What a pointless waste of money.... (Landlord opinions welcome)

[LemonInPlay]

So our oven is included as part of the house we rent.
It's important to note here we could have brought our own freestanding one as it was ours, but the kitchen here has an inbuilt one included in the contract (and no space for a freestanding oven anyway), so we sold our own when we moved in.

About a month and a half ago the oven packed up completely.
We had a look (my Dad is an retired electrician) and the heating element and the thermostat were fucked (wiring actually burnt out in some places).

When I notified the letting agent I was very thorough in the report, including what was wrong, the serial number, make and model of the oven.

So they finally sent someone out last week (their general handyman btw, not an expert) who reckoned it was unlikely to be fixable and he would recommend it being replaced. He took measurements and photos etc.

Different guy turns up this morning, not with a new oven as I had hoped, but with a heating element that I told him from the off wouldn't fit, I could see as soon as he came in the door the wiring for it was in the wrong place.
(Remember I had already given them the make and model, and the previous guy had taken photos/details of it all as well)

Surprise surprise, it doesn't fit, plus new handyman suddenly realises, as we'd already pointed out, that other things are completely buggered on it as well, and it's probably not worth saving.

The amount they have already spent on calling out two different handymen, and the pointless parts that don't fit, must be really close to the cost of a basic new oven (if not over it already)

It's been over 6 weeks since we've had no oven/grill, luckily we have a hob and a toaster, but no microwave as the ridiculous kitchen means there is no space for one and I am fed up with it all.

I know it's not the worse problem on the scale of things, but we pay a fucking fortune in rent for this place, keep it nice, neat and clean, and they can't be arsed to even just fucking replace the oven.

To my AIBU...

AIBU to think that they should just replace the fucking oven and have done with it, seeing as they have already spent that much on pointless call outs for an oven we categorically told them was broken?

YANBU- what a ridiculous waste of time and money

YABU- be grateful you have a hob and wait.

😁 yes it really isnt much and it is all taxable anyway. I'm sorry for all bad experiences people have with LLs.

Yanbu.

As you have said, fine to send someone to check it out just in case it was fixable (I'd have been pretty clueless), but when he agreed it was broken, you should have had an oven delivered asap, ideally within a day.

I'm a landlord and if the agents ask me in advance, I always say to replace, rather than fix. I hate numerous callout fees and I like the tenants to be treated properly with a house that works for them. I went into letting as I had such a bad time with renting...like it done professionally!

Obvioulsy you shouldn't have been without an over for so long but what is the issue with using tradespeople that the LL might be friends with?

Do you have to pay the them? When I've rented the LL pays for that type of thing so it doesn't matter to me if he pays his useless mates more than he needs to fix stuff other than the hassle factor.

I have a family member who is a LL and I know that he's become friendly with all the local trades he's using, wouldn't it be a bit odd to use a stranger because you've built up a relationship with someone?

I waited two years for my oven to be repaired or replaced. First guy basically called me a moron for not knowing it needed to use the timer while cooking (I told him I already tried that) second one never came back. Third tradie was amazing and told defence housing oven and hob were fucked. Three months later they said a replacement oven and hob has been approved. It was fitted last week.

I stood and chatted with the tradie for an hour after the work was done in the sure knowledge defence housing would be billed for his time

In the meantime I bought two philips air fryers and a crockpot express. Not sure how much I will use the oven now lol

I am a landlord - long term tenant. I have just replaced the oven and hob - after inspection by an electrician I trust, and discussion with him as to what was wrong and suitable replacements. No one likes buying new appliances, but not being an expert and living 200 miles away I find this works. Sounds like he has a mate who is a general handyman who had a random part in the back of his van he said he’d try!

@Cpl1586407

In my experience landlords will try every cheap option to fix something before replacing it. I kind of see their point with some things, but yeah this is a waste of time and I wouldn't be happy.

Yup.

To be honest, and what annoys me more, is that there are loads of little things (leaking pipe, broken kitchen cupboard etc) that we have saved them money on by simply fixing ourselves.

My partner is a gas engineer and Dad is an ex electrician (and ex handyman in a similar set up funnily!) and I am rather handy, so we have always covered the basics.

Yeah tbf I did mean one quick visit from a handyman (could be a mate) to either fix or confirm it can’t be, then immediate replacement. I’m not justifying faffing for weeks, should be a few days max for delivery

England? No they won't 'kick you out' , law doesn't work like that. Current eviction backlog approaching two years. They should be grateful for the rent because there is currently no action possible if tenants do not pay.

Electrical condition report due by end march if it wasn't done before you moved in. Any news on that?

