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Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 10th, 2017, 3:58 pm
by Mooglemuffins
In the midst of the heat we're having right now, (and heat we've had in past years that always comes with Midwest summers) something I've always wondered about rights for renting tenants in Minnesota is this:
Rental properties are required by law to have and provide heating functions for the winter around here. But why is that not the same for the summer considering how things get? Hot, humid, oppressive. Why isn't air conditioning also a tenant right for habitability in the summertime? Has this ever been something that has been brought up in the legislature at all? All the rental properties I've ever lived in over the years either just flat out had nothing so we either had to buy one or suffer through the night with a fan that only did so much, or maybe had some cruddy old window unit to haul out of the attic in the summer...but that would only just do one small room. Dealing with the humid heat of the midwest especially when trying to sleep, is just as shitty as dealing with the cold would be if your house didn't have heat. At least with the cold you can keep putting more things on. Heat you can only go so far before you're sitting around naked and you can't do much more than that to remove layers.
Thoughts on this, or other items regarding tenant rights?
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 10th, 2017, 7:33 pm
by seanrichardryan
Window screens are required.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 10th, 2017, 10:27 pm
by Tiller
Dealing with the humid heat of the midwest especially when trying to sleep, is just as shitty as dealing with the cold would be if your house didn't have heat. At least with the cold you can keep putting more things on. Heat you can only go so far before you're sitting around naked and you can't do much more than that to remove layers.
AMEN. Those are my exact thoughts on the topic. Shitty/nonexistent climate control during the summer gets to be just unbearable. Literally one of the most important things I look at in an apartment.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 10th, 2017, 10:38 pm
by MattW
Because humans are generally warm weather creatures. Heat in MN winters is a necessity for survival while AC in the summer is for comfort.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 10th, 2017, 10:39 pm
by Mooglemuffins
Shitty/nonexistent climate control during the summer gets to be just unbearable.
Yep, lying here in bed with my wife with only a fan at the moment and the heat is awful. Probably won't sleep much tonight..whee.
One thing I just thought of, I wonder about the socioeconomic impact of typical middle class purchased homes having built in central air versus someone in a low class suffering through the heat in an AC-less apartment or rented house cause the landlord doesn't want to bother. Hell, if I was a kid growing up in that kind of situation not being able to sleep from the heat, not being able to focus at home because it's so uncomfortable, I can see why you might get distracted and just not bother compared to the comfortably middle class kid going at his homework just fine in the nice air conditioned kitchen table.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 10th, 2017, 10:42 pm
by Mooglemuffins
Shitty/nonexistent climate control during the summer gets to be just unbearable.
Yep, lying here in bed with my wife with only a fan at the moment and the heat is awful. Probably won't sleep much tonight..whee.
One thing I just thought of, I wonder about the socioeconomic impact of typical middle class purchased homes having built in central air versus someone in a low class suffering through the heat in an AC-less apartment or rented house cause the landlord doesn't want to bother. Hell, if I was a kid growing up in that kind of situation not being able to sleep from the heat, not being able to focus at home because it's so uncomfortable, I can see why you might get distracted and just not bother compared to the comfortably middle class kid going at his homework just fine in the nice air conditioned kitchen table and getting a comfy and cool nights rest for school the next day.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 11th, 2017, 5:05 pm
by Tiller
Do renters have any rights in terms of having power restored in a timely manner after an outage? Our power went out this morning, and Xcel just texted me saying it should be back on by 11am on June 14. (!!!!)
I never had to deal with a 3 day wait to have power restored growing up in a SFH.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 11th, 2017, 5:44 pm
by grrdanko
Do renters have any rights in terms of having power restored in a timely manner after an outage? Our power went out this morning, and Xcel just texted me saying it should be back on by 11am on June 14. (!!!!)
I never had to deal with a 3 day wait to have power restored growing up in a SFH.
Your landlord has no control over the power company. There is nothing he can do.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 11th, 2017, 5:54 pm
by Mooglemuffins
Do renters have any rights in terms of having power restored in a timely manner after an outage? Our power went out this morning, and Xcel just texted me saying it should be back on by 11am on June 14. (!!!!)
I never had to deal with a 3 day wait to have power restored growing up in a SFH.
Wow they're taking 3 days? Damn. That isn't anything that's in control of the landlord but that sucks, man.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 11th, 2017, 8:22 pm
by Silophant
That's awful, but, yeah, not something your landlord has any control over. I can assure you that every single lineman Xcel has, and probably bunches that they're borrowing from utilities in neighboring states, but fixing more than 5,000 individual issues is going to take some time.
Clicking around
the map, though, it looks like every outage in the metro that isn't actively being worked on is labeled 11am on June 14th. So, I'd take that as a worst-case restoration time, not an actual predicted restoration time.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 11th, 2017, 8:57 pm
by bapster2006
Yep, my power has been out for 13 hours and I was given that time also. So hopefully it is not off all night.
Re: RE: Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: June 18th, 2017, 9:58 am
by jebr
Shitty/nonexistent climate control during the summer gets to be just unbearable.
Yep, lying here in bed with my wife with only a fan at the moment and the heat is awful. Probably won't sleep much tonight..whee.
One thing I just thought of, I wonder about the socioeconomic impact of typical middle class purchased homes having built in central air versus someone in a low class suffering through the heat in an AC-less apartment or rented house cause the landlord doesn't want to bother. Hell, if I was a kid growing up in that kind of situation not being able to sleep from the heat, not being able to focus at home because it's so uncomfortable, I can see why you might get distracted and just not bother compared to the comfortably middle class kid going at his homework just fine in the nice air conditioned kitchen table.
There's still a fair amount of owner-occupied homes that don't have AC (especially central air) as well. I grew up not too long ago and the house my parents purchased never had forced or central air, and we maybe pulled out the window units on the hottest days of the summer. I know during one hot spell last summer the Ramsey County libraries stayed open until midnight for those that don't have AC.
That being said, there usually aren't a lot of days where AC is an obvious comfort help while the school year is going on. Maybe the first couple weeks and the last couple weeks of the school year? It's certainly not as vital as heat, and I don't think it really needs to be required in the same way heat does.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: March 6th, 2018, 8:22 pm
by Anondson
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: March 8th, 2018, 12:17 am
by intercomnut
City still needs to do a second reading in April before giving final approval.
Re: Tenant Rights in Minnesota
Posted: May 3rd, 2018, 12:43 pm
by Googleit
Because humans are generally warm weather creatures. Heat in MN winters is a necessity for survival while AC in the summer is for comfort.
I kind of wonder how AC isn't for survival when heat exhaustion is a real thing and is rather dangerous!
Not regarding your comment, If AC is provided does it have to have a BTU rating that is energy efficient for the square footage of your apartment? Just curious.