It's possible that the landlord could be liable for the deductible, and more, if he didn't take care of the furnace properly, and that caused it to break down.  You need to have a good personal injury lawyer take a look at this, and get all the facts, to give you reliable advice.  One place to look for an attorney is our website, http://attorneypages.comThere are some cases in which it doesn't matter if there was carelessness or not, the landlord has to pay, but this probably isn't one of them.  If the landlord had a service company check on the furnace as often as recommended, then he might well not be liable.  Of course, if the service company was careless in its work, they might be the ones on the hook.