AC not capable of adequately cooling

[Patrick Henshaw]

Hi Team - small caveat : This is not actually about a rental property I own rather I am a tenant ( and on BP looking to get into real estate investing for myself and be the Landlord I would want to do business with:) 

Short and long the rental I am in does not cool adequately (3 floor older home with "over charged" AC system). We live in Northern Kentucky and for the last 10 days the AC has been running non-stop (24 hours per day - we have a NEST that tracks actual data) with an AVERAGE household temperature of 78 (the AC actually doesn't cool down to the anticipated 72 degrees). 

I pay energy costs and am wondering if I am within my rights as a renter 1)  take a portion of the energy costs out of my rent since a certified AC repair technician said the current AC system is not adequately cooling the house and 2) purchase an auxiliary AC unit (of reasonable cost ~$300, less than 1/4 of my rent)  and take that out of the monthly rent? 

One of the couple Kentucky landlord/rental statues I found to support my case is - KRS 383.590 http://krec.ky.gov/legal/Documents/Kentucky%20Land...

Any help or guidance or even a YOU ARE COMPLETELY WRONG YOU SHOULD PAY FOR EVERYTHING is welcomed!

Cheers,

Patrick 

[Gail K.]

Theoretically a 2.5 ton unit would be adequate for a 1500 square foot house.  Much would depend on the insulation in the place.

And Deanna is correct; you anticipating your unit to cool to 72 degrees is unrealistic.  At best you're talking about a 10 degree difference between outside temps.  78 degrees is quite realistic for an inside temp.  Your thermostat would likely go down to 50 degrees.  Doesn't mean your unit could cool down to that level.

Can you supplement with your own window shaker?  Sure.  We use one in our own bedroom here in Georgia at night; 6000 BTU; cost about $150.   Tons of these at the big box stores/Walmart right now.  Can you take this off your rent?  Nope but you can take it with you when you move out/sell it/use it in one of your rentals when you become a landlord.  These are very handy to keep on hand should there be air condition "emergencies" during weekends/holidays when a repair person may not be available.

Gail