Please help - Can I claim compensation for lost food from LL for faulty fridge?

tiggerbounce

clutton wrote: »

what really puzzles me about all this is how come you did not discover this in the 7 months after moving in and before you went on holiday ?

and you also say that "we think she switched it off " - so you think it is your friend's fault that she switched it off (and you dont want to sue her) but you still want to sue the LL and take him to court ?

sorry - words fail me.....

if you do take this to court i would be amazed if the judge did not ask you this self-same question...

Surely anyone would expect someone to have sussed out their home in 7 months....

"what really puzzles me about all this is how come you did not discover this in the 7 months . . . . sussed out their home"?? why would we have discovered this previously? I don't think 7 months is an astounding amount of time to have not gone on holiday for, and we had never switched the dishwasher off before, again, surely not that unusual?

Again, the fridge was NOT switched off deliberately, it was marked as 'dishwasher', had we accidentally turned the wrong switch and turned the power off the fridge then of course we wouldn't claim as it would be totally our responsibility.

"so you think it is your friend's fault that she switched it off" It is not my friend's 'fault' that the fridge was marked as dishwasher is it?

"words fail me" you seem to be managing ok . . .

tiggerbounce

RobertoMoir wrote: »

So you want to sue your LL because you or possibly your friend, you're not quite sure, was paranoid enough about electrical devices that you switched the fridge off by mistake but not paranoid enough that you double checked?

Sorry, but frankly you make me glad I'm not a LL.

Actually I am also a LL, I respond promptly to my T's problems, e.g. the washing machine has broken and we are replacing it, no questions asked, I think it's part and parcel of being a LL to respond in a timely and fair fashion

clutton_2

i am a LL and also a tenant and when i moved into my rental over a year ago the first thing i did was to check what all the fused spurs were for ..... common sense....

you are trying to blame others for your own lack of due diligence....

kmmr

Claim off your insurance. That is what it is for!

clutton_2

and how will they word the claim.. "we switched off the power source"..........

kmmr

Insurance covers accidents too. I think part of the problem is that tenants seem to assume everything in their house is the landlords fault. Tenants should get insurance, not just assume that every accident should be covered by the landlord.

Thermidor

tiggerbounce wrote: »

Hi, We have been renting our current house at £915 pcm for 20 months through CRL, we've always paid on time, there have been quite a few plumbing problems etc, which we have always had to continually chase up over a period of months to get fixed, basically CRL have been awful (looooong story).

We have just found out that the house has been put up for sale, fortunately we are in the process of buying anyway, so aren't too concerned, except we are (in our opinion) owed around £300 as when we went away for a week last June (i.e. 13 months ago) we diligently switched the dishwasher off, or so we thought, the house is a new build (the LL lived there before us for about 4 years) and there is a twin switch in the kitchen, one side labelled 'dishwasher' the other 'fridge/freezer', unfortunately this has been wired wrong, so we returned from holiday to discover that actually the 'dishwasher' switch turned off the fridge and freezer, obviously all food was ruined.

I immediately called CRL, the guy I spoke to said no-one would come out as it was a BH and I should take photos and record it all. I offered to refreeze till the next day, but he said they didn't need to see it. We've been chasing it up since then (ok, could have done more, but I also had a baby, so I got a bit distracted ) at first they were just ignoring us, now I've raised an official grievance as per their procedure and escalated it, the Area Manager has decided "no money is due for the 'alleged' loss and even if it did occur then we always advise tenants to have appropriate insurance":mad: Our problem is firstly the passage of time since it happened and secondly, our insurance doesn't cover the wire being swapped over, the fridge wasn't faulty, it was switched off!

They rejected our suggestion of lower rent, but now as we're moving out anyway (notice not given yet) that obviously isn't any benefit now anyway. Can I do a small claim in court? Any other options? I am quite happy to take it to court if that's possible

Thank you ever so much

Doesn't sound like the wiring is wrong at all! Sounds more like the labels have been placed the wrong way round (or someone's changed them). When landlords rent out properties the gas and electrics are always tested religiously.............sound all very odd to me!:cool:

Why did you turn off the dishwasher anyway? That sounds very odd.

And unless the freezer is huge and you stock up in case of a nuclear attack (or you like to freeze dozens of thick joints of prime fillet steak) I fail to see how the contents of your freezer could amount to £300. I'm rather extravagent and stuff lots of things in my freezer; fish, vegetables, chicken, ice cream, bread etc - but it doesn't amount to £300!

What food did you have in there? Don't forget, if you put in a claim on your household insurance (I take it you HAVE insurance?) they'll want to see evidence of your food shopping. Some people only keep ice cubes and 6-year-old fishfingers in their freezers, and insurance companies are aware of that.

Thermidor

kmmr wrote: »

Insurance covers accidents too. I think part of the problem is that tenants seem to assume everything in their house is the landlords fault. Tenants should get insurance, not just ensure that every accident should be covered by the landlord.

The landlord is not responsible for the tenants contents. Contents are the responsibility of the tenant.

PasturesNew

G_M wrote: »

It always amazes me that people turn off stuff on holiday, fearful that while the house is empty, a fire will magically start.

You need to watch last night's Homes from Hell. A builder bought a 16th century farm and spent 5 years renovating it as a family home, with a couple of holiday lets and a pool/hot tub and snooker table. He had a fire on Xmas Day when the hot tub overheated, did a lot of damage. They had a holiday booked for a couple of days' time, so they went anyway - got a call on New Year's Day, whole house had gone, totally and utterly gutted ... it turns out the compressor in the fridge/freezer overheated and started it.

Thermidor

One more thing...........when you switch a fridge off you usually hear the motor stop, and the lights go out too (most modern fridges have outside door lights)

It's strange you didn't notice the fridge had switched off!