OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — As Oklahoma deals with an extended period of frigid, below-freezing temperatures, legal experts say it’s important for renters to know their rights, should they find their home or apartment without working heat.
News 4 has brought numerous reports each winter, sharing the frustrations of tenants who say their landlords are neglecting to fix heating systems in their homes and apartments.
“My kids are right now sitting under blankets and sweatpants just to stay warm,” Moore apartment tenant Joseph Garmon told News 4 in November 2022, after the heating system in his apartment at Ascend Apartments went unrepaired.
"It's gotten me sick this week,” Ascend Apartments tenant Cathleen Beauchamp told News 4 in November 2022. “I hate that I'm having to bounce from place to place to make sure my child is warm and comfortable, that she doesn't get sick because she has asthma. And when she gets sick, she really gets sick. She ends up in the hospital."
In some cases News 4 has documented, tenants never received responses from their landlords—even after submitting formal work orders, leading many tenants to feel helpless and stuck in unlivable homes.
“We still have to pay our rent every month to live here,” Ascend Apartments tenant Thomas Hutton told News 4 in November 2022. “So you can't just stop paying rent to live here.”
But, as the temps dip below freezing again in 2025, legal experts say it’s important for tenants to know—they do have rights.
“The applicable law is the Oklahoma Landlord Tenant Act,” attorney Tim Gilpin said.
Gilpin says Oklahoma law makes it clear: your landlord must keep your home to a certain, livable standard, and if they don’t, tenants can hold them accountable.
“If a landlord fails to provide the essentials such as heat, hot water, electricity, then the tenant can put the landlord on notice that this is happening and thus uninhabitable,” Gilpin said.
He says after putting your landlord on notice about a problem, such as a non-functioning heating system, they have 14 days to address the problem.
If they don’t do anything in that 14-day window, tenants have several options.
“Then the tenant can either move out, terminate the lease early, or—up to the cost of one month of rent—have the repairs done at their expense and then look to the landlord to reimburse them.”
But, before you go without paying your rent, Gilpin says you must make sure you take one crucial step.
“Give written notice,” he said.
Gilpin says to make sure you tell your landlord about the problem in writing, not just verbally, so they cannot dispute the fact that you notified them of the issue.
“Do it in writing and date it,” Gilpin said. “And probably some sort of verification that [you] gave it to the landlord. Then the landlord has to act within 14 days.”
