So poor me it just started getting cold enough to turn on the heat on Sunday. Worked fine for a few hours, went to bed, woke up and it wasn't working, called maintenance and they came out and fixed it while I was at work. Went to bed Monday, woke up, heat not working AGAIN, called maintenance and they came out and fixed it. Big surprise, went to bed last night and woke up because I was freezing, this is where I am at now 5:30 in the morning and I am COLD. Yesterday when maintenance was here he came in, looked like he just flipped a breaker, went outside to look around, came back in, then he must have flipped something or touched something inside my utility closet, then bam it was fixed. What could he have possibly done? Is there anything I can do on my own when this happens? When I turn the thermostat up literally nothing happens, the fan doesn't run, nothing makes a click or a noise at all. All I can tell you is that I have an electric forced air unit. Between the unit and the wall there is something that looks like a white switch that has an orange light by it, however I can't even reach it and I don't so much want to touch it even if I could. I know this stuff is often better left to professionals but if someone could even help by just informing me about what might be going on, I would appreciate it.

There may be a short in the electrical system, or a breaker overload, not sure. Don't mess with electricity yourself. I'd call maintenance, tell them you appreciate their attempts to fix it but this is unacceptable and since they have been unable to fix it themselves they need to bring in a professional. Maintenance people in apartment/condo complexes are usually jacks-of-all-trades, knowing a little about a lot of different things, but you need a specialist. You need either a heating contractor or an electrician, but since you have electric heat, ask for an electrician. If maintenance gives you any grief, call the property manager. I hope it gets resolved quickly.

Well I called the office right when they opened and the lady in the office was short with me, I am sure she was busy so I asked for a call back from the manager or district manager. She did get maintenance here within 15 minutes though. He fixed it again, but I still plan on talking to the manager about it and I am pretty sure they have a space heater that they can loan out when they have to take time for repairs, at least they did with window AC units when it was going to take them a day to replace my outside AC unit this summer. Hopefully I can talk her into letting me have that for awhile in case it goes out again at night. At least I can be happy that they sent the smart guy out today, I don't know exactly what his qualifications are but they send him out for serious stuff when normally they send the not so skilled ones out for the other stuff (like my dishwasher that I have had 4 work orders on). I was just extra crabby earlier this morning not knowing what was going on. When I talk to the manager I will make sure she knows that if there are any further problems I will be demanding that they pay for someone else to come out. The maintenance guy is just so nice, last time I had a serious issue that he could not fix he called his boss out to get things replaced, so hopefully I can trust that he would have done that today if there was a serious problem.

You might want to stop in and price some space heaters, just in case. I got my sister a real nice one for Christmas, for $15, at the local hardware store!

^ for some reason I assumed they were far more expensive so that is great to know. I have the day off today so plenty of time to monitor the situation and run off to Walmart or the hardware store to buy one, thanks!

Most communities have a landlord/tenant authority. So....message to manager. "Get someone professional to diagnose and fix this in the next 2 hours or a complaint will be filed with local authorities. I will also ask that in view of the fact that a breaker keeps tripping (evidence of a major problem), I'm also going to call the local building and electrical inspection authority."

Most managers don't want to mess with local authorities. This is a safety/health issue...particularly safety.

Jon

It is still running nicely but I will continue to watch it closely, especially in the case that it is something electrical. I don't think that it is now, as the maintenance guy did not fiddle with the breakers or anything electric when he came out this time, he only pulled off a metal piece of the heater and did something inside and checked the outside unit. I have had another ongoing issue that stemmed from a plumbing leak that happened with the neighbor above me and has affected the ceiling above my shower. Jon, or anyone else, what type of authorities do you actually contact with unresolved problems? I have no problem doing that if things are not fixed, but I don't know who to contact. I am about to do that if there is not a better solution to the problem in my bathroom. I live in Florida and a google search has not really helped me find out what government agency deals with these types of things. Specifically having someone come out (for free) that would assess if there is any sort of mold problem stemming from the leak (the damage leads me to believe it is something that has happened before and was never properly fixed). I know this is more off topic, but really the heat is less of a worry than the other. I am willing to give them another opportunity to fix it to my expectations, but if they don't then I have no problem sending a certified letter stating if they don't bring someone else in then I will be contacting such and such agency. I just don't know who I would call!

Just to let you know, I am a landlord. The authority in your area probably will not be the same as the ones they are referring to because they seem to be different in every little village and town.
You could start by calling your city/village/township clerk's office and ask who regulates landlord tennet issues and also ask who inspects properties for certificates of occupancy and ask if that is the same place for mold issues.
I would also suggest you send a letter to your management company detailing each instance you have had a problem of any kind. State that you have been pleased with the response and the courtesy of the maintenance people, but the fact remains you haven't had a comfortable home because of these problems and you would like them identified and professionally addressed. State further that you would like an adjustment to your rent of $X.xx (number of days you had problems times 1/30th of your monthly rent. And keep in mind that you can go to your local credit union and set up an escrow account to put your rent money into, instead of paying it, until the problems are fixed - you of course have to advise your landlord (I'd suggest by certified mail) that you have established an escrow account and for what reason.
You have been so reasonable, I wish my tennants were like you.

I am glad that I am being viewed as reasonable, haha, I hate to nag because I have a tendency to want to do things on my own, but you can't when you rent. The reason I haven't been so pushy is because the problem in my bathroom and the problem with my AC this summer happened right before my apartment switched management companies. I truly believe the new management company didn't realize all of the problems the tenants were having and they did replace some of the maintenance crew so I wanted to give them time to get the right people here to fix things. To their credit they have been so much better than the old company, with all of the problems with the AC and the previous company just doing quick fixes, this new company had the unit replaced right away. They also replaced all of the flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, resurfaced all of the countertops, replaced all of the lighting fixtures, replaced my hot water heater, redid/painted/fixed screen on my porch and replaced my sinks and faucets all in 1 day and all with only a $15 raise in my rent when I renewed my lease. However, when it comes to a possible mold issue I think that a lot of landlords, even this company, might not know the true condition and have it covered up. In any event I called them again today, they want me to monitor the spots in the ceiling through the night and make sure that everything is dry and it doesn't seem like there is a current leak since maintenance can't get out until tomorrow. They said they will have maintenance check for mold and patch everything up correctly as long as everything looks ok and it is still dry. So we will see what happens tomorrow!

Get a space heater, to back you up, and if you look around, you can find them for around $20-40.

Is your heat included in your rent? If so, call the authorities. It could be the health dept., not sure. That is what my mom did. They were not fixing it correctly, just putting a bandaid on it, and the dept of health forced them to fix it.

She also took off of her rent, the raise in her electric, for using the heaters, and the price of buying them.