Reasonable time to repair fridge?

ElizaS_2

Hi,
I rent a property managed by an agency. It says in my contract all electrical appliances provided by Landlord are their responsibility. The fridge/freezer broke on Sunday and everything warmed up and defrosted. With it being the bank holiday weekend I just thought ah well, unlucky, e-mailed the agents straight away to let them know of the problem and managed to save some food in a very kind neighbours fridge and freezer. Now Thursday afternoon and many chasing phone calls they have said someone will come out this afternoon to look at the fridge but have not confirmed what time. Concerned that by the time they get round to ordering a part, fitting it etc or buying a new fridge I am going to have gone over a week without anywhere to store food. I can't keep going to my neighbours, especially in the morning before work to get milk etc. And I feel really bad late at night as well. What would be a reasonable time to expect repair?

saajan_12

The LL doesn't have to guarantee you perfect appliances, but rather has a duty to repair any issues within a reasonable timeframe. "Reasonable" there is defined how long it would reasonably take to contact repairmen, wait for them to visit, order parts, fix, re fix if necessary etc. Its not directly tied to the effect to you of the broken fridge - an owner occupier would have to deal with the same thing.

As for practical solutions:
* If someone is coming today, wait for that and then decide how to proceed
* Buy/borrow a cooler box, store milk etc in there with some ice packs. Then you just need to swap ice packs once a day at a reasonable time with the neighbour.
* Buy cheap a minifridge which you can keep in your living room and take with you

Smodlet

FWIW, I don't think you are overreacting at all. Unfortunately, this is just one of the myriad disadvantages of renting a furnished property. At least, if you owned the fridge freezer, your contents insurance would cover the cost of loss of food in this circumstance.

The very least the letting agent could do is tell you a time; what if you miss this repair person? Best of luck, OP and I hope it is sorted soon for you.