My tenant is now 2 months past the date to vacate as stipulated by s.21 notice & I’m seeking possession via the courts with help from Landlord Action (this is not a quick process) In the meantime tenant has messaged me to say cooker has stopped working & asking me to rectify asap. The flat is filthy as is oven & I’ve called engineers before for other appliances who have diagnosed congealing as the issue. Am I still duty bound to repair oven? Tenant shows no sign of vacating as he says he can’t find anything suitable. He is now very sporadic with rent & is in arrears. Community thoughts appreciated!
A s21 notice doesnt end the tenancy so your repair obligations remain in place.
Ovens do often have issues, often heating element. If a budget oven and fairly old it is often best to judt replace but will depend on cooker and age and whether you plan to continue renting it out.
I agree with @Richard19 my understanding is you have obligations under your contract/tenancy agreement and those dont end just because other party breaches their obligations.
I wouldn’t exactly advise being tardy but you could reasonably tell tenant that where items arent emergency repairs you’ll be able to get them sorted more quickly if they pay their rent. And you will need time to investigate repair options and find a supplier.
Have they checked the fuse box? Sometimes ovens do trip circuits if old or just if not used regularly.
An oven isnt an essential if they still have cooking facilities ie a means to heat food with (is there a hob or a microwave?). In that case if the inventory/facilities advertised simply said cooking facilities you might not have to get it fixed
You should also remind them of whatever clauses you have in your tenancy agreement about keeping the place clean.
If the cause of the fault in the oven is due to inadequate cleaning on part of tenant then they havent been maintaining properly which likely will also be a breach of tenancy agreement - check- so as well as telling them how to do it, possibly cost of subsequent repairs might be claimed from the deposit in due course (just like if someone left food all over floors, left a door to garden open and this attracted rodents, you might claim the costs of pest control .. ). They are legally expected to behave in a ‘tenant like way’ which will include simple maintenance that anyone living in a place would do (changing lightbulbs is the common example). Its not a hotel and doesnt come with a cleaner as part of the contract i assume.
Good luck
you’re currently under the spotlight if you’re going through an eviction process. Now’s time to be the best LL you can be.
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I agree with @tatemono but within reason. You are probably not going to go the extra mile for a tenant you are evicting who doesnt take care of appliances anyway, doesnt clean, is late on rent and who you are evicting anyway vs a great tenant. So long as what you do is reasonable you will be ok. I wouldnt treat an oven repair as immediately needed if there are other cooking facilities available but i think a reasonable period for non emergency repairs is up to 14 - ive seen 28 mentioned online- days.
Good luck
How ridiculous. It’s not going to cost you any less to fix in 14 or 28 days time as it would cost you to get it fixed now. Just get the engineer arranged asap.
Thanks all for your thoughts - very helpful. It’s particularly galling to have someone trash a newly refurbished apartment & I agree that I’m certainly under the spotlight using the eviction process. I just didn’t want to be taken for a mug by someone playing the system who doesn’t treat anything with basic respect. First time I’ve had this sort of issue with a tenant so it’s all a learning experience. I may well replace my Bosch appliances with something cheaper next time though. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
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Yeah… I wouldn’t have done that. Bosch at home, Beko in the rentals
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@Karl11 so irrespective of how a tenant behaves you still deal with their requests the same way? You jump and do things ‘asap’ when a bad tenant demands, even when slower not using emergency rate trades is possible. Emergency electrician call outs will def cost more than a normal timescale
@Claire74 For an oven before i send someone out I’d want to know the nature of the ‘not working’ fault eg if its been tripping the fuse then likely to need someone with electrical training. And for a newly refurbished place if oven is new I’d be checking if there was a warranty for the appliance - these are typically 2 years.
Not just calling someone out asap on the tenant’s say so. If it was the oven light I would probably change myself. If there are error codes shown i would want to know these to check the nature of the fault in the manual before calling someone out so they can if possible bring the right replacement parts with
Sorry if all v obvious
Good luck
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If the engineer says the problem is congealing fat, then its the tenants responsibility to clean it and see if it then works. I would advise them to do that and if its still not working to send me photos/video or allow me to come and inspect it.
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They are service technicians that repair these white goods. Real engineers get degrees and then have to do suitable work before charter. If only we protected the term engineer as in germany.
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If only we could win a football match or two, get the trains running on time and not mention the war?
Don’ t panic. don’ t panic. Don’t tell them your name Pike.
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Colin pike …your name is also going on the list !
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If the name Engineer was protected I would buy shares in Dulux, as the number of vans that would require the name painting over would make me a fortune. I don’t think the public know what being a chartered engineer entails.
@Claire74 On the positive side, it looks like you still have communication and access. So in line with what has already been said I would gain access and use this to gather any evidence that may help a future deposit claim. The oven would be a modular swop out at worst. Wickes , Hoover oven £156 less 10% Landlord discount. Fitting it myself.