For a renter, waking up to a broken heater or burst pipes can kick off months of negotiations with a landlord. And even when it’s fixed, improper insulation or outdated windows can let the heat out and balloon energy bills.
Some cities have rules to make sure that safety issues like heat get fixed quickly. In Kansas City, Missouri, you can file a Healthy Homes complaint to get problems fixed. In Overland Park, you can submit an OPCares request to ask a city inspector to take a look.
Here’s a guide to what the law requires of your landlord, as well as some renter-friendly tips on how you can keep your apartment warm and safe during the winter months.
Using the city code to your advantage
If your apartment has a broken heater, burst pipes or leaky windows, cities like Kansas City, Missouri, Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas, can force your landlord to make a repair.
Regardless of what city you live in, the first step is to notify your landlord, in writing, that you need something fixed. That could be through a maintenance request portal, by text or by email.
It’s best to make this request in writing in case you need to escalate your case with the city.
In emergency situations, such as a broken heater or burst pipes during a cold spell, your landlord is required to immediately make a repair. Otherwise, they’re in violation of city code.
If your landlord drags their feet, or if they simply drop off a space heater without coming back to repair the broken heater, the next step is to make a report to the city.
In Kansas City, Missouri, the Healthy Homes program takes complaints through the city’s 311 hotline or directly at 816-513-6464.
A city inspector will come to your apartment and may cite your landlord with a Healthy Homes violation. At that point, your landlord will be required to make a repair within a day or two. If your landlord continues to delay, the city could decide to make the repair and bill the cost to your landlord.
In Overland Park, if your landlord is violating city code, you can submit an OPCares request, and a city staff member will inspect your apartment. Overland Park usually allows landlords 10 to 15 days to make a repair.
“In the very worst-case scenarios, the city has the authority to post the building as uninhabitable,” city spokesperson Meg Ralph said in an email. “These are unusual. We strive to work with the tenants and owner/operators to make repairs so as not to disrupt the tenants’ living situation.”
In Kansas City, Kansas, you can call the rental licensing office at 913-573-8649 to request an inspection if your landlord isn’t making a repair. In emergencies, an inspector will usually show up the same day and give your landlord 10 business days to make a repair.
If your landlord does not resolve an issue, the Unified Government will issue a notice to vacate the building. Most property owners will fix the problem before the vacate date, according to building inspections supervisor Lora Ferguson.
No heat in your apartment
Landlords on both sides of the state line are required to provide sufficient heat to their tenants.
Kansas City, Missouri, sets a minimum temperature of 65 degrees. If your heater can’t get your apartment up to that temperature, your landlord is violating the health code.
In Kansas, state law requires landlords to provide heat, but the specific temperature requirements — and enforcement process — can vary from city to city.
In both Kansas City, Kansas, and Overland Park, city code requires that rental units be at least 68 degrees in the wintertime.
If your heater is broken, your landlord must fix it. It’s not enough to just provide a temporary space heater.
Burst pipes
Burst pipes are considered an emergency regardless of whether you live in Kansas City, Missouri, Johnson County or Kansas City, Kansas.
In Kansas City, Missouri, you should submit a Healthy Homes report if your landlord doesn’t make an immediate repair. If you have a sewage leak, you may also be entitled to a hotel room if your landlord cannot fix it the same day.
In Overland Park, you should submit an OPCares request.
In Kansas City, Kansas, you can call the office of rental licensing at 913-573-8649.
Kansas law allows tenants to break their lease if their landlord does not repair heat or a burst pipe after 14 days, according to Nick Blessing, an attorney at Kansas Legal Services who specializes in landlord-tenant law.
If you want to go that route, make sure to send a written notice to your landlord. You can learn more about that process here.
Weatherproof windows and doors
You might have a fully functioning heater but leaky windows and doors that let warm air escape faster than your heater works.
In those cases, there sometimes isn’t much that the city can do.
If your exterior doors or windows are broken, city inspectors in Kansas City, Missouri, Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas, can require your landlord to make repairs like with heat or burst pipes. That could mean caulking, replacing a cracked window or filling a hole in the wall.
An inspector will be able to help you figure out what’s fixable and what isn’t fixable. Broadly speaking, windows must be unbroken, properly caulked and weathertight.
Renter-friendly insulation upgrades
If your windows are just old or low-tech, you may have to look into DIY solutions.
Mary English, the program manager at the Metropolitan Energy Center, gave a few cheap renter-friendly ways to upgrade your home’s insulation.
One of the biggest insulation problems, she said, is when air gaps allow warm air to leak out of your home.
You can use seal-and-peel caulk to seal those leaks around your windows. This caulk is removable when you move out. You can also use caulk on the trim of your walls if you can feel a draft coming through there.
If you’re renting a single-family home, you might be able to install foam around the rim joists in your basement. That is a common place where your home might have an air leak.
You can also consider covering the air vent in your attic with a magnetic fan cover, and if you don’t mind blocking your fireplace, you can put a chimney balloon in your flue.
If you have heat escaping through windows, English strongly discourages lining your windows with plastic, which can cause wood rot and mold issues — especially when the temperatures warm up again. Instead, she suggested asking your landlord for storm windows, which are safer and more effective.
For more information about improving your insulation, she said you can call the Metropolitan Energy Center, a nonprofit in Kansas City that specializes in energy efficiency. Their phone number is 816-531-7283.
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
