Going Mental Over Rentals
Last week, I was not a happy camper. My air conditioner stopped working. Temperatures here in the Mitten State were in the mid to upper 80s, but it was the humidity that made me miserable. And, to top it all off, as soon as the a/c quit, my allergies started acting up.
Now, I don’t own the home I live in. I’m a renter. So, like a good tenant, I notified my landlord as soon as the problem occurred. Unfortunately, it took him almost a week to get the problem fixed while I was a sweating, sneezing mess. He did manage to bring us a portable air conditioning unit to use while he was trying to fix the central air conditioning. But, if it was up to me, I would have called one of my local HVAC contacts right away.
While interviewing another contractor for a story, he asked me how I was doing — his mistake because I unloaded my experience on him. But, my story led to an interesting discussion about servicing rental properties. He told me his company had experienced quite a few problems with rental houses. Upon completion of services, the person would then inform the technician he or she was not the homeowner and the technician would have to call the landlord for payment. The landlord, in turn, would become angry that a service was performed without his knowledge and he did not want to pay.
I’m wondering if other HVAC contractors have experienced similar problems with rental properties? If so, how do you handle them? Do you have procedures in place to deal with rental homes? I’d love to hear about them. Contact me at nicolekrawcke@achrnews.com.
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