Advice

[Cookiesandscones]

I wasn't really sure where to put this thread

I just need a bit of advice really

I live in a private rented property the kitchen was all fitted cooker, washer, dishwasher when we moved in, anyway the element on the oven stopped working the other day, I informed the landlord he came back to me said the oven was out of warranty and how much it was going to cost me to get a new element was £30 for the element or £130 for it to be fitted, I didn't question it and paid for a new element to be sent out, one of my family members is an electrician and has been for 40 years so he said he would fit it for me because it was such a simple job. It was fitted yesterday and oven turned on and the element sparked and blew all the electrics to the oven, my family member questioned the element from the start and said he didn't think it was the right one but considering the company who made the oven sent it out he fitted it. He has said the likely hood is the cooker now needs replacing.

Would I be within my rights to tell the landlord I am not replacing the oven with the exact same one because I am paying for it and as the one thats in they don't make anymore and the next one up is more than I can afford at the moment??

If there is a better place I can out this thread I will move it to there if anyone can direct me

Thank you for reading

[Cookiesandscones]

@mygazeboisleaking @maskingforit thank you

My uncle is a qualified electrician he has all his trading stuff and insurance etc so regardless I could prove this he just didn't charge us that was the only difference of using him or using the people from the kitchen place, I won't be telling him he was a family member anyway but considering I did get my own electrician in I did gather it then became my fault the oven now is broken, I just didn't know if I could say to the landlord I am not buying one of your choosing and now other posters have said I will say you chose not to take responsibility for the oven in the first instance so I will be able to replace this with something of my choosing, if he did give me notice I have every intention of stripping the house back to the way it was with the exception of the painted walls obviously

[MaskingForIt]

but he said had the kitchen not have been fitted I would of had to bring my own oven and if that had of broke I would have had to fix/replace that at my cost anyway

I’m an accidental landlord and the letting agent made it quite clear to me that any appliances I left in the house (washing machine, fridge, cooker etc) were my responsibility. If they break, I fix them.

If I didn’t want that responsibility, then I had to remove them and it would be let without them.

I couldn’t be doing with the hassle of removing them, and if anything happens I will get them repaired/replaced for my tenants.

I thought that was standard?

[MyGazeboisLeaking]

OP.

Your landlord is dodgy as hell. You should never have put 3k of your own money into a rental unless you are prepared to lose it.

I own two rental properties and i would never ever behave like him. That said - if you've got a shit landlord it's never easy to rectify.

In your current situation, I would let him know that you got a qualified electrician to fit the element (don't mention your uncle) and it blew the whole thing. It needs replacing, which you will do at your own personal cost and he can reduce the rent by the same amount or you can take the cooker with you when you leave.

Sorry that you're having such a crap experience. This is not the way a landlord should behave.

[Cookiesandscones]

@jorisbonson yes we have signed 2 agreements one at the start and one a year later, I have copies of both

[JorisBonson]

You don't have a deposit but I'm guessing you have a signed tenancy agreement?

I agree with @BestestBrownies, £3,000 on a property you may have to leave at any time is crazy.

[Cookiesandscones]

@bestestbrownies yes I have all of that I also have pictures of what the house was like before we moved in and after we completed the work

[Cookiesandscones]

I have found an oven which is almost identical it's just a different make of oven and also £100 cheaper

[BestestBrownies]

It’s arseholes like this that give all landlords a bad name. The audacity of the bastard! He saw you coming, didn’t he?

You have been so incredibly naive here OP. I’m not trying to be patronising and I mean this kindly, but you need to read up on your tenant rights and obligations ASAP. Why on earth you would spend £3k of your own money on a property you could be served noticed on at ANY time I just cannot fathom. Do you still have receipts/invoices for this work/materials?

