My (42M) girlfriend and I are both disabled. Our property company wants to charge us for an error, and both of us have cognitive issues. What should we do?

I sent a message to our property company. I told them our pilot light was out. I should have just said, “we don’t have hot water,” but I often end up taking the most complicated route from point a to point b, because of errors in thinking.

The property company asked, “the pilot light for the furnace?” I answered in the affirmative, because it’s a struggle for me to remember that the furnace and the hot water heater are two different things. I’m not a home owner, I don’t know this stuff. It’s no different than if I took my car to the garage, because it isn’t driving correctly. I don’t know what’s wrong, that’s your job.

The hot water heater and the furnace are not even 12” away from one another. Would it really have been that hard to look? My girlfriend met the service person at the door, and after she replied “I don’t know” two or three times to his questions, she said “I have a disability and I can’t… I don’t know…,” and the guy went downstairs.

Today I got this message. “(My name) - I was reviewing your update to your pilot light work order. I see now that it is for the water heater. Because you did confirm that it was the pilot light on the furnace, the initial service call will be a tenant charge. The charge was $150 and will be added to your ledger to be paid with next month's rent.”

This feels dodgy. I’m pretty sure there was a voluntary disclosure of disability during the housing application, and I’m pretty sure they get extra state and federal kick backs for housing us (no, we are not Section 8). Now, of course they can’t ask, “so what’s wrong with you disabled people then,” but it would seem like there are certain protections. I’m sorry that I’m not an HVAC guy. And it makes me want to bash my head in when I have to pay money just for having cognitive issues. There’s no faster way to remind me that I’m not “normal” than to fine me for it.

Is this legal? Do I have any ability to pushback? Or do I just need to add a third party to the communication process, because clearly we are prone to errors. It feels to me like he probably looked at the furnace and thought, “this is fine, must be the hot water heater.” Whatever the case, it’s still out and they want my money.