Is HVAC efficiency landlord's responsibility in CA? Thoughts?

Question

Good morning!

Our tenants have asked us to get HVAC service, as according to them the system is not as efficient.

For context: this is a single family home we are renting out in CA while living in a different state.

We did spend almost $10k this year to get pine trees cut down in the backyard, for fire prevention, which is not a cost we had accounted for when determining the monthly rent.

We did change the motor of the AC in 2019, and from what I understand AC maintenance is not responsibility of the landlord.

The previous tenants, did get HVAC service themselves.

What would be a polite and tactful way of getting back to the tenants' ask for HVAC maintenance?

Thanks

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I am not aware of any requirement in California for you to provide air conditioning of a particular efficiency level. It sounds as if the A/C functions but the tenants would like the home to be cooler. I would tell them it is what it is and they are welcome to supplement the air conditioner with portable A/C or window units. If they want to have the central A/C serviced to see if performance can improve, that would be on their dime.

Zee Abbas · Answer

I would not feel comfortable with tenants being responsible for anything more than basic maintenance (ie. filter change, replace thermostat batteries). The reason is that it invites tenants to either a. Perform the maintenance themselves or b. Hire someone that you have not worked with to perform the service. Both of which can lead to more harm than good. I would lose record of what maintenance has been done on the equipment. Furthermore, the premise essentially opens up the opportunity for the tenants’s HVAC company to create a deficiency when there might not be one, because the tenant believes there is. In a worst case scenario, someone (including the tenants) could tamper with your system in order to create a job for themselves.

Firstly, you have to clarify with the tenants what they mean by efficiency. Are they referring to energy efficiency or performance efficiency or cooling efficiency, etc.? Secondly, I would note their comments and have my HVAC company address it during an upcoming seasonal maintenance, if their clarification is not impactful to the life of the system. If they clarify and explain a legitimate concern, I would have someone fix the issue before failure. Ultimately, you will have to come out of pocket if your unit fails, not the tenant- despite assigning the maintenance expectations to them.

Greg M. · Answer

What is meant by "not efficient"? Is the unit too small for the property? Is it not cooling to the level it should? Is there too little airflow?

What the cause is will determine who is responsible. Maybe the air ducts have come separated and the cold air is flowing into the attic or walls? Maybe a freon leak? Maybe they have placed furniture too close to the return air intake? An air filter that hasn't been replaced in two years? Improperly placed air vents? Poor home insulation? Too many gaps around the windows/doors letting the cold air out? It could be a million things.

Personally, I'd pay for the servicing of the unit. I'd want to make sure it is done and the unit running well. The $150 service call is going to be a lot cheaper than replacing the unit when it fails because a minor issue wasn't corrected. Once the issue is professionally diagnosed, then you can assign the fixing of it to the proper party.

Regarding your comment about the cost of the pine trees being cut down not being accounted for into the rent. You base your rent on the market. Nobody give a s*** what your expenses are. $10 or $10,000 to cut down the tree doesn't budge the rent 1c.

Theresa Harris · Answer

The AC works.  You need to check that filters are changed (where I am that is normally the tenant who does it, but the landlord wants to make sure it is done to avoid problems).

Bill B. · Answer

A new motor in the ac is defiantly not the tenants responsibility. That’s 100% landlord 100% of the time.

Ask them to clarify efficiency. Cooling can be tested at air output vents. Beyond that make sure your lease says they will change filters and make sure they have. If they mean the cost to run it, that is not landlord, that is 100% tenant. Good news is AC season is pretty much over. Raise their rent to market or as close as your state will allow when their lease expires. (Rents are up 10-20% this year alone easy.)

Jeni Nikolova · Answer

Thanks all for the thoughtful suggestions/additional venues to explore about why tenants think the unit is not as efficient as it used to be.

It does make sense to pay for inspection ourselves and we will.

Re: rent and cost of maintaining the property - rent is currently below market, and we raised it by ~1.5% after the first year as we naively thought that will keep the tenants happy, but that is irrelevant to the AC question.

Is HVAC efficiency landlord's responsibility in CA? Thoughts?

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