Inheriting A Tenant That Doesn't Run the Air Conditioner

[Brandon Johnson]

I am currently purchasing a duplex and inheriting a tenant who doesn't run the air conditioner because "it is a lot cheaper that way."  I learned this the same time the seller did during my inspection of the unit as they are fairly new tenants and summer just began.  

We went in and the seller asked his tenant if there was something he needed to know about and he said know he just prefers to run fans instead of central AC.  The AC does work and there are no problems with it, but my question is wanting to know if this is bad for either the HVAC system itself or for the building.  We are in south Louisiana and it humid and HOT down here in the summer.  I can't see how the guy can live like this much less subject his wife/girlfriend and two young children to it.  They all had beads of sweat on their faces and looked miserable.  Would not running air conditioning setup conditions for moisture and mold to develop in the unit during the heat of the summer?  Any other red flags this sends up for anyone?

I am in Baton Rouge, LA to be more specific.

[Account Closed]

The world ran without air conditioning not long ago.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Sounds like your tenants have their priorities straight - pay the rent first :-)

When the BF gets a job, they'll probably start using it.

We had the opposite problem in the units I managed in Silicon Valley.  Once in a while we'd get a techie from India, and they'd like to close up the units and boil water all day to increase the humidity in the units LOL.  The owner I worked for said in one of his large units in another town (my building mainly just had small studios), the Indian family he had in there got it so humid, that the floor boards expanded and the nails started popping up.  This is when the tenant finally called him - they were cutting their feet on the nails that were popping up.  He had to completely tear up the flooring and make them promise to quit boiling water LOL.

But, with your tenant with the windows open and the fans going, it should be fine.  Shouldn't be as bad as boiling a huge pot of water all day long with the windows closed. :-)