Appliance repair

Shoelaces

Hey guys,

Quick question. Live in a houseshare with 4 other people. I am the lease holder and lately we have been having a bit of trouble with the dishwasher and washing machine. The dishwasher has stopped working over a pump issue and the washing machine seal has a rip. Because both of these problems were essentially caused by us i think we should pay and not bother the landlord but the rest think its the landlords duty to fix them. The hoover has started to act up because one of them hoovered hot ashes up when drunk and thinks this needs to be replaced also. I want to be able to stay here another year so i want to stay on as good terms as possible with the landlord. What should i do?

_Dara_

Would the dishwasher issue be your fault? I know the pump went in ours just because it was a pretty old appliance.

On the washing machine, how did the rip happen?

But the hoover, yeah, that's not the landlord's responsibility to replace for sure.

Ashbx

In terms of the washing machine and dishwasher, I wouldn't be so willing to pay that upfront. These things have a life expectancy and the damage was more likely caused by general wear and tear and not due to negligence on behalf of the housemates.

If it were me, I would tell the landlord you are having issues and that you are going to pay to have someone look at it. If its small work to fix the problems, it may be worth it for you just to pay it and keep on the good side of the landlord. However if it needs to be replaced, its the landlords responsibility.

The hoover - yes that would be your responsibility. However I would be getting the housemate who damaged it to pay for it!

Wabbit Ears

I'd say do the maths. How does the cost of repairs compare to a 4% or so rent increase?

cruizer101

Shoelaces wrote: »

The hoover has started to act up because one of them hoovered hot ashes up when drunk and thinks this needs to be replaced also.

I'll be honest I would not want to live with the person full stop, hoovering up hot ashes while drunk has the potential to cause a fire.
Either way they should definitely be paying for it, if LL found out what caused it they would out like a shot.
The others could be cause by age and so would be responsibility of LL.

awec

How do you think a dishwasher pump going is your fault? Also on the washing machine seal, unless you deliberately started tugging on the seal to tear it that's hardly your fault either.

Ashbx

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

I'd say do the maths. How does the cost of repairs compare to a 4% or so rent increase?

Its so sad that this is how we have to go about things now. Tenants too scared to get the landlord to do what they are supposed to be doing in fear they are going to increase the rent.

And lets be honest, majority of the landlords would increase regardless of how good the tenants are or not.

_Dara_

To be honest, OP, whoever hoovered up the hot ashes should be the one to replace the hoover alone. I wouldn't be happy having to pay for someone else's stupidity.

Shoelaces

Hey guys, just a quick update. We got a guy in to look at the dishwasher and he says its toast. We could buy the part but it would cost nearly 200e while a new one is 240e.

As for the washing machine we ve ordered a new seal which we ll put on ourselves. Our landlords attitude is along the lines of those machines are two and half years old so they should be fine. You break it you fix it or it will effect your deposit.

L1011

Dishwashers at the 240 quid price range are junk and two and a half years in a house share is probably good going. Landlord can have all the attitude they want there but they are responsible for appliance failures and reasonable wear and tear, reasonable wear and tear from 5 people will do in a no-name Turkish dishwasher (ALL the ones in that price range on Powercity are Turkish) in that time period.

The hoover they're not responsible for the damage to though!

_Dara_

Still though, there are things tenants can do on their end to extend the life of an appliance. For example, we’re in a very hard water area so when our dishwasher was replaced, we ensured right from the start that we had it on the correct setting and we make sure that the salt reservoir is never empty. Two and a half years is very little time, even for a lower-end dishwasher.