The tale of the broken fridge and super slow letting agent

ConfusedAgain

LONG VERSION:

Thanks for the advice so far. Call me naive, but hadn't realised it was possible to get a fridge-freezer that cheaply on the likes of eBay. We were initially (as in pre-writing rant at start of thread) thinking of just buying a new one and seeing if we could ditch the landlord's old one but felt that being asked to stump up £100s at short notice felt like having to put ourselves out of pocket because the letting agent couldn't get their act together again. (Should probably also stress at this point, if this was a one-off experience with repairs, I'd be more chilled about it but, given the track record...). Being put out £10s at short notice, however, feels a lot more do-able.

However, the problem with that solution, of course, is finding a place to put the landlord's old broken one. Our flat is pretty small - You have to move the bin to open the freezer door as it is, to give you a picture of what I mean! - so having our own and the landlord's is possibly not feasible.

I think we're a bit resigned to cancelling Sunday's delivery by this point, or changing it to all canned goods. I'd think I'd feel ok about this if I had any sense that the situations was on it's way to being resolved but a big part of me is wondering how long this will go on for this time. :mad:

I think, having slept on it, I'll see what they have to say in response to the last message we sent them. If I get the impression it's going to turn into another round of "Oh, the engineer wanted to call round today but we didn't think you were in, because we hadn't called to check, and we've lost the management keys again so couldn't have him let himself in", I'll propose binning the old fridge-freezer and buying our own.

TL;DR

Thanks for the advice so far.

Pixie5740

Generali wrote: »

The LL is responsible for the upkeep and replacement (if necessary) of any white goods supplied with a furnished rental place.

Not according to the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 which explicitly excludes white goods ("but not other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity").

I know Shelter's website says that landlords are responsible for repairing and replacing white goods that they supply but I'm not sure than legally that's correct. I could be wrong though.

Pixie5740

If you are going to propose binning the landlord's fridge freezer then get his agreement in writing. You don't want to stung for the cost of replacing it at the end of your tenancy.

It can also be quite costly to bin a fridge freezer because of the chemicals they use.

ConfusedAgain

Pixie5740 wrote: »

If you are going to propose binning the landlord's fridge freezer then get his agreement in writing. You don't want to stung for the cost of replacing it at the end of your tenancy.

It can also be quite costly to bin a fridge freezer because of the chemicals they use.

Of course. That's why we're proposing it as a solution rather than chucking the old one out into the back garden, while shouting "Your problem now!"

cr1mson

Monday was a Bank Holiday so no doubt request would have not been passed to engineer until yesterday. Why not call the letting agent and ask for contact details for engineer under the guise of helping them to get an appointment arranged?