Landlord is allowed to charge for extra electricity usage if tenant uses an A/C unit
Q: I live on the top floor of a triplex. On hot days in the summer the temperature in my apartment is unbearable. I want to install an air conditioner in the window of my bedroom so that I can sleep. Am I allowed to go ahead and do that, or do I have to deal with my landlord? One of the other tenants told me that the landlord charges $150 per season for the extra electricity to run an air conditioner. Is the landlord allowed to do that?
A: An additional charge for the electricity to run an air conditioner is legal under the Residential Tenancies Act (the “RTA”). Generally, it is perfectly proper for the landlord to insist on such a charge if you want to install an air conditioner.
Under the regulations of the RTA, the charge should be the landlord’s actual cost for the electricity. However, as a practical matter both tenants and landlords want to agree in advance on a fixed charge, based on the approximate cost of the electricity to operate a window air conditioner. Given the cost of electricity, $150 or $200 for the season is a reasonable estimate of the cost for Ottawa’s cooling season for an air conditioner in a small apartment.
As to installing the air conditioner, you should speak with your landlord to ensure the air conditioner is installed in a way that does little or no damage to the window frame. As a tenant, you are responsible to repair or pay for any damage you cause to the rental unit other than ordinary wear and tear.
In addition, there are safety concerns with window air conditioners. They are heavy, and if they are not installed correctly they can fall out of the window. That can happen either during the installation process or afterwards. If an air conditioner falls out of a window it can potentially injure a person who happens to be below the window at the time. In the extreme, if the air conditioner hits a person on the head, the falling A/C unit could even kill someone.
For those reasons, it is essential that the A/C unit be installed correctly and safely.
Since you live in a low-rise building that does not have a central air conditioning system, this is not your concern, but it can be difficult for building managers of highrise buildings to provide good cooling. As those buildings are usually designed, heating and cooling is done by running hot or cold water (or a special fluid) through the same set of pipes. In a large building it will typically take 24 hours or more to switch back and forth between heating and cooling.
Therefore, weather that switches between hot and cold creates a dilemma for building managers. If they switch the system over from heating to cooling, they will make their tenants happy with the cooling, but the tenants and the owner will not be very happy when the weather cools off and heat is needed but not available. Until late May, temperatures below freezing are even possible, and that creates a risk of damage to a building and serious discomfort to tenants. As of June, given Ottawa’s usual track record of heat, most tenants would want cooling to be available and would be prepared to take the risk of some cool nights to get it.