Landlord & AC Issues
landlord tenant attorney North Carolina Aug 25, 2026
Note: I understand that there is an HVAC related subreddit for the issues I have described, but the unit does not belong to me. Location: North Carolina/Mecklenburg County I have lived in a rental for a few years now with the same landlord (the rent has been really good compared to the rest of the area which is why I had not left yet). Since moving in, there have been issues with the old AC not getting down to temperature during the summer months by 10ish+ degrees and the unit was constantly running. All issues seen with the AC unit were communicated with the landlord. Throughout the entire experience, people have been sent out to do band-aid repairs and different attempts to troubleshoot that had been unsuccessful. This has led to last year getting the recommendation that the unit is too old and small for the sq footage and having the whole AC unit outside replaced. The new unit has since introduced a whole new set of issues. Since the new unit has been put in, the refrigerant line has frozen many, many, many times going all the way out to the new unit. I have been without proper AC for several hours during the hottest days of the year now because I have had to turn it off to prevent damage. There have been nights I have had no AC at all because the line was frozen and needed to thaw. Every incident has been communicated to the landlord and people have been sent out. The issue still remains and there are concerns on effort put in the actually fix the issue versus saving money. It took me having to inspect the unit to find the furnace filter which had obviously NEVER been replaced- something ALL the other technicians that were sent over stated did not exist on this unit. The last time I went up to the attic to troubleshoot I found parts related to air flow on the ground because the technician made a hail mary attempt to fix it - this did not fix it. The landlord is asking me to do things now such as keep the house warmer during the evenings and while sleeping (I have confirmed through AC technicians and various sources online that keeping it at my desired temperature at night is reasonable for the unit size and conditions. I have ensured that the temperatures I have set to during the day are also reasonable for the size of the unit and outside conditions - adjusting when needed.) Other asks, too summarize, have been around maintaining and troubleshooting the system to prevent it freezing. Its led to being asked not to properly utilize the AC and keep constant watch on it to make sure it doesn't freeze. Even following through on their asks, the unit keeps freezing. Now landlord is refusing repairs on the AC system and any new messages I sent are being ignored - I choose to send now to keep them informed. The landlord has stated that there is no interest in continuing to attempt repairs. I am looking at options to leave currently but that does not fix the fact that I still live in the current rental; this is my issue to deal with while still here. It has also likely caused increases in the electric bill with how the unit has been running during my entire stay here. I still have to turn off the unit when it freezes so that I am not liable for any damage due to the icing. It's come to breaking point as there are now clicking noises from the ducts that are amplified in the room I sleep - I need to know my options in the meanwhile.
