Landlord responsibilities

Shelldean

silvercar said:

How near the hob was the cupboard. Building regs would prevent the cupboard being directly above the hob, so I would check positioning. You want to verify that the accident happened as reported rather someone attacking your kitchen. 

One of mine is directly above my hob. With the extractor fan in between.

hazyjo

This (almost) happened to us. A large double cupboard started falling off the wall at one side. My OH managed to prop it up with loads of books. Someone came out to fix it, and said it hadn't been fitted properly, and had to refit several other cupboards too. (It had been fitted before I bought the house)

Strongly suggest you get someone to take a look at all wall cupboards. If one's been bodged when fitting, chances are they all will have been. Was quite scary, my other half panicked and thought it was going to bring half the wall down! We were lucky!

cr1mson

I would be apologising to my tenant, getting it fixed and getting the rest of the cabinets checked at the same time.

As if another cabinet fell off and injured your tenant that would open up a world of pain for you.

MultiFuelBurner

amaugham said:

I rent out a house, and had a kitchen installed 5 years ago, before the present tenant moved in.  Whilst they have been on holiday last week the kitchen cabinet fell off the wall.  It has broken the hob and things are smashed everywhere.  Bearing in mind that it has been fine for 5 years and this suddenly happens with no on in the house.  
Who is responsible?  I am saying that they should be claiming on their contents insurance, am I right?

What was the warranty on the kitchen if you had it fitted?

If no warranty left then this really is all down to you as a LL.

chrisw

cr1mson said:

I would be apologising to my tenant, getting it fixed and getting the rest of the cabinets checked at the same time.

As if another cabinet fell off and injured your tenant that would open up a world of pain for you.

I agree with this. You are now aware that there is a potential issue with the wall cupboards. If you do nothing and a similar thing happens, you could be held guilty of negligence. 

You need all the cupboards checked by a suitable tradesman and get a written report to confirm they are satisfactory and suitable for holding kitchen items.