One Redditor complained that their rented home has been uninhabitable for five weeks — all due to a gas leak that their landlord refuses to properly address.
The r/Landlord subreddit is normally a place for landlords to discuss news and ideas about the homes they own. However, the subreddit also welcomes posts from tenants seeking a landlord's point of view.Â
That's what this poster came to find — and it turns out that even other landlords think this owner is out of line.
[Tenant - NC] Is my landlord being unreasonable or this normal and I'm being unreasonable?
by u/anchordwn in Landlord
In the post, the user describes coming home to find a strong gas smell in the house. Even from the beginning, the landlord drags his feet, taking three days to finally send a contractor to the home.
"I was fine with that," says the original poster. "Three days is nothing."
But during the visit, the original poster says the landlord's preferred contractor failed to find the leak, and the repair process began to stretch out.
The landlord rejected quotes from six different plumbers, saying they were too expensive. When he finally had his preferred contractor return and replace the gas lines, the contractor completed only some of the required repairs. The original poster claims the gas company still will not turn the gas back on.
"My heat, hot water, laundry, and stove/oven are all gas dependent. I have not been able to cook or shower in my home for five weeks," says the original poster, who adds that they have temporarily moved out of the unlivable house.
As compensation, they say their landlord has offered less than a 10% discount on a single month's rent.
"Is my landlord being unreasonable, or this normal?" the poster asks.
The response to the post is overwhelmingly in favor of the poster.
"There is absolutely no excuse for that attitude," says one user. "A gas leak is an emergency, and if that happens at my property, I'm paying whatever cost premium is required to get that fixed by the first contractor that can show up, preferably within hours."
Natural gas exposure has been linked to a wide variety of health problems, including 13% of childhood asthma. It's also a huge contributor to the heat-trapping gases warming the planet. For this reason, some cities, like Los Angeles, are reducing or banning its use. But there's a long way left to go.
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