OP, we had EXACTLY the same issue!! Oven broke - blew the fuse which is on the same circuit as the fridge/freezer so that turned off too - luckily not everything was ruined.
Landlords agent send 2 people, 4 times 3 wrong parts and took 5 weeks to fix!!!
Oh, and in the meantime we had an inspection visit where we were criticised as "the garden looks wintery" - in fucking December!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But a cheap oven is about £150 how can that be more expensive than two call-outs and parts?

YANBU, I’d have replaced it straight away. Spending money on old appliances doesn’t make sense.

At this stage, I'd seriously consider replacing myself and taking the price out of the next month's rent. I'd email the letting agents, explaining the wait has been unreasonable, and this is what I plan to do and give them e.g. 7 days to sort a replacement.

There's advice on how to do this legally here: england.shelter.org.uk/legal/housing_conditions/taking_action_on_disrepair/withholding_rent

Alternatively, contact Shelter for advice.

YANBU, I’m a landlord and I’d have sent one guy out to have a look when it first happened and then immediately replaced it.
Your landlord gives all of us a bad name.

As a landlord I often struggle to make sense of what the letting agent is doing. I hear tenant feedback filtered through multiple people, and need to really dig and ask directly what the tenant would prefer we do about the problem. We always do what the tenant wants if we can afford it. Have to say that recently we had a similar issue but the electrician said it was still operational, so we went for the cheaper fix as we don't have any money left after the heating needed repairing. We will get it replaced next month. Landlords are not always loaded.

I’m a tenant and had a range from brilliant to dreadful. Worst didn’t fix the drains until we threatened environmental health and the found rats. Different one liken tinkering himself until his wife put her foot down each time and got a qualified professional.

My current one has been pretty good.

Replacing worn out or broken items which are supplied in the inventory is a tax deductible business expense for the property owner (otherwise known as a LL).

YANBU Sending someone out to do an initial assessment is fine, sensible even ( I one had a tenant tell me the washing machine was broken, then spent £90 on a call out when the problems was she'd gummed up the soap drawer and it needed cleaning ) but once it's been assessed, just replace it!

was this direct with the ll or an agent-i find agents are always trying to get more money out of the ll

It's been years since we rented but from my experience landlords never want to spend a penny on anything and are determined to squeeze every bit of profit they can from their tenants. I even had a letting agent once tell me several times that the landlord had expressly said he wasn't going to spend any money on the property even though things were broken and unusable!

sorry just re read and it says letting agent

wouldnt put it past them to send multiple people out for no reason

I had a ridiculous letting agent once, he ended up costing the LL hundreds.
The gutter was leaking, not a massive issue. Except it was leaking straight into the boiler flue.
I worked in boiler spares and got increasingly angry as the letting agent got a boiler engineer out to replace the various failing components.
By the time we left the whole boiler needed replacing and the guttering still hadn't been cleared/fixed.
The landlord himself was actually really quite a nice helpful guy, his agent was such an utterly incompetent nobber though.

Our current landlord/letting agents are pretty good. Quick to turn up any sort any issues promptly but they are very much on the repair rather than replace side. Our garage door is the original one so getting on for 30 years old. Slowly every part of the mechanism has gone wrong and needed to be replaced. Door company advised a new door when the first part went wrong. At the last visit the very nice door man told me that the landlord could of had 2 x new garage doors fitted for the cost of all the call outs and parts!

Having been a tenant a couple of times I think it's often a combination of the landlord not wanting to spend money, and the added step of the letting agents causing confusion.

Our washing machine broke - there was a hell of a thump and it stopped working. We tried to move it out and could see that the concrete weight had detached from the inside of the machine and was on the floor, resting against some vital part. We told the letting agent this, they sent a contractor who came and told them the same thing, said it couldn't be fixed and recommended a new one. Didn't hear anything for a while so we chased the LA who said they were waiting for the repair to happen. It wasn't until I reminded them that the repair would never happen because the contractor thought we were getting a new one that they got onto the landlord, who did buy a replacement.

The oven door hinge broke. The oven was new with the house (mid-80s) and had definitely earned its keep over the years. The first contractor visit was to check that yes, it was broken and no, it wouldn't stay shut without selotape. The second visit was to look for, and exclaim surprise at the lack of, a serial number on the oven. The sticker was there but the number had faded over the years. The landlord then told us that we had to find the instruction manual for the oven (in a rental house with absolutely nothing left in it at all) which was 30 years old.

They were completely out of touch with how up to date their house was and seemed completely bemused that things might break occasionally. I guess they expected the local touch to be offered by the letting agents, who were actually terrible. As home owners we do have to foot the bills ourselves, but at least we can choose what to spend money on and what to put up with. I appreciate we are fortunate in this respect.

Yanbu. Landlords are tight fisted cunts.