[Cookiesandscones]

@jorisbonson not we chose to do the work ourselves and not pay the deposit, we had the option to pay the deposit and we could have done but we decided to take the option of not paying the deposit and decorating the place ourselves and flooring the whole place so we could get in before the winter months

[lanthanum]

well I did think this but he said had the kitchen not have been fitted I would of had to bring my own oven and if that had of broke I would have had to fix/replace that at my cost anyway

If that's his grounds for saying he didn't have to sort the repair, then I think it's also grounds for you choosing what to replace it with. (He was wrong, but I don't think he can pick and choose that it wasn't his oven when it needed repair but it is his oven when you're replacing it.)

[JorisBonson]

Didn't*

[JorisBonson]

So you don't pay a deposit?

[Cookiesandscones]

I meant deposit I don't even know why I typed bond, he apparently was originally told he could not let it out with the state the house was in and when I first viewed it I refused it because of this reason and because the amount of rent he wanted for a house that you would essentially get from the council and pay alot less in rent. The letting agency then came back to us with the 2 option offer and a lower rent which he then put back up after the 1 year agreement was over and we had to sign to become long term tenants at that point the first was a 12 month tenancy as like a trial

[Cookiesandscones]

@fortheloveofcatfood yes I am in the UK

[ForTheLoveOfCatFood]

Are you in the uk? Just because I haven’t heard the term bonds used in the uk market nor a tenancy agreement that doesn’t specify who is responsible for what and it’s also unusual to have to decorator in when you move in

[Cookiesandscones]

We also had the choice at the start

1. Pay a bond and months rent up front and he would decorate the house. The walls were bare plaster, no flooring down, more plaster work needed to be done etc.
2. Don't pay a bond and a month's rent up front and we do the work with the exception of painting the walls black

We opted for number 2 so after plowing almost 3k into getting the house how we want it I also don't want to walk away from it after a year

[Cookiesandscones]

I have spoken to the letting agents to get in touch with him and they said it was ultimately down to him to decide what was best to do. I have never rented privately before and I am always worried he just ends the tenancy if I push too much, before we moved in about 2 days before he had a massive melt down over some property that he misplaced in the house and said he wasn't going to end the tenancy before it even started because, I had a decorator in and he said they had stole the property out of the house they hadn't he later found it but he said I was just letting any Tom dick and Harry in the house when I didn't even have the keys, he was letting decorator in on a morning and locking up on a night time.

That's why I tend to just get on with it, I know I shouldn't but I don't want to end up homeless with my daughter, some of the horrors I have heard from private rents makes me more passive but we were so desperate to be out of old property we moved here and he was a nice as could be at first

[DougRossIsTheBoss]

Your landlord is a massive pisstaker
He should pay

You paid to rent it with the kitchen appliances. If you'd had to supply your own the rent would have been less. It is obviously his responsibility and he needs to pay for a new cooker.
Stand your ground.

[user137425689631]

Whoa, are you always this passive? Your landlord is walking all over you and you're asking him if your spine is comfortable enough for his feet.

Landlord is responsible for repairs per the tenancy agreement. That means repairs of his property and the oven is his property. This was his responsibility not yours. The oven belongs to him not you.

[ForTheLoveOfCatFood]

You need to speak to the letting agents.
A friend rented a flat and previous tenant left washing machine. LL said they could use it but if it broke or needed repairs as the flat was unfurnished it would be up to them to sort.
Could this be similar altho very weird tenants would need to bring their own oven

[PurpleFlower1983]

If he tells you to buy a new one just get what you want and take it with you!

[Cookiesandscones]

My tenancy states that he is responsible for repairs but it doesn't actually state which repairs and I honestly don't mind buying a new oven just not the exact same one that is fitted in the kitchen because I technically know we opted out of using the people who supplied the element to fit the element that we are now responsible for what happened to the oven but I just didn't know if I could say I will buy a new oven but just not one from the kitchen company they originally used

[Ilovesugar]

*if and when you moved

[Ilovesugar]

If you end up paying for an oven I would tell the landlord you are taking it with you. If you pay for the up keep and maintenance of it

[PurpleFlower1983]

As others have said though, it may be tricky as you will need to prove that the incorrect element damaged the oven and not your electrician. A decent landlord would just replace the oven but yours doesn’t sound decent!