Oven breakage in a rented property and what to do?

Mjb19967

Our oven has broken and our landlord/Agency is happy to replace it but it’ll take 1-2 weeks before it gets replaced. This has resulted in us throwing away a lot of food and purchasing more for other cooking ways I.e microwave.
can we claim a rent reduction or something similar?

Carrot007

No.

What did you have that can only be cooked in an oven? Sure you could have cooked it differently. Microwaving things does not have to be expensive either. The expence was your choice.

1-2 weeks seems very good service at the moment.

steampowered

Do you not have a hob? 

There are any number of things you can cook on a hob! Try doing some new recipes rather than just cooking the same old things.

saajan_12

Mjb19967 said:

Our oven has broken and our landlord/Agency is happy to replace it but it’ll take 1-2 weeks before it gets replaced. This has resulted in us throwing away a lot of food and purchasing more for other cooking ways I.e microwave.
can we claim a rent reduction or something similar?

Compensation / rent reduction only arises if the LL / agent have done something wrong (whether intentional or negligent or due to something they are responsible for etc). What have they done wrong?

The LL's responsibility is to provide you with a property, allow you quiet enjoyment etc. Properties inherently break - in that case, they don't guarantee a perfect property all the time, just that they will attend to repairs in a timely manner. 1-2 weeks is reasonable (considering ordering, waiting for delivery, arranging for someone to install). --> so no responsibility on LL. 

Also what are your mitigated costs. You could have cooked the oven foods differently, or frozen them to use once you have an oven etc. Hob / microwave foods aren't markedly more expensive than oven foods --> so even if there was a responsibility, you'd have a duty to mitigate, after which your cost is ~£0. 

Bottom line, there is no liability as long as they're repairing in a reasonable time, its all part and parcel of living somewhere, and in any case your mitigated costs are negligible. 

mattyprice4004

Sounds reasonable to me, there's a shortage of tradesmen at the moment due to huge demand. 
I was without an oven for 4 weeks due to a warranty repair recently, who can I claim from? 

No one, as I used common sense and bought a counter-top mini oven for £15 from a local Facebook group, and I can sell it on when I'm done.

onylon

2 weeks without an oven is pretty poor when ao.com can do next day delivery/fitting in most locations.

In the mean time you can make do with the hob (BBQ?) and microwave. There's no need to waste food, even oven ready meals can be frozen or removed from the foil tray to fry or microwave

If you are really struggling then you can buy a microwave with a grill function or a stand alone mini oven. I got one when I was doing my kitchen and I think it was about £60. You may even be able to sell it on afterwards to minimise your loss.

Tokmon

Mjb19967 said:

Our oven has broken and our landlord/Agency is happy to replace it but it’ll take 1-2 weeks before it gets replaced. This has resulted in us throwing away a lot of food and purchasing more for other cooking ways I.e microwave.
can we claim a rent reduction or something similar?

I would be very interested to know what food had to be thrown away that couldn't have been frozen or cooked using other methods in the meantime?

dimbo61

You can order from ao.com and other online companies however they won't fit electric or gas ovens.

robatwork

Turned on its head....perhaps you broke the oven due to misuse - how does the landlord know otherwise?

Mnoee

Tokmon said:

Mjb19967 said:

Our oven has broken and our landlord/Agency is happy to replace it but it’ll take 1-2 weeks before it gets replaced. This has resulted in us throwing away a lot of food and purchasing more for other cooking ways I.e microwave.
can we claim a rent reduction or something similar?

I would be very interested to know what food had to be thrown away that couldn't have been frozen or cooked using other methods in the meantime?

It could have been like my last rented flat - undercounter fridge with a tiny ice box freezer. You couldn't even fit a pizza or family sized pie in there! Or cook either of them on a hob. 

Marvel1

No, I fail to find a reason to throw away food.