Landlord Threatens to Evict Tenant for Using A/C, Gets Dragged by Internet
A landlord threatened to terminate the lease of their tenant for running their air conditioner below 75 degrees — prompting the internet to call them out.
Sep. 28 2022, Published 1:41 p.m. ET
There are many reasons a landlord may decide to terminate a tenant's lease.
According to the American Apartment Owners Association, if the tenant doesn't pay rent on time or allows unapproved roommates, the landlord may have cause to evict them.
However, one landlord is being called out on the internet for threatening to evict their tenant — for using the air conditioner.
Yes, a landlord wants to evict tenants for having the A/C set to under 75 degrees.
In a wild post going viral on Reddit, a landlord dropped a question into a Facebook group asking if it was possible to terminate a tenant's lease early, for running their air conditioning at 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to the landlord, the tenant pays on time and is clean, but refuses to adjust the setting of their A/C to her liking.
"All utilities are included in the lease, and they run the A/C at 70 degrees 24/7, causing it to back up," the landlord explained. "Every time that happens, I have to send the HVAC guy out that costs me an average of $350 or so to fix it... it happens once [every] two months."
She went on to add that they are on a one-year lease, and her tenants have been advised to keep the A/C at 75 or higher during the day, or 72 and higher in the evening, "but they don't care."
"I'm at the point where I don't think I want them living there, I don't think what I can provide fits their needs, so I want to terminate their lease early," she ended her post.
Clearly, the internet was on the tenant's side, and blamed the landlord for a faulty A/C system.
Commenters quickly called out the landlord on the Facebook post, blaming her for not fixing or replacing a faulty air conditioner.
"As someone who has held the highest HVAC license, if your unit can’t handle 70 degrees then it has an issue that requires fixing," one person wrote on Reddit before another added, "They could terminate the contract if the tenant agrees. They would probably have to offer a cash for keys deal. But no, they can't just say leave or make life miserable for them to force them out. Suck it up and don't renew the lease."
Others suggested the landlord stop including utilities in the rent or raise the rent to include the maintenance costs of the unit. However, the majority ruled that the landlord was wrong for even considering eviction.
So, the landlord wants to kick out a perfect tenant because he/she doesn’t want to buy a new HVAC system? Policing the temperature in the home of a paying tenant is borderline prison treatment. "How disgusting," one commenter added.
The American Apartment Owners Association advises landlords to make leases detailed or have monthly leases to avoid these types of issues.
"When drafting up a lease agreement, it is in both parties' best interests to include as many contingencies as possible," reads the AAOA's website. "The more opportunities there are to terminate a lease in a reasonable manner, the greater flexibility for you and your tenants. For this reason, landlords frequently have monthly leases, enabling them and their tenants to terminate the leases without too much fuss."
Do you think the landlord has the right to evict the tenants for ignoring her A/C requests? Or do the tenants have the right to use the air conditioning they are paying for as they see fit?
