Need help with a Landlord issue.

How old is it?
White goods only have a finite useful life.

Go see your latest Citizens Advice Bureau.

If you can get an official opinion you're in the right (which it's impossible to say without seeing the lease) then a letter stating as such should bring him round.

Beyond that it's looking at formalising it via some kind of legal action (likely just a letter before claim) but that's not a route you want to go down if you can help it.

Hello,

Basically our freezer was filthy and iced up when me moved in (This isn't the problem). The Landlord offered to defrost and clean it, however we couldn't take him up on the offer because we already needed to put food in it. We recently defrosted our freezer by turning it off (Which is the correct thing to do). When we returned there was a small crack in one of the corner pipes within the freezer, which in turn meant it's releasing gas and means the fridge & freezer doesn't work. We rang our landlord expecting for him to send someone round to repair it, instead he's accusing us of defrosting the fridge by chipping away at it with things. We rang the letting agency, but they basically don't want to know.

He made it our responsibility to find someone to fix it. The issue is one which may not be repairable, which we told him, and he now says we need to buy a whole new fridge ourselves.

In our contract it states he's responsible for the maintainence of "white goods" (fridge, washing machine ect.). He's trying to pull a quick one by saying we broke it ourselves through negligence, not general wear and tear. He's also saying that we should have asked him to do it as he would have done it correctly (He refuses to tell me how exactly because he knows he would have done the same thing).

All I want to know is what my options are. It's very much a case of my word against his, and he's good friends with the letting agency so they don't want to know. Is there an independent service for dealing with this sort of thing?

The landlord is responsible for the white goods as you say. It should never have been let to you in a filthy condition - it is a health hazard.

The fact that it has broken is wear and tear. He is responsible for replacing it.

I assume you took photos and had a inventory before you moved in - which should have documented its poor state. You are entitled to a clean house.

Fridges tend to not look old as they don't move/get moved and just stay where they are …..chilling. It is probably quite old anyway - time for a new one.

The landlord is making pots of money out of you and can easily afford to replace it.

I speak as a landlord

We always maintain the white goods in our rented properties.

Thanks for the information. How should I best go about explaining this to him? He's saying we broke it out of negligence and he's never known a freezer to break just by defrosting it. In our contract is says if we break something through negligence we need to replace it, which is fair enough but defrosting a freezer isn't a negligent task. He's sort of decided we broke it so we need to replace it. The letting agency don't want to know about it.

If you honestly didn't chip away at the ice - then it is his word against yours. Fridges break - they are not indestructible - especially more modern ones ( Grrrrr zanussi)

You need to stand your ground.


Write everything down - dates etc and what you did to defrost the freezer. Take photos etc.

If the letting agency is doing full management then it is their responsibility to sort the fridge out. If they are only collecting rent then it is the landlord.

Again - it is not your responsibility to sort our repairs.

You need to send a letter to the letting agent - is this also a university flat - in which case copy in the accommodation office.

Be polite and don't use any aggressive wording.- also just casually mention how awful the state of the freezer was when you arrived.


http://www.primelocation.com/guides/landlords-developers-and-investors/tenant-and-landlord-rights/


Your landlord is breeching a few of the rights listed in the article above.


Once you have done the above you can then move onto plan B - but tread very carefully.

1. You can withhold some rent to pay for the new/repairs fridge

2. Be careful that he doesn't withhold your deposit afterwards. ( Have you got an inventory)

Also if the letting agent or landlord comes into the flat without giving you 24 hours notice they are breeching your rights.


If he will not budge - you may have to buy a fridge yourself - you can get a cheap one from Currys or on ebay - but they have to be checked - electrically if they are second hand I believe.


If it is any consolation - your landlord and letting agency are being tits - I am a nice landlord - I would have replaced the fridge straight away but then again it would not have been left in that state anyway

If you honestly didn't chip away at the ice - then it is his word against yours. Fridges break - they are not indestructible - especially more modern ones ( Grrrrr zanussi)

You need to stand your ground.


Write everything down - dates etc and what you did to defrost the freezer. Take photos etc.

If the letting agency is doing full management then it is their responsibility to sort the fridge out. If they are only collecting rent then it is the landlord.

Again - it is not your responsibility to sort our repairs.

You need to send a letter to the letting agent - is this also a university flat - in which case copy in the accommodation office.

Be polite and don't use any aggressive wording.- also just casually mention how awful the state of the freezer was when you arrived.


http://www.primelocation.com/guides/landlords-developers-and-investors/tenant-and-landlord-rights/


Your landlord is breeching a few of the rights listed in the article above.


Once you have done the above you can then move onto plan B - but tread very carefully.

1. You can withhold some rent to pay for the new/repairs fridge

2. Be careful that he doesn't withhold your deposit afterwards. ( Have you got an inventory)

Also if the letting agent or landlord comes into the flat without giving you 24 hours notice they are breeching your rights.


If he will not budge - you may have to buy a fridge yourself - you can get a cheap one from Currys or on ebay - but they have to be checked - electrically if they are second hand I believe.


If it is any consolation - your landlord and letting agency are being tits - I am a nice landlord - I would have replaced the fridge straight away but then again it would not have been left in that state anyway

Thanks a lot for the information. I'm quickly learning that our landlord is quite slimey so even if I did have to buy a fridge freezer, I would bet it wouldn't be up to his standards and demand more money.

Having had children who were tenants - yes landlords can be very slimy. ( ANd to be fair most of them are this way because students particularly can be awful)

I would start off with writing a letter/email and if that doesn't work I would just buy a fridge freezer - they are cheap. Make sure you tell the landlord and letting agent that the fridge freezer you had was not "fit for purpose"- so the fridge freezer will be yours and you can sell it when you move out.


But make sure you document everything

By that do you mean speaking isn't enough? Do I request an email following up any verbal conversations?

Absolutely - if it is not written down it has not happened - I managed to get a reduction in rent for my daughter and her friends by presenting conversations as emails and letters. They were over a barrel - the letting agents and the majority of landlords sail very close to the wind when it comes to being fair with tenants. I speak as a landlord as I said - I am a good landlord and my tenants are treated very fairly.

With conversations - just send an email to say …. and this is to confirm that you said such and such - and if they send an email denying it - which they won't you then have proof of conversation

So by the same rule, the fact he said he could defrost defrost it (At the beginning of our tenancy) doesn't mean anything?

If I am being honest and this is where you are on shaky ground - you should have let him defrost it.


For the sake of a few fish fingers you are in this mess.