Am I legally responsible to pay for furnace repair for rental property

[aimecrec]

We rent a home in Minnesota. One day last winter our heat was out due to the furnace. We had to call in a heating and cooling company to fix it. When they came to fix the furnace they called the landlord to confirm it was ok to do the work and the landlord agreed. A few months later we started receiving bills in our name for the amount owed. The landlord was not paying the bill. We gave the company all the contact information we had for the landlord and they said they understood it was not our responsibility. After a couple more months we received a harrassing letter in the mail from the heating a cooling company stating that the amount was our responsibility and if we didn't pay it they were going to "take us to court". We called our landlord and told him he needed to call them and take care of it. We then called the heating and cooling company to confirm our landlord had called them. He had and instead of just taking care of the bill over the phone, he told them that he had never received a bill and asked them to send him another. Now we are getting harrassing phone calls from the heating and cooling company saying the bills sent to the landlord have been returned to them (the same address that we send our rent to every month and the rent checks are always cashed). Are we legally obligated to pay this bill and can they legally put it on our credit?

 

[mightymoose]

It is the landlord's responsibility. If something turns up on your credit report be sure to dispute it. At this point you should do all your communicating with the company in writing (and save copies of everything).

The repairs would only be your responsibility if, say... you crashed your motorcycle into it.