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.

@Slippy78

It’s literally in the first part of the OP... No it isn't. Being included in the tenancy agreement isn't the same as the LL being responsible to fix it.

Lol. Of course the ll has the legal obligation to fix an appliance, which is there. There only caveat would be if something was left as a courtesy and gifted to the new tenant eg an old fridge, which the ll didn’t want to maintain. However, I would not do this myself without getting it PAT tested first. I even had to replace a rotary bloody washing line because the former tenants left one, which subsequently broke and the tenants wanted a new one. Lesson learned on that score.

YANBU at all.

SIX WEEKS

I manage my parents’ rental houses and I would be mortified to have a tenant wait ONE week for something like this. Fair enough to want to check it first (and many landlords will pay a small monthly fee that covers these sort of call outs), but no excuse not to replace it immediately when it’s obviously beyond economic repair, especially when so many retailers offer next day delivery on appliances.

There was an incident a few years ago where a boiler broke and was not economical to repair, then the tenant was working 4 nights in a row and then problems getting the company out as it was a weekend and it ended up being over a week until the new one could be fitted. We provided plug-in oil filled radiators for each room, a rent reduction (to offset the cost of using the plug-in rads and immersion heater), a bottle of wine, a bunch of flowers and huge apology.

Being included in the tenancy agreement isn't the same as the LL being responsible to fix it.

It is.

Anyway OP of course YANBU. Unfortunately there isn't much regulation of people who provide homes to rent so whether you get things done when they should be is hit or miss. Also agree with others that it could well be the agents holding things up. They can't charge you any more but they need to find some way of making money for old rope so: send a mate round, charge the landlord for putting the ticket through, money in their back pocket, money for the useless mate's "call out", job not done, charge again for ordering the new oven. Multiply this process by however many properties they've got on their books and it all adds up.

Just to reiterate, the LL is only responsible for fixing white goods if the tenancy specifies they are responsible for repair. Just being included in the tenancy agreement doesn't mean they have to repair it.

I know that the majority of landlords would agree to fix, I'm just stating what the letter of the law says.

The law says they have to fix any electrical goods they supply. I remember when this changed because I was renting and my landlord, who was a bit of a tit, wrote to me saying that he was giving me the fridge, cooker and washing machine. They were already in when I'd moved in, but now apparently they were gifts, suddenly.

So when I moved out I took the twat at his word and sold them.

@Slippy78

Just to reiterate, the LL is only responsible for fixing white goods if the tenancy specifies they are responsible for repair. Just being included in the tenancy agreement doesn't mean they have to repair it.

I know that the majority of landlords would agree to fix, I'm just stating what the letter of the law says.

If you supply electrical goods then you are responsible for fixing them.

We would do an initial inspection then replace unless it was obviously a minor repair. Ovens are cheap but a faulty one is a hazard.

@DeepFakeQueen - you are an amazing landlord! Our landlord left us without heating for the week that it got down to -7... it is only partially fixed now and no reduction on rent (it cost us a small fortune in electric heaters though...)

@Slippy78

It’s literally in the first part of the OP... No it isn't. Being included in the tenancy agreement isn't the same as the LL being responsible to fix it.

Omg I think this is one of my old landlords

Genuinely though; this is the utter bullshit that tenants have to put up with. Why have a machine in the house at all if you're not planning to maintain it. Is it a gift? A decoration?

(Just to clarify, claiming that he was giving me appliances was far from the worst thing this particular landlord did : there were ongoing issues with leaking roof and in the end damp caused by thankfully non-brown water backing up from blocked mains, which is why I moved. He really was a shocker.)

Is it a gift? A decoration?

It's for your beleaguered fucked off tenant to get fifty quid for when they flip you the bird and move somewhere nicer owned by a person who isn't an idiot.

Apparently. Sometimes.

Ridiculous. We are landlords. If a tenant reports that an oven isn't working we replace immediately. By the time an electrician has visited, reported back, got parts, visited again, fitted parts etc it's easier to just get a new one. Tenants are happy and everything is up to date.

YANBU.

I've lived in rented my whole life and have definitely got used to just living with things when they break as the LLs tend to either refuse to fix them or just really drag their feet.

The house I grew up in was the worst, plaster falling off the walls, no heating, boiler broken for extended periods. Thing is the LL knew we had no money for a deposit or fees to move elsewhere and that the council hadn't been helpful to us in the past so knew we'd be too scared to kick up too much of a fuss.

I rented a house in 2016 where the boiler had been on the waiting list for replacement parts since 2011 but none came up as it had been manufactured in 1989 and there weren't many left. It did heat water to a lukewarm level - had British gas out and he told me they'd been advising the LL for years it needed replacing but he just wouldn't do it

YANBU I don't understand the type of stupid landlord who tries to penny pinch and repair things that obviously just need to be replaced. The landlords we rent our business premises from are just like this. It's a shop within a flat complex, so I just tell our customers who ask what the landlords are like to not to bother renting a flat from them as they're useless. .

@funnelfanjo
Needless to say I terminated my contract with that particular Letting Agency. They were happy to take a percentage each month but couldn't be bothered to do anything to earn it. I also made it known to all and sundry to avoid that particular Letting Agency like the plague.

Sadly too many landlords are crap.

Our last one refused to replace the integrated fridge freezer, it was a small narrow kitchen, so that meant the replacement I bought had to sit in the living room. When I moved out he tried to keep some of my deposit because I didn’t leave behind a fridge freezer that belonged to me.

When I complained that the windows didn’t shut, old wooden ones, he nailed them shut, shattering two in the process.

His finest hour was failing to protect my deposit, so I was able to claim 3x the deposit amount. Incompetence does have benefits.

Some landlord and agents are just poor at their jobs.

My boiler needs new parts ever heard, it’s also a temperamental arsehole. No hot water today but tomorrow it’s ok then a week later it won’t work again or only works in the evening or whatever.

Gas man has said ideally it would just be replaced but every year the landlord chucks at least £200-£300 of parts at it. That’s with out call outs where at one point I was told to tap it with a screw driver to see if that helps. Only time the agents has mentioned a new boiler was to ask if I was entitled to the government free boiler thing.

I always know who’s attended the job based of what I report same three people for everything. Also had the well it’s not actually broken it’s just stiff or yes the window may be blown but the window isn’t broken so it’s fine. A friend had a all time amazing one.

Rotting house external door. The room it connected to would regularly food when it rained due to this stupid rotten door. The agents responds “when you get heavy rain you expect to find water in places you wouldn’t normally”