. It might be in your best interest to be nice to him right or wrong.

He may not be quite so inclined to help you again if you're a jerk to him, i'm not saying that's right, but i'm just being transparent with you that you might want to be nice to them all. That said, if you are a renter or a property management company - and you have something to add to this - please comment down below um. This is just a quick snapshot advice that i wanted to give as someone that was dealing with a property management company last week. I hope that helps thanks for watching hit that subscribe button.

We'll see you next time.