Renting - cracked ceramic hob

locky123

We've been renting the property for 6 months and last week by accident the glass ceramic hob was damaged and now the crack has spread across the surface. We immediately informed the agency. The LL is stipulating that the same hob must be replaced and as it was specific to Howdens and is going to cost almost £400 inc fitting. The kitchen was refitted about 1 year ago. We would prefer a gas hob but the LL is not interested in listening. Do we have no realistic option but to meet their demands?

christineperseus

but will be covered by building insurance!

McKneff

Could it come under house content insurance as long as you have accidental damage of course.

If you quote us the make and model we may be able to find one cheaper.
Howdens dont make hobs, they buy them from somewhere.

Do you know any builders who could buy one from Howdens at trade price.

G_M

You could fit a gas one, at your own cost, if that's what you want, but when you leave the tenancy you'll need to replace it with what was there before unless the LL agrees otherwise - which he hasn't.

A gas one would involve the LL in extra annual costs due to tneed for an annual gas safety certificate.

tyllwyd

When you say that you want a glass hob, is there a gas oven nearby? I'd have thought it would be a much more difficult and expensive job to run a gas supply to the hob as compared to just replacing an existing electric hob. I don't see why you would expect the landlord to agree to that.

BitterAndTwisted

This is damage, albeit accidental, and you are therefore responsible for paying a quantifiable contribution to its replacement whether you ar able to claim it against your contents insurance or not. I suspect not as it it isn't yours. You are not entitled to demand a gas hob as replacement free of charge from your landlord either.

Do some research on what a replacement will cost so that you can come to a reasonable settlement with your landlord for its purchase and fitting.

££sc££

I don't think you can claim on your contents insurance if it's the landlord's hob. I think if making an insurance claim it would need to be on the landlords.

locky123

So is it up to the LL to decide whether they claim on their buildings insurance or not? It is a fixed hob so cannot be claimed under contents. We would pay any reasonable excess.

Ulfar

The answer to your question is no. You brioke the hob which is fairly new and the landlord is entitled to expect you to pay for a replacement of the same standard.

As the hob is about a year old it won't have depreciated at all for purposes of expecting the landlord to pay some of the cost.

He is also within his right to insist on you not fitting a gas hob in place of an electric one as this will place extra burdens and responsibilities on him.

I would doubt he will be able to claim on his insurance for a variety of reasons, the first being it probably doesn't cover accidental damage. Also why should he when you are responsible, he would then suffer higher premiums, loss of any no claims etc.

locky123

Just to update, the landlord agreed to claim under his buildings insurance and we had to pay the excess which was a lot less.

sarahevie

Pleased landlord has agreed.

I did this when painting a ceiling when ours was about 2 months old, these things happen - we claimed on our Tesco insurance cost 50 quid. Although in hindsight not the greatest as we have had higher premiums for 3 years so could have been better to just pay for a new one in the first place.