OT! So upset!

My heat unit has went out in my house.  Bummer right, my landlord assumes its the fan.  Apparently when I decided to rent the house it was with the understanding that I was going to be buying the house at the end of the lease.  Well last month I told my landlord that we werent going to be able to purchase the house because Im having a baby and wont be working after its born for about a year or so....

Now the house is considered a "lease with option to buy" and the central unit has went out.  The landlord says they will not be able to pay to have it replaced, and after promising me he would come out and look at it today, didnt show up.  (real nice right!!) 

Well currently the house is less than 50 degrees, and its cold as all get out.  We have two small space heaters trying to heat 970 square ft.  I feel like I am so screwed.  I cant move out cause Im bound by a lease, I cant afford to buy heaters because they are expensive and Im up to my eyeballs trying to pay off bills prior to baby being born, and to top it all off, the landlord says its not his job to repair the central unit. 

What do I do?  Im almost to the point of tears!!  How can someone who is renting a home to another person expect them to pay for something they dont get to get back after moving out, nor repair it and allow them IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER to freeze to death! WTF!!  (sorry) Im just a little frustrated and dont know what to do.  Im clearly bound by the lease terms so if I decided to default on the rent and just move out, they would sue me and that would be yet another hit on my credit that I was almost done repairing.  If i stay here, i risk getting really sick and putting myself and the baby in danger. (NOT AN OPTION) If push comes to shove, Ill deal with my space heaters until taxes come in, and we will get an apartment and they can sue me.  Otherwise they can work with me to fix THEIR house and I will continue to pay my rent early as I have been the entire time.

Anyone have any heaters they can spare temp?

Seems to me he is responsible for keeping everything in working order.  I would see if there is some agency that he could be report to.  That's just not right.  Sorry to hear that you are without heat during the coldest week so far this winter.

I'll see what I have around the house. My first question is what does the terms of the lease say? Does it say that repairs under $25 will be made by you? or ? Go over the lease with a fine tooth comb and see what it says. Now after doing some searching I found this (From the Limestone County Sherrif's office) ..

http://www.limestonesheriff.com/FAQ/Landlord-Tenant%20Highli ghts.html
Maintain electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other systems the landlord supplies in good working order.

Provide garbage removal, although the lease can require the tenant to do this. Provide running water, ho****er and heat, although the lease can leave this responsibility with the tenant. Allows a tenant to break a lease after 14 days’ notice when a landlord doesn’t correct a major health and safety problem, such as a heating system not working.

my dad talked to him and he came out and fixed it.  needless to say i am moving at the end of my lease term.  May 15th cant get here soon enough!

Good for your dad! Sometimes you gotta call in the big guns! LOL!  I'm so glad it's fixed.  It's entirely too cold up here for ANYBODY to be without heat.  Take care of yourself and that little baby you're carrying.

God can always make a way where there is no way!

I know your heat is fixed now, but there are public health laws that won't even let a power company turn off electricity in certain types of weather.  So two thoughts for you if the "fix" doesn't hold:

1.  review your lease before it is a problem and see what it says about his responsibility for keeping the home basically liveable.

2.  Have the number for the county department of public health on the fridge and let him know, should it happen again, that you will be reporting your living conditions to them.

I'm so sorry you went through that.

Janice