AN IMPORTANT WORD ON NOTICE

Do you have to give WRITTEN notice? 

You should give written notice to the landlord for all repair requests. 

Legally speaking, written notice is only required in some cases, such as where the repair at issue is considered an "essential service" and you want to get damages based on the reduction in the fair market rent.  Otherwise written notice is not required by the law. 

BUT, if you file a counterclaim, you will need to be able to prove when you gave notice and what you said in the notice.  If you give a verbal notice, the landlord might dispute that you gave notice or what you said in the notice.  So, you should always make repair requests in writing and keep a copy of each request made. 

Another reason to give notice in writing is because there is a law that says that if your landlord is suing to evict you for not paying rent and you want to raise repair issues as a counterclaim in that rent eviction case, you cannot do so if you did not give timely notice. 

Timely notice means that you gave the landlord notice at least fourteen days before rent is due for repairs that don't involve essential services.  For repairs involving essential services, you must give enough notice before rent is due to allow the landlord a reasonable opportunity to make emergency repairs needed to provide an essential service.  For example, if the air conditioner is not working.