Question for fellow renters/landlords about AC
Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some insight from fellow renters, landlords, or anyone familiar with HVAC issues.
My husband, child, and I rent a townhouse in Gaithersburg, MD. For a while now, we’ve been dealing with extremely poor airflow from the HVAC system. Some vents barely push out any air, and sometimes there’s no airflow at all. As a result, the second floor doesn’t cool down, especially during hot weather.
We’ve reported the issue to the property management company multiple times. They sent someone from their maintenance team to inspect it, and he told us that some of the vents are essentially “dead” because of previous renovations to the townhouse. The only repair they performed was adding refrigerant to the AC unit. While the AC unit itself runs, the airflow problem remains unchanged.
Their current solution is to install ceiling fans, and if that doesn’t help, they’ve suggested that we purchase our own portable or window AC unit.
This doesn’t seem right to me. Our lease states that if the air conditioning isn’t working, the landlord is responsible for repairing it. While the AC equipment technically operates, it doesn’t seem like a functioning cooling system if conditioned air can’t adequately reach parts of the home.
Am I misunderstanding how this works, or does this sound like something that should be properly repaired? Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?
I’m especially concerned because we have an almost 3-year-old child, and the upstairs bedrooms become very uncomfortable at night. Whatever the temp is outside is the same temp our second floor is which is crazy when it’s over 80 degrees.
Any advice or perspective would be greatly appreciated!
Edited to add another detail