My landlord is refusing to repair my washing machine. What should I do?

My landlord is insisting that repairing or replacing white goods is not his responsibility, but I've looked online and all legal advice I can find says that as long as they were furnished as part of the property when I moved in white goods are still required to be kept in working order by law.

I told him this but just in case he still refuses, how should I go about taking legal action against him?

Thanks

Original post by shadowtear

My landlord is insisting that repairing or replacing white goods is not his responsibility, but I've looked online and all legal advice I can find says that as long as they were furnished as part of the property when I moved in white goods are still required to be kept in working order by law.

I told him this but just in case he still refuses, how should I go about taking legal action against him?

Thanks

Hiya

In case of any dispute between a tenant and a landlord, I think your tenancy contract will have an arbitration clause. However, I am not a legal advisor so I would recommend contacting Citizens Advice and discussing this with them. They will be able to guide you better.

-Himieka

Reply 2

Wired_1800

20

Original post by shadowtear

My landlord is insisting that repairing or replacing white goods is not his responsibility, but I've looked online and all legal advice I can find says that as long as they were furnished as part of the property when I moved in white goods are still required to be kept in working order by law.

I told him this but just in case he still refuses, how should I go about taking legal action against him?

Thanks

If you are at uni, speak to your university. If you are not, speak to Citizens Advice.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

As above, it'd be worth contacting your local CAB to discuss it with them. Also check your tenancy contract, the original listing, and the inventory carefully.

If the property was advertised with white goods and these are listed on the inventory though they are his responsibility to maintain (assuming you're in the UK) to the best of my knowledge. Note that if the washing machine was purchased by yourself or brought by yourself then it's yours and your responsibility. If it was included in the flat but there's no real evidence of this (e.g. not listed on inventory or letting listing) then it may be more challenging to prove your case if the above is correct.

Once you speak to the CAB, if they advise similar to the above, ask if they can give you a written statement to that effect and give a copy (copy! not the original) to the landlord and point it out. I suspect if true the landlord would realise that it'll be cheaper to just fix it than have to go to court, pay fees, then fix it anyway.

Original post by shadowtear

My landlord is insisting that repairing or replacing white goods is not his responsibility, but I've looked online and all legal advice I can find says that as long as they were furnished as part of the property when I moved in white goods are still required to be kept in working order by law.

I told him this but just in case he still refuses, how should I go about taking legal action against him?

Thanks

Hey there @shadowtear !

Does your tenancy agreement have any sort of clause in there about this? If he's written in his own words that he has to keep appliances in good working order as part of his obligations as a landlord then you're very well within your rights to take legal action on that. If your contract does say something along those lines then your next course of action is to take it to him and show him where it's written. With any luck he'll have some sort of heart and get it sorted. Sometimes contracts do say things like it's the tenant's responsibility to sort those things though, for example it says in mine that if anything like a lightbulb goes then it's my responsibility to sort it so definitely check that out.

Hope this helped!
Lucy - Digital Student Ambassador SHU

My landlord is refusing to repair my washing machine. What should I do?

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