9 Things a North Carolina Landlord Has to Pay For That Renters Often Cover Anyway

If the smoke alarm in your rental starts chirping, who buys the replacement?

In North Carolina, that’s usually your landlord’s job, and the same goes for more repairs than many renters expect.

Here’s what the law puts on your landlord, and when a repair can still end up on your bill.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Rental rules and notice periods are subject to change.

1. Heating Repairs

Your landlord’s duty to keep the heat working isn’t waived when you accept the place as it is.

One exception is a later written contract where you agree to do certain work on the place, backed by something more than the rent itself and not meant to get around the landlord’s duties.

A rental’s heating facilities have to be capable of heating living areas to 65 degrees when it’s 20 degrees outside, from November 1 through March 31.

Outside those months, the landlord still has to maintain and promptly repair the heating system.

That repair duty comes with a condition: You have to notify your landlord in writing, unless it’s an emergency.

Keep a copy of your written notice.

2. Toilets, Tubs and Showers

Who fixes a toilet that won’t flush, you or your landlord?

The state’s rental law names a set of imminently dangerous conditions that your landlord has to repair or remedy.

A lack of an operable toilet is on that set, along with a lack of an operable bathtub or shower.

Your landlord has to act within a reasonable period of time, based on how severe the condition is, once the landlord knows about it or gets notice.

3. Electrical Wiring

Your landlord has to repair unsafe wiring.

It belongs to the same set of imminently dangerous conditions, so your landlord has to remedy it within a reasonable time after learning of it.

A separate duty covers electrical systems: Your landlord has to keep them in good and safe working order.

The landlord’s repair duty starts with your written notice, except in an emergency.

Your landlord also has to follow the building and housing codes that apply to your rental.

4. Roofs, Floors, Steps and Chimneys

Your landlord has to repair or remedy an unsafe roof, ceiling, floor or set of steps once the landlord knows about it or gets notice.

The same goes for unsafe chimneys and flues.

Your landlord also has to keep all common areas of the premises in safe condition.

5. Door and Window Locks

Your landlord has to keep operable locks on every door that leads outside.

Broken windows and a lack of operable locks on ground-level windows are on the same set of imminently dangerous conditions.

Your landlord has to repair or remedy those too.

6. Smoke Alarms

Smoke alarms are a landlord's job to provide, install and repair, whether they're battery-operated or electrical.

Each alarm has to be operable and in good repair at the beginning of every tenancy.

If a smoke alarm stops working, send your landlord written notice.

Your landlord has 15 days from receiving it to replace or repair the alarm.

7. Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Carbon monoxide alarms are required in only some rentals.

The rule applies to a unit with a fossil-fuel burning heater, appliance or fireplace, or with an attached garage.

In those units, your landlord has to provide at least one operable carbon monoxide alarm on each level.

A failed alarm gets the same 15-day repair window, counted from your written notice.

8. Air Conditioning and Appliances

Air conditioning is a landlord's job to maintain and promptly repair, as are the other facilities and appliances the landlord supplied or was required to supply.

If your rental came with a refrigerator or stove, repairing it falls to your landlord too.

Send written notice of the problem, except in an emergency.

9. Rat Infestations From Structural Defects

Your landlord has to repair or remedy a rat infestation that results from defects in the structure that let rodents in.

The reasonable-time clock runs from when your landlord knows about the infestation or gets notice.

Send a written notice anyway because it gives you a dated record of when your landlord found out.

Repairs That Are Your Fault

Your landlord can still recover money from you for a repair that's your fault.

Even after repairing an imminently dangerous condition, your landlord may recover the actual and reasonable costs of repairs that are your fault.

You're also responsible for damage to property inside your unit that's in your exclusive control.

That responsibility has exceptions, including ordinary wear and tear and natural forces.

Damage from the landlord's actions, a defective product the landlord supplied, or a repair the landlord authorized isn't on you either.

Neither is damage from a third party who isn't your guest.

Rent Reduction in Court

Your landlord can end up owing you a rent reduction when a problem stays unfixed.

The reduction is the gap between the fair rental value of your home as the law requires it to be and its value as it stands.

Say your unit would rent for $1,200 a month if it met the law but is worth $900 as it stands.

In that example, the reduction is $300 a month.