So, our landlord is supposed to supply the heat in our apartment. We have no control over the temperature, no access to the thermostat, and big, old-fashioned radiators in every room. The first night of the cold weather (around the 14th) we had no heat, but by the next day, the place warmed up to about 68 degrees. We figured it was just the transition from hot to cold weather and everything would be fine.
The following week, we woke up on Wednesday morning to a cold apartment. Apparently, the landlord was "resetting" the thermostat and timer the night before and "forgot" to turn everything on again. The handyman fixed the problem later that day and the temperature was fine again ... until today.
This morning, we woke up to a frigid 58 degrees. This is bad news for Thuraya, who just recovered from pneumonia.
Through phone calls all day, the best answer I got was "we don't know why that happened but it's on now." When I talked to the landlord in person this evening, he tried his best to ignore my inquiries about his plan to find out what the problem is and fix it. Finally, I told him that I didn't appreciate him being "dismissive" and that he needed to correct the problem. Still, the best he could offer was that the heat was "on now." I asked what we should do if we wake up in the middle of the night to another cold apartment. His answer: call me the next morning. My response: no, I'll be calling you in the middle of the night.
Richmond requires all apartments to be at least 65 degrees at all times, so now we're collecting evidence (in the form of pictures of the in-room thermometer) just in case a lawsuit is in my future.
(Also, see the "non-working fire escape" that's been under repair for a week now. They also secured,
from the outside, the back door that leads to the fire escape in order to "protect" us from going out that way and using the fire escape while it's under repair. This is, of course, illegal and a serious safety hazard.)