I've never heard of a landlord actually having to turn on the heat. Weird and sad.
I have gone through at least 5 different winters in Kansas were the furnace broke down and we had to endure several days in the middle of winter without heat. I even had a landlord that told us the furnace was fine but then found out that it was broken. (We lived on the 2nd floor of an old house and didn't have access to the thermostat AND my baby daughter needed to be swaddled all the time to keep warm.)
I had a landlord that took a week to get our kitchen sink fixed......so I was doing our dishes in the upstairs tub. Fun times! I lived in that house for 9 years, and there was always something I had to harass him about fixing.
We can get temperatures down to -40° and the windchill has given us "feels like temperatures" of -65° many times.
So, they had to make a law. Which is compeletely asinine. If it gets too cold the water pipes will freeze and burst. Where does self preservation come in for these people? Protect your investment!
Beyond that...where's the humanity? The dollar is man-made; we are here by God's grace. It would be nice if more acted like it.
Take care!! I know what it is like to be inside a home that is probably as cold as it is outside. :-( I wears on the nerves pretty quickly!