Is a Landlord Required to Provide Hot Water?
In nearly every state a landlord is required to provide hot water, because hot water is a core part of the implied warranty of habitability, the landlord's duty to keep a unit livable. Unlike heat, which is tied to a cold-weather heating season, and unlike air conditioning, which most states do not require at all, hot water is a year-round essential. Many property-maintenance codes require the system to be capable of delivering water around 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit at the tap. No hot water is treated as an urgent repair, not a routine one, so the reasonable-time standard is short, often a day or two rather than weeks. A landlord who ignores a no-hot-water report exposes themselves to repair-and-deduct, rent withholding, code violations, and in extreme cases a constructive-eviction claim. Who pays the gas or electric bill that runs the water heater is a separate question set by the lease, but the duty to provide and maintain a working water heater stays with the landlord. The landlord who responds fast and can prove when the report came in, when the tech arrived, and when hot water was restored wins the dispute. The one relying on memory pays.
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