My girlfriend and I moved into an apartment last may.
We didn’t have a lot of money at the time, so we had to settle for a cheap place with a mean and grumpy landlord.
A few months after we moved to the apartment, we had problems with the central AC. My girlfriend called the landlord to report the AC problems, but he didn’t want to fix the issue. He told my girlfriend that the Tampa City law states AC is not necessary unless the temperatures are over 100 degrees for 3 days in a row. My girlfriend decided to go online so she could view all of the Tampa guidelines for tenants and residents. They were surprisingly easy to find. The city of Tampa and Tampa Bay has online resources to help with a number of legal problems. My girlfriend found the statute that concerns indoor Heating and Cooling and she called the landlord to update the guy on the information. The next day, the landlord still had not arrived. That’s when my girlfriend and I decided to pay for the AC repair out of our rent money. Two weeks later when we paid the rent, I presented the landlord with $425 and a $900 bill from the AC repair company. A Tampa Bay legal aid lawyer told the two of us that this is perfectly legal and within our rights. The landlord tried to start an argument, but we walked away. He hasn’t served us with an eviction notice, so we must be correct about the laws in the state regarding tenant rights.