Cooker condemned and landlord slow to replace

[Rockinrobin1979]

Our gas cooker was condemned today and the engineer disconnected it meaning we can’t use the grill or hobs either.
We don’t have a microwave or air fryer so no way to cook hot food. The landlord has said it’ll will be a few weeks at least as he needs to find the money to replace it.
AIBU to think this should be sorted a lot quicker? The cooker is part of the inventory.

That's really not acceptable - his money issues aren't your problem and he shouldn't be a landlord if he can't afford repairs! New cookers aren't even that expensive unless it was a giant Aga or something.

YANBU - he needs to purchase a new cooker today. Yes, we all understand that it can take a few days for delivery and installation etc but we can live with that knowing its on it's way.

Go speak to him (nicely though, yeah😉) again and explain.

It’s outrageous, as a landlord he should have a contingency fund for this kind of thing. If he doesn’t, he can get a payment plan or use a credit card.

In the meantime you could ask him to provide a microwave or air fryer.

If your rent is due at the start of the month, take a few weeks "to find the money". Might help focus his mind.

Don't withhold rent. Tell him he needs to have arranged a replacement cooker by the end of the week as per your contract.

When our gas hob was condemned l think it took our landlady a week to replace it? But she had to order a new one and find someone to fit it so that's fair enough.
However we still had the electric oven and she offered to get us a microwave the day it was condemned, which we didn't need.
He should really replace it sooner but don't see how you make him? Maybe ask if you can but one and deduct it from next month's rent?

That really is terrible. I don’t have a built in oven, I have a ninja 11 in 1 combie oven which is fully portable and only cost about £250. Get one of those - it’s a grill, oven, steamer, slow cooker, and air fryer and I hardly ever use my hob now as I use the ninja for everything. It’s cheap to run too.

it also means you can take it with you when you move.

I don’t know how I managed without it!!

Tell them to pick one online and give you the gas fitters contact and you will buy it and get it fitted and take the money out of the next rental payment.

absolute cheek. No doubt looking to pick some shite second hand cooker from marketplace

Its a crappy situation but unfortunately if he doesn’t have the money there is absolutely nothing you can do to bring it forward.

I found that out myself when my boiler was condemned. We went 3 weeks without one and my landlord didn’t have the money to replace it straight away, they did offer to bring down heaters etc. As contradictory as this may sound though, they have been the best landlords I have had. Repairs are usually done pretty quickly, they’ve never increased rent in the 7 years I’ve been here. The boiler being condemned happened just as their house fell victim to a sink hole along with several others.

Do you or they have contents insurance you could claim on?

Buy an airfryer - you can get them fairly cheaply nowadays, and perhaps a microwave too. It's always good to have a back up because even the best landlord, or indeed home owner, would struggle to sort this out instantly.

As a landlord, 'a few weeks' is far too long

They should be ordering it today, even if it may take a few days to get a gas-safe fitter in

Meanwhile they could find an air-fryer or microwave on Facebook or something to tide you over

I have a contingency fund for these things - no good landlord should be without one!

The cooker has to be replaced in a reasonable amount of time - a few weeks is neither reasonable, nor really a time-frame.

He should be offering you something to cook with in the mean time - an airfryer and one of those electric single hob things would be acceptable.

Do you rent through an agent? You can complain to them if so.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do - I don't know that there's anyone you can report it to who won't take so long to respond that it would be fixed

You could try asking for a budget, sorting it yourself, and asking if you can knock it off the next rent?

Contact you local council as Environmental Health have the ability to speak to your landlord and firmly remind him of his responsibilities, they also have legal powers to compel him to get it sorted. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, your rented home has to be fit for habitation and your landlord is legally responsible for this. Seeing as you have no means to prepare food it would constitute as not fit for habitation.

Contact your landlord, by email so you have it all in writing, and lay out your expectations that this an emergency repair so you expect him to have a resolution for you within 24 hours (delivery and fitting aside), that he needs to either provide alternative means for cooking in the meantime or needs to cover your food expenses (e.g., you send him your take-away receipts for refund or he agrees you can deduct them from next month's rent). Offer him some alternative options such as you buy one and deduct the cost from the rent, you would leave it there at the end of the tenancy, or you buy one and it is yours to keep but he adjusts the monthly rent to reflect that use of a provided appliance is no longer included in the rent.