Any Lawyers Out There

[Doomsday]

I need some advice on how to proceed vs my landlord.

I live in Colorado, not sure if that matters.

I rent a Townhouse from a company. Last summer (1st summer in the unit) our A/C started to act up. Our first bill using the A/C reguraly was $370, which is extremely high for this area. My avg bill is $140 month and the townhouse is only 1300 sq ft. Anyway I called Excel (the power company) to ask them if it was possible they were still billing us for the property we moved from as well as the new one. The answer was no.

To make a long story short they sent some one out to determine the cause of the excessive bill. The A/C was the obvious culprit according to the tests Excel did. I reported it to my landlord, and told them the Excel person mentioned the A/C unit was extremely dirty.

3 times they came out to fix it before it was suppose to be working correctly. We ended up with 4 bills over $350 during that time frame. By then it was no longer hot outside so we really didn't use the A/C so we had to take their word it was actually fixed. This year I get my first bill and it is once again $370.

They send an A/C expert out to look at it and he tells me the A/C was so dirty that it was having to work extra hard which was heating it up, making it stay on longer. After it is finally fixed, my this guy, I get a bill for a full month with the A/C and it is $220. Perfectly reasonable.

I tell the landlord I want to be compensated for the roughly $1050 I had to spend in utilities because their appliance is defective. When all was said and done we had over 7 months of being charged around 50% more than we would of been if the unit was maintained properly. They are telling me they will only give me $350. The unit is also in a locked closet, so I had no access to it, to clean it etc.

My question is if I decide to take them to small claims court do I have any leg to stand on, or do I have to accept the $350 and move on?

 

[CashMan]

Forced air?

 

[Denim Chicken]

I need some advice on how to proceed vs my landlord.

I live in Colorado, not sure if that matters.

I rent a Townhouse from a company. Last summer (1st summer in the unit) our A/C started to act up. Our first bill using the A/C reguraly was $370, which is extremely high for this area. My avg bill is $140 month and the townhouse is only 1300 sq ft. Anyway I called Excel (the power company) to ask them if it was possible they were still billing us for the property we moved from as well as the new one. The answer was no.

To make a long story short they sent some one out to determine the cause of the excessive bill. The A/C was the obvious culprit according to the tests Excel did. I reported it to my landlord, and told them the Excel person mentioned the A/C unit was extremely dirty.

3 times they came out to fix it before it was suppose to be working correctly. We ended up with 4 bills over $350 during that time frame. By then it was no longer hot outside so we really didn't use the A/C so we had to take their word it was actually fixed. This year I get my first bill and it is once again $370.

They send an A/C expert out to look at it and he tells me the A/C was so dirty that it was having to work extra hard which was heating it up, making it stay on longer. After it is finally fixed, my this guy, I get a bill for a full month with the A/C and it is $220. Perfectly reasonable.

I tell the landlord I want to be compensated for the roughly $1050 I had to spend in utilities because their appliance is defective. When all was said and done we had over 7 months of being charged around 50% more than we would of been if the unit was maintained properly. They are telling me they will only give me $350. The unit is also in a locked closet, so I had no access to it, to clean it etc.

My question is if I decide to take them to small claims court do I have any leg to stand on, or do I have to accept the $350 and move on?

Not a lawyer, but the good thing about small claims is you don't need one.

What I would do is send them an intent to sue letter and see if they budge.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I'm not a lawyer either, but the old saying by lawyers is 'if you want real justice, go to small claims court.'

I think you have a case, but you need to make sure that have documentation from Excel stating your issues and the different dates they tried to fix the problem.

It could be a tough case to win because you may have to prove how much A/C you actually used. The judge could reason that there's no way of really telling of how much power you would have used if the A/C was clean. I would try and get Excel to give you a statement in writing of how much they estimate how much more power the A/C had to use.





YR

 

[Doomsday]

Forced air?

I believe it is central air but not really sure what forced air is

 

[Doomsday]

I'm not a lawyer either, but the old saying by lawyers is 'if you want real justice, go to small claims court.'

I think you have a case, but you need to make sure that have documentation from Excel stating your issues and the different dates they tried to fix the problem.

It could be a tough case to win because you may have to prove how much A/C you actually used. The judge could reason that there's no way of really telling of how much power you would have used if the A/C was clean. I would try and get Excel to give you a statement in writing of how much they estimate how much more power the A/C had to use.

YR

Yea, the only thing I have that may be considered proof is the fact that every unit is built the same and they have over 300 units. Excel phone rep told me, that not one of them has had a bill over $300 in the last 5 years but me. I guess I am going to have to see if I can get that in writing.

 

[haleyrules]

Not a lawyer, but the good thing about small claims is you don't need one.

What I would do is send them an intent to sue letter and see if they budge.

Best advise.

 

[CashMan]

I believe it is central air but not really sure what forced air is

If you have a furnace and an air conditioner sitting outside. I am assuming yes. My question would be, has the owner never had them cleaned? The hose down the ac unit to clean it, usually happens 2 times a year.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

I would try to negotiate to $500 or something and take the settlement.

You are in a he-said, she-said deal here.

They had it inspected/"repaired" 3 times and will have proof they did what they were supposed to.

Unless there is a sub-meter on the unit that you have records for, for all anyone knows, you were plugging in high electrical usage items during those periods.

Because of that, unfortunately, you have little case in court. Your best bet imo, is to take what you can get from them.

 

[Doomsday]

If you have a furnace and an air conditioner sitting outside. I am assuming yes. My question would be, has the owner never had them cleaned? The hose down the ac unit to clean it, usually happens 2 times a year.

The A/C and furnace are in a locked closet in my garage, with the A/C vent on the outer wall. They claim they cleaned the unit in the spring, however I work from home and they never entered my home to do so. They havent cleaned the unit once in the 18 months I've lived here, until the expert came out in July and did so, which fixed the issue.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I would negotiate them paying half under threat of going after it all plus interest in small claims court. Then follow through on your threat if they refuse to pay half.

 

[Doomsday]

Thanks for the advice everyone I really appreciate it. Here is an update to the resolution.

I ended up sending them an email detailing the money I was out and asking that they work with me to come up with a compromise that we could both live with.

I went to pay my rent online and noticed they had added a $350 deduction to it. I called them up and told them I couldn't accept that deduction and asked them to remove it. Things got a bit nasty on the phone after that, with her refusing to give me her bosses name or phone number. The call ended with me telling her (complex manager) I was going to file a small claims suit against them on Tuesday.

An hour later I got an email from them offering to deduct $700 off my rent this month and I accepted it.

Thanks again!