Replacing Appliances for tenants

fowlersleftpeg · 05-12-2013 5:10pm #1

I have tenants in a property for 3.5 yrs and 4 months ago I replaced an expensive cooker due to general wear and tear and some mis-use. Not a big deal.
Today i get a call from tenant saying the new cooker needs to be replaced as it 'went on fire cooking a pizza'.
Question i have is - Having replaced an expensive cooker only 4 months ago, is it expected that I should do so again and how often can I allow this happen before saying no more ?!
Wear and tear i can handle and expect but a 4 month old cooker only goes on fire if the grill / oven is full of grease from not being cleaned. As the landlord, I cant be paying out for replacement appliances numerous times because of tenant lazyness surely?

djimi · 05-12-2013 5:11pm

If you can prove that they caused the damage then bill them for it.

If it was faulty then get it replaced under warranty.

A four month old cooker would want to have taken some abuse to go on fire through neglect in fairness.

Valentine1 · 05-12-2013 5:14pm

Surely you plan to look at the cooker and investigate what actually happened? if the fire was because of a fault in the oven you seek a repair or replacement from the manufacturer. If the tenants were the cause of the fire that the repair/replacement will be at their expense.

fowlersleftpeg · 05-12-2013 5:17pm

Yes I intend to inspect before i agree to replace it. Unfortunately it is difficult to say if it was caused by a fault or not. How would i know how it went on fire ?

runawaybishop · 05-12-2013 5:20pm

fowlersleftpeg wrote: »

Yes I intend to inspect before i agree to replace it. Unfortunately it is difficult to say if it was caused by a fault or not. How would i know how it went on fire ?

Get a professional in to check, contact the manufacturer about arranging it. What does the tenant claim occurred?

D3PO · 05-12-2013 5:21pm

its either under warranty or its been misused the manufacturer can and should be able to advise on that.

If it under warranty great if they say its been misused then tenant pays.

fowlersleftpeg · 05-12-2013 5:24pm

Thanks all...will contact manufacturers

MarkR · 05-12-2013 5:24pm

Depends on whether it's a case of "The oven burnt my pizza" or the oven burnt while a pizza was in it. I think you should get a appliance repair person to have a look at it. (One that's authorised by the manufacturer if you are going for a warranty repair)

fowlersleftpeg · 05-12-2013 5:25pm

She claims it 'went up while i was cooking a pizza'

Grab All Association · 05-12-2013 5:26pm

My friend hadn't cleaned her oven since she bought it in 2009. Took me ages to clean it and remove 4 years of grease had to steam clean it. Sounds more like a defect with the cooker

D3PO · 05-12-2013 5:30pm

fowlersleftpeg wrote: »

She claims it 'went up while i was cooking a pizza'

The fact is it under warranty so the manufacturer will have to deal with the tenants claim and either fix it or disprove the claim.

If its the latter then you have a documented report form the manufacturer that its been misused so the tenant has nowhere to go with it.

syklops · 05-12-2013 5:44pm

What would one have to do to a 4 month old oven to make it go on fire? How would you misuse it to make that happen?

runawaybishop · 05-12-2013 5:46pm

syklops wrote: »

What would one have to do to a 4 month old oven to make it go on fire? How would you misuse it to make that happen?

You'd imagine it would have to be a fault really, but it depends on how they were cooking it maybe? Can't imagine they were grilling it though.

srsly78 · 05-12-2013 5:46pm

Oven full of grease from grilling rashers etc and not cleaning it? This could cause a fire.

Leaving the oven on too hot or too long with a pizza leads to a charred black lump rather than a fire in my experience.

gctest50 · 05-12-2013 5:48pm

May have been the appliance lacking science

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?334079-New-World-Oven-14-months-old-Fault-almost-caused-serious-fire!

username123 · 05-12-2013 5:52pm

syklops wrote: »

What would one have to do to a 4 month old oven to make it go on fire? How would you misuse it to make that happen?

I had a 4 month old oven that went on fire. Very nasty.

In my case it was a self cleaning oven, I had never used the self cleaning function and one sunday afternoon decided to put it on. Left the house to pop to the local Spar while it was self cleaning and came back to fire alarm, apartment full of smoke, front of appliance had actually melted.

Switched off mains, let oven cool, removed it from under counter, thats when I saw the wiring had even melted in the heat of it, scorch marks all over inside of counter space where it was installed.

Brought it back to retailer next morning and dumped it, scorch marks, melted front etc, on his show room floor. He was not happy and said that I should have left it in place for their engineer to inspect. I shrugged, an electrician had told me it was a fire hazard with the melted wiring, so I removed it.

I expected a battle with the retailer but same day I received a call for a full refund. I bought a much cheaper oven with no fancy functions, a microwave, and also got some cash back.

So - it does happen, ovens can be faulty.

syklops · 05-12-2013 6:11pm

username123 wrote: »

I had a 4 month old oven that went on fire. Very nasty.

In my case it was a self cleaning oven, I had never used the self cleaning function and one sunday afternoon decided to put it on. Left the house to pop to the local Spar while it was self cleaning and came back to fire alarm, apartment full of smoke, front of appliance had actually melted.

Switched off mains, let oven cool, removed it from under counter, thats when I saw the wiring had even melted in the heat of it, scorch marks all over inside of counter space where it was installed.

Brought it back to retailer next morning and dumped it, scorch marks, melted front etc, on his show room floor. He was not happy and said that I should have left it in place for their engineer to inspect. I shrugged, an electrician had told me it was a fire hazard with the melted wiring, so I removed it.

I expected a battle with the retailer but same day I received a call for a full refund. I bought a much cheaper oven with no fancy functions, a microwave, and also got some cash back.

So - it does happen, ovens can be faulty.

I think you picked me up wrong. I wasn't implying it doesn't happen. I was asking how would a user misuse an oven to make it go on fire. Particularly an oven that is only 4 months old. The OP seemed to suggest it was misuse that caused the problem.

djimi · 05-12-2013 6:27pm

Maybe if they left the plastic on the pizza or something? I wouldnt have thought it likely that an oven that new could go on fire though; Ive seen some real humdingers of ovens that have never seen a cleaning, and that would smoke a lot and stink something terrible, but Ive never heard of one catch fire!

Replacing Appliances for tenants

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