Frosty the Tenant

My apartment has been such the project since the day I moved in (background here) that I am not the least bit surprised I now have no heat.

It's been chilly inside since it started to get chilly outside, but now the boiler's given up altogether. The heating guy was here on Wednesday. His diagnosis used words like "ancient" and "poorly maintained," and he detected a slight carbon monoxide leak in the basement. It's a shame because I like the couple in the basement. They're nice people. It'd be good if they didn't, like, die.

Anyway, rumor has it my landlord's got a second opinion coming today to take another look. In the interim, I've got a space heater in the living room that's done more to scare the cat than warm the house. Rumor has it temps will soar into the low 50's today so we should be alright in the short term. But as so eloquently expressed in an email just sent from my downstairs neighbor to my property rep: "Presumably, the boiler would have been checked out and evaluated for performance before the winter started. I am sorry if I don’t have much patience for boiler repairs in the middle of December."

He's right. If the building was in fine working condition when we moved in and this just happened, then I think we'd all be a little more understanding. But given the laundry list of issues we've all had since September (even the laundry machines are on the laundry list!), a broken boiler feels like the back-breaking straw.

Also - rent's not cheap. We're not paying bargain prices. There was no implicit agreement that we were getting a steal in exchange for some quirks. We spend a good chunk of cash each month. Heat'd be nice.