![[LANDLORD - US - OH] Tenants said AC wasn’t working - tech came out and said it was working fine, just hot out. Who should pay the $175?](https://preview.redd.it/n4xib19skyah1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=c2c6bfd841d79db567e9ec7888558188c852b0e1)
[LANDLORD - US - OH] Tenants said AC wasn’t working - tech came out and said it was working fine, just hot out. Who should pay the $175?
Looking for some opinions from other landlords.
We’re in the middle of a heat wave, and my tenant called saying the AC was blowing air but the house wasn’t cooling properly. Since it’s been so hot, I treated it like a potential emergency and had an HVAC company come out the same day.
The technician inspected everything and said the AC is operating normally. He did mention the house (built in the 1970s) has an unusual ductwork layout that doesn’t distribute air as efficiently as a modern system, but he didn’t find anything that was broken or in need of repair. He also said it wouldn’t make financial sense to reconfigure the ductwork.
The service call ended up costing me $175 because it was an urgent visit.
My lease says that maintenance calls under $200 are the tenant’s responsibility if no repair is needed. I’ve owned this property for about six years and have never had an AC complaint before, but these tenants tend to submit a lot more maintenance requests than previous ones.
I’m generally not the type of landlord who nickel-and-dimes tenants, and I don’t mind paying when something is actually wrong. In this case, though, nothing needed to be repaired.
Would you charge the tenant the $175 service call based on the lease, or would you just absorb the cost? I’m interested in hearing how other landlords would handle this and why.
EDIT** some of you seem to be assuming this unit and system is abnormal for our area. I’ve sold several homes in this neighborhood and know many of the neighbors. This duplex is the only multifamily unit in this neighborhood. All of the homeowners in the single family units are experiencing the same issues with their homes that were built around the same time. If these homeowners don’t feel the need to update their HVAC system every 20 years, then why should this rental unit be the only one expected to do that? No one has been able to answer this question and it seems like a lot of people are making baseless assumptions.
Also if you are not a landlord and do not own/manage rental properties - you’re free to express your opinion but I won’t give it much weight.