To not pay for this dishwasher?

[DianaMitford]

Not me, actually, but a friend. She had a houseshare with another girl, just the two of them in the house. The dishwasher wasn't provided by the LL.
My friend had been staying with her boyfriend a lot more so for the last 4/5 months hadn't been in the shared house at all. She then gave notice and by chance a mutual friend was looking for somewhere and took over the room.

One week into the new arrangement and original houseshare girl says the dishwasher is broken and will new girl please pay half to replace it? New girl can't afford it, it's not part of the tenancy contract and the dishwasher actually broke 3/4 months ago. Original house girl is now dropping heavy hints to my friend about paying half for a dishwasher because it broke during her tenancy, even though she was never there so hadn't used it for months and months.

I can't make my mind up what I think! Over to you lovely vipers

Who bought it?

If it wasn't broken would the second tenant have considered your friend to have 'owned' half of it and paid her to leave it behind when she left?

If not, then no payment for it to be broken now.

Scrap it and hand wash

How long have they had the dishwasher? Is it still under warranty?

Came with the house originally but LL said he wouldn't maintain it and they could keep it.

No talk of money exchanging hands at the end of the tenancy.

No, not under warranty. Down to tenant/s to replace.

Unless the girl who stayed was expecting to buy it off your friend when she left, she is off the mark.

Witsender phrased it much better than I.

Who bought it? It's their responsibility really

So, it came with the house but not part of the inventory? In that case they had several years using a free dishwasher and we're lucky. If housemate 1 wants another dishwasher she needs to buy it herself and it becomes her property. New housemate doesn't need to be included in the purchase but equally can't expect to be able to use it.

Old housemate shouldn't contribute either, as she won't get the benefit of it.

I'd say hm1 needs to buy or repair and that becomes her property. If she lets new hm use it fair enough but no expectations that should happen. She does however need to make sure that she doesn't stockpile dirty dishes in it so new hm has none to use or has to wash them up by hand to use. In those cases dirty things can be reloaded back into dishwasher, or she can turn it on so she has access to clean cookware.

And if she gets rid of old dishwasher she really should let the LL know it's broken and ask permission to dispose of it. That way she's covering her back

If no one bought it then it's just one of those things, dishwashers break, it's no one's fault, no one is out of pocket. If any of the current tenants want to buy a new one then it's up to them.

As it was LL old one no way should ex tenant pay half. If new tenant can't afford it and wants to live without a dishwasher and hand wash so be it she owes no one any money.

Reasonable of long tenant to ask halves so she can get a new one but if the answer is no, tough.

I'd probably ask for half of a repair from new tenant, could be a cheap fix.