Are you having AC issues where you rent? How to get it fixed

WEBSTER, Texas (KTRK) -- As we are experiencing one of the hottest stretches of the summer, we're hearing from renters all over the Houston area who are dealing with air conditioning problems.

Teresa Pena, who lives at the Solano Apartments on NASA Parkway in Webster, is one of them.

"It started to get up to 80, 82, (degrees)," Pena said.

The Solano advertises central air, but you would never know it by the number of window units you see used around the complex.

"One day, yes. One day, no. You're suddenly in the middle of the day, like, 'Oh my god, what's going on?' and you go check the A/C, and it's almost 80 degrees, and it's very frustrating," Pena explained.

Pena showed us emails from management from as far back as this time last year about widespread A/C issues. She says this problem has continued off and on with Band-Aid fixes.

Right now, the A/C fan in her apartment is on, but it doesn't blow very cool air despite her submitting work orders. She says management considers it "fixed."

Pena says with this most recent outage, the complex loaned some residents window units.

"I saw there were about 75 people in front of me on the list, and they said they had no idea when they were going to come around to giving me a window unit, so I got a fan and put window units in the bedrooms to get some relief at night," Pena explained.

Despite all of this, she is one of the lucky ones. Friends and family are letting her borrow two window units.

"If I didn't have the help I had from the window units, it would probably be in the upper 80s," Pena said.

Radiance Living owns the complex, but the local management did not answer when Eyewitness News asked if they have plans to fix the problem.

"If you are in a similar situation, you may be wondering if you are paying for a place that is supposed to have A/C and it doesn't consistently work - can you get out of your lease?" ABC13 asked an attorney.

The answer is, "Yes, if the landlord is not taking any steps to fix the problem."

You would have to notify your landlord and go through all the proper steps, but not having a working A/C does affect your health, and you can get out of your lease.

However, if your landlord makes a "reasonable" attempt to fix the problem, it will be tough to get out of your lease.

In that case, the best advice is to write your requests for a fix, not just tell the manager in person, and document the situation by taking pictures and videos and saving communications between you and the landlord.

There is more information on how to make a repair request here.

Eyewitness News asked an attorney if there was anything else people could do when dealing with this situation.

It depends on where you live. In the City of Houston, an ordinance requires the landlord to keep it at least 20 degrees cooler inside than outside.

So, if it's 100 degrees outside, it must be at least 80 degrees inside.

If the A/C is not working to that standard, you should report it to the city through 311.

Eyewitness News checked, and Webster doesn't have that ordinance, but after we called them, a city building official went out to the complex.

They say management confirmed they're having problems with a chiller unit and that it's supposed to be fixed by the end of the week.

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Do you have questions about your rent? Are you struggling to get help from landlord? Send us your questions and we will look into it.