Landlord won't reduce rent for broken fridge

G21

our fridge/freezer door fell off in July (fridge was bought in 2008) and it took 3 weeks to get a new one as landlord wanted new qoutes. We got a new fridge and within a week the fridge section was not cold. we got told we had to wait two weeks for the fridge temperature to settle and they would call a technician.

the technician then wasn't available for another week and they had to call the manufactor which then took another week. They repaired a part which worked fro 4 days and then broke again. they then asked us to wait two weeks again for the temperature to settle which it didn't and the tecnician said they would replace the part. a week goes by and the part is out of stock and they agree to replace the fridge. another week and the estate agent says they will chase them and the manufacotr forgot to request it ? they were then supposed to call us today to arrange and we can't get through.

we asked for a small rent reduction or food voucher as we have lost several food shops, can't keep any fresh food since july and have to buy food at work everyday. Landlord said no

surely we are entitled to compensation as landlord is saying we should get compensation from the fridge company and nothing to do with them

any advice appreciated

subjecttocontract

Provided the landlord has arranged repairs in a timely manner then that's the best that can be expected. The landlord has no control over the timing of suppliers or manufacturers etc. Tenants are not entitled to anything over and above that which an owner occupier might expect in the same situation, just by virtue of them paying rent.

FrugaiMacDugal

Perhaps your house insurance covers loss of food because of fault.

MyRealNameToo

Stuff breaks and it can take time for it to be repaired/replaced unfortunately. 

Whilst inevitably sods law says things break just after you've done a full shop I'm not clear why you lost "several" shops? In principle its failed 3 times and so at most it should be 3 shops and realistically it should be 3 part shops as presumably you stocked up after the repair and it only failed 4 days later so at least part of the shop would have been consumed. 

The say to give it 2 weeks to see if it settles down is a little old wives tale like but just because you've become a landlord doesnt mean you've suddenly learnt which sayings are true and which are just rubbish. 

Clearly better if it hadn't broken but thats not life, it sounds they did reasonable enough, our landlord tried to get us to not have a fridge/freezer, then to have a poxy little one and finally agreed to replace it with a broadly equivalent size though clearly a much cheaper option than the original that failed twice. 

user1977

Surely getting another fridge via Freecycle or similar to at least tide you over would be simpler?

saajan_12

G21 said:

our fridge/freezer door fell off in July (fridge was bought in 2008) and it took 3 weeks to get a new one as landlord wanted new qoutes. We got a new fridge and within a week the fridge section was not cold. we got told we had to wait two weeks for the fridge temperature to settle and they would call a technician.

the technician then wasn't available for another week and they had to call the manufactor which then took another week. They repaired a part which worked fro 4 days and then broke again. they then asked us to wait two weeks again for the temperature to settle which it didn't and the tecnician said they would replace the part. a week goes by and the part is out of stock and they agree to replace the fridge. another week and the estate agent says they will chase them and the manufacotr forgot to request it ? they were then supposed to call us today to arrange and we can't get through.

we asked for a small rent reduction or food voucher as we have lost several food shops, can't keep any fresh food since july and have to buy food at work everyday. Landlord said no

surely we are entitled to compensation as landlord is saying we should get compensation from the fridge company and nothing to do with them

any advice appreciated

No, there is no guarantee that everything should work perfectly - if or when things break, you are entitled to a  reasonably timely response and fix, not to be 100% unaffected or compensated. "Timely" is based on what is reasonably possible in line with what an owner occupier would face. 

So the question is did they act in a reasonably timely way? 
- 3 weeks to schedule a visit, get a quote to fix (1-2 weeks) then research and get delivery of a new fridge (1 week) sounds about right
- new fridge would be reasonably expected to work, so any issues are new issues, ie start the clock again 
- 2 weeks waiting for it to settle - seems long, I'd expect 0.5-1 week
- 1 week to schedule technician - seems right
- 2 weeks waiting for it to settle again - seems long, i'd expect 0.1-1 week
- 1 week to diagnose and order the part - seems right
- parts being out of stock - par for course which an owner occupier would also face
- manufacturers customer service being poor and losing a week - par for course which an owner occupier would also face

Overall seems the landlord delayed things by ~ 2 weeks by expecting you to wait too long, but at the time you also went along with it. Everything else would be something you'd have to deal with as an owner occupier with no one to pay for your lost food etc.
Eg if it was your brand new fridge that broke in days, you'd also expect a warranty repair which means dealing with the manufacturer, and wouldn't just buy a new one. 

Chief_of_Staffy

When 'they' ask you to wait two weeks for the temperature to settle, you are being lied to. It takes 6 - 12 hours for a new fridge to attain a safe operating temperature, or double that if you stuff it with food. Unless your fridge is the size of an aircraft hangar, it will not need two weeks to 'settle'.

Similarly when your landlord says you should get compensation from the fridge company, that's also clearly untrue. Your contract is with him, so if there's compensation due, it's from him. Therefore, since he admits the situation is worthy of compensation, then he needs to provide it. It's not directly his fault that the fridge failed, but I'm guessing he bought the cheapest, nastiest fridge available, hence the extreme failure rate of the components. You can bet that if the landlord's fridge failed, he'd have a working replacement the next day.

subjecttocontract

I had a new one bought from & delivered by AO last week. They told me to let it stand for 4 hours before switching it on and using it.

EssexHebridean

Come on people - seriously - 3 months for the OP to get a working fridge is in nobodies world “in a timely manner” surely? I know there are folk on here who are landlords - but seriously, you’d treat your tenants like that? 

Chief_of_Staffy

And who the heck schedules a visit and gets quotes for a fridge? What does that even mean? Fridge breaks, check if you can get the part (20 minutes), if not you order a new fridge. Two days later, there it be. When my gas cooker failed I ordered a new one, got a plumber in to disconnect the gas, took delivery of the new cooker, had the old cooker taken away, got the plumber back to connect the gas, in 48 hours.

m0bov

I would expect it to take a few days to resolve. You don't "get parts" for a brand new fridge. Should have been swapped over. Shouldn't take two to settle, more like 24 hours. Getting quotes is 5 minutes on Google.