Landlord Dispute With Garbage Disposal & Lease (apartment, tenants)

[Taydigs]

When me and my wife moved into a apartment, we signed a 2 year lease. When we first moved in, the garbage disposal stop working in the first week. Now we have been living here for 3 months and the garbage disposal goes out again, but this time it backs up into the first floor tenants kitchen. Causing the landlord to have to clean, repair, and replace things that were damage downstairs. Now that my landlord has fixed all the problems, they are telling me and my wife that we cannot, ever use the garbage disposal again and that the only thing its supposed to be use for is orange peels. My question is this. Can I get out of my lease and get my security deposit back? Because when we were shown the apartment, a garbage disposal was included as part of the lease and now they are saying it works again but we cannot ever use it again. Also they say they found coffee grounds in the disposal, but all we have used for the past 2 years are coffee pods. We think that the prior tenants put coffee grounds or whatever else that caused it. Before the garbage disposal broke, my wife had dumped 2 partial bowls of spaghetti down the disposal, which our landlord said we weren't suppose to do. I'm confused what good is a garbage disposal that you cannot use to dispose of food, especially when its soft? LoL!!!!!

[kjbrill]

Taydigs ... Sound to me like you are getting the Proverbial Runaround. Do anything you can to get out of this mess.

[progmac]

I'm not sure...I'd consider a garbage disposal a luxury. What is the general standard of the apartment (cheap, middle, high rent?)?

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by progmac

I'm not sure...I'd consider a garbage disposal a luxury. What is the general standard of the apartment (cheap, middle, high rent?)?

I frankly do not consider a garbage disposal a luxury item. Maybe it because we have had one for the 51 years since we bought our first house. Over 51 years I have replaced more than one of them. And yes, I did the replacement.

\So if a garbage disposal is a luxury, I guess I have been living in the lap of luxury for more years than I want to admit.

Sorry if I am pessimistic, but a garbage disposal a luxury?

Sorry, I treat it like the sinks should drain, the toilets should flush. and normal household functions.

[progmac]

I'm suggesting that unless it is a high-end apartment situation, a garbage disposal would typically not be part of the experience.

For me, personally, I have had them and not had them. Just another thing to break IME.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by progmac

I'm suggesting that unless it is a high-end apartment situation, a garbage disposal would typically not be part of the experience.

For me, personally, I have had them and not had them. Just another thing to break IME.

I think they are required in government housing, possibly to cut down on the results of poorly handled garbage.

Other than that, I, too, think they are a luxury. A lot of suburbs don't have good garbage collection so you are liable to find them anywhere there.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by CarpathianPeasant

I think they are required in government housing, possibly to cut down on the results of poorly handled garbage.

Other than that, I, too, think they are a luxury. A lot of suburbs don't have good garbage collection so you are liable to find them anywhere there.

What does the garbage collection of the suburb have to do with it? Unless you have a far different system than I have, the garbage disposal exhausts directly into the sanitary sewer line. Sure with overload this causes a problem. But is it any different than the overloaded toilet you have to get the plunger out for? Sometimes I am out of touch with subjects Yes from time to time I have to get my trusty plunger out for one of the drains. But I have never equated it as equal to my disposal. Maybe I am just too old and miss the point.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

What does the garbage collection of the suburb have to do with it? Unless you have a far different system than I have, the garbage disposal exhausts directly into the sanitary sewer line. Sure with overload this causes a problem. But is it any different than the overloaded toilet you have to get the plunger out for? Sometimes I am out of touch with subjects Yes from time to time I have to get my trusty plunger out for one of the drains. But I have never equated it as equal to my disposal. Maybe I am just too old and miss the point.

??????

You can put your garbage in the garbage collection if you have good garbage collection.

Used to be you dumped your coffee grounds on some newspaper you spread on a table for the purpose, folded up the newspaper and dropped it in the kitchen garbage and from there about once a day it went into the garbage can. Since newspapers are no longer common, a plastic grocery bag does about as good. In fact with that you can add your banana peels and left over spaghetti. About once a week the garbage truck came along and the crew emptied your can (which you properly hauled to the curb) into the truck.

And, thoughtful people might even give the garbage collectors Christmas gifts if they did a good job.

[kjbrill]

Glad to see someone is still in tune with their garbage collection. I am just glad our collector supplied us with a separate container labeled Recyclable. Good thing to know I don't have to throw everything in the garbage. It is a good sized container and I hope they do something different with it. Where has this been? I had a former smaller box but it was totally inadequate.

Have to admit most of our soft residue hits the disposal. Since it's only difference is whether it has passed through our bodies, what is the difference? In my mind not much. Hopefully the water waste treatment people can do a good job of reclamation.

We try eveything we can to put the plastic products in the Recyclable bin. Do any of you thinks this does any good? Of course we rinse out the containers and send the residue down the venerable disposal. Same for our glass, metal cans, and other receptacles we now recycle. Are we being duped or is this a good process?

[Wilson513]

If the garbage disposal is mentioned in the lease, you can get it fixed by the landlord and use it. If not, you are out of luck.