Many tenants believe that their landlords are fully in charge, that what they say goes, unequivocally, without argument. This is a huge misconception, but sadly one that many inexperienced landlords tend to believe.

The relationship between landlords and tenants is not quite so one sided. Sure, a distressingly large amount of the time, leases are more in favor of the landlords, but the rental laws and codes in your local area are designed to protect the tenant as well.

This means that if your landlord does not provide you with a “universally acceptable” amount of hot water, water pressure, heat, and so on, you are well within your bounds to argue this, to talk to code inspectors about this, and even to withhold rent until you are satisfied. This does not mean you can withhold rent because you cannot paint or put up wallpaper, because you do not like the layout of the rooms, or because the landlord will not purchase the refrigerator you want. It means you can do so if you have no water pressure, if you cannot manage to get enough water to take a hot shower or run a hot bath, or if your apartment is not sufficiently heated, and your landlord makes no means to correct it.