[New Port Richey, FL] I rent a home, the AC has been broken for 4 days, and there is water leaking through a ceiling fan. Also, a handyman turned off my fridge and let my food go bad. Advice? legaladvice

Hello, I rent a home in New Port Richey, FL and am looking for advice on how to proceed reguarding several maintenance issues with the home.

The first issue is the Air Conditioning broke on Wednesday morning. When we realized this Wednesday afternoon, we called the landlord and he sent out a friend that works for an air conditioning company. He diagnosed that the AC broke because the fan motor went out, as well as there was an electrical issue. This person blatantly told us that his friend the landlord was going to send out a handyman to fix the issue the next day with used parts in order to save costs. As a result, my fiancee and I stayed at my dads house to avoid the ~88 degree heat in the house. The next day (Thursday) no work was done on the unit to my knowledge. Yesterday, (Friday) they came out and began to work on the unit at around 2PM. I arrived at my house at about 4PM and found 2 handymen working on the unit. During my stop, I noticed my refrigerator and freezer were not running, I told the workers and they told me it was likely due to them turning the power off to work on the AC. They told me they would get the power restored as soon as they were done messing with the electric component of the AC. I left shortly after to go to work, and got a call saying they weren't able to continue due to rain which lasted about an hour. I got home at approximately midnight, to find that the Fridge/freezer was still off, now with ruined food. Today (saturday) they worked on the AC unit but were not able to resolve the electrical problem. They claim that an electrician will be out to fix the issue tomorrow. For this issue, it's my understanding that the law does not mandate AC for renters, however my lease states that the landlord will provide maintence for the unit. The lease does not lay out the timeframe that the issue needs to be fixed in, however. Is there any timeframe within which my landlord is required to fix the AC? Is there anything that can be done about the food that the handymen caused to go bad? Is there anything else I can do to expedite this?

Issue number two is that there is a roof leak in one of the two living rooms in the house. Part of this leak drips water through the ceiling fan, and it is my understanding that this presents a risk of electrical fire. This leak has existed since we moved in approximately three months ago, and the landlord has sent out handymen to fix it multiple times, none of which has actually resulted in the issue being fixed. We reminded the landlord and maitenence man that this issue still exists as they have been "working" to resolve the AC issue but no progress has been made. Do I have any rights based on the safety issues that this presents? Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

Submitted June 12, 2016 at 03:20AM by MyLandlordSucksAss http://ift.tt/1PSW69k legaladvice