Imagine living in a place that you rent, and the furnace stops working. If it got so cold out that you weren’t able to live there, would you think it would be reasonable to get a reduced rent amount, or should your rent stay the same?

In this story, two friends are arguing about this exact situation. One friend is renting from the other friend, and their disagreement might be the end of their friendship.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA …Rent Compensation

I 27f rent from a friend who is traveling. I pay $980 a month and there is no legal agreements in place.

On 11/23 the furnace broke, I had someone to the house on 11/24 to inspected it and the 34yo furnace had a broken secondary heat exchanger.

I had the same company return on 11/25 and complete measurements and give a quote. All information was shared with my landlord via FaceTime and email in real time.

She then informed me that she had a second opinion coming on 11/25.

Waiting for a second opinion was rather inconvenient.

At this point the weather was 34 degrees out and I was staying mainly in my room with a space heater.

I had planned to host a family thanksgiving on 11/25 and instead packed everything up and cooked at my brother house (1.5 hours away).

On the afternoon of 11/25 I asked how the inspection went as I was unable to be there.

My landlord said they hadn’t heard from the company and were waiting on a quote.

Prorated rent for an unlivable rental seems reasonable.

There was minimal follow up (I had to reach out daily for potential updates) and in the meantime temperatures got to as low as 10 degrees each night and I could no longer stay at the house.

I have been staying with my s/o since 11/26.

My landlord informed me on 12/1 that someone can come out to install the furnace today 12/2.

I asked if we could deduct money from my rent for next month equal to the price per day that I pay (around $300) for time not able to live in the house.

The landlord didn’t like that suggestion.

I was met with a lot of resistance and told that if I were a renter with a legal agreement there would be no compensation as long as the furnace was replaced in a timely manner.

I reminded my landlord that I had found a company who could replace the furnace on 11/25.

And she said their quote was 2,000 more.

They friendship might be over.

Am I a jerk for asking someone who is supposed to be my friend for money off rent?

She told me she would be willing to do $200 off, but after all of this it has really made me question the friendship and I’d like to just tell her forget about the compensation I’ll be moving out by the end of the month.

So, OP wants to knock $300 off the upcoming rent payment, but the landlord is only willing to knock $200 off the rent. They’re quibbling over $100. I’d let it go.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

They really should’ve had a rental agreement.

I wouldn’t call a week a reasonable amount of time either.

Here’s a vote for moving.

Here’s a timeline about when to move.

But, moving might not be the wisest choice.

It’s often a bad idea to rent from a friend.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.