if you are a renter and your landlord refuses to fix your ac?
April 8th, 2011 | 
Author: because the owner of the apt. is in a rest home with alzheimers and the person she left in charge doesn’t have the power of attorney to spend money and fix it, do you have a right to opt out of your lease.
Posted in Landlord Tenant Law
NO. You cannot break a lease over AC in most states. It is not legally required to be included in most states. Even the hot ones. They would not be breaking any laws if they did not fix it unless you are in one of the very few states that does require it. I think AZ is the only one.
The following is legal in most states: You need to send a certified letter stating the needed repair. Just talking to her does not cut it. You need legal proof that she knows about the problem. I would send it to the actual owner as well to be on the safe side. They then have X # of days to fix it depending on state. You can then have a licensed HVAC tech fix it and take only that amount off the next months rent.
You need to check on this for your state though. Some states do not allow this process to be used for minor or not legally required repairs.