Appliances and Favors (apartment, lease, tenant, renters)
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My husband and I rent a house in Raleigh, NC. It's in an okay area on a REALLY busy street. We pay pretty good rent, are never late, have been here two years+ and have never damaged anything that needs major repairs (outside of nail holes in the walls). I learned from the landlord that the previous tenants had destroyed the house inside and out. It needed new drywall, appliances, paint, sinks, everything. It was really beat up.
When we moved in, we had a washer and dryer we brought with us. When we got here, we found out that our landlord had furnished a washer and dryer of her own. Not needing our own second-hand set, we just gave them to her. She's a collector like that, I guess, and seemed happy with it.
About two weeks ago, the dryer she furnished us with stopped turning. It heats fine, but won't tumble. I called her up and let her know to which her immediate reply was, "I'm sorry, but that's not my responsibility - it's in the contract." I asked her if she still had the dryer we gave her when we moved in and she said, "I don't remember that." Of course.
Okay, fine. It's in the contract. But, how much sense does that make? They're not MY appliances, they're hers. How much incentive do I have to get a dryer (or any other appliance) I don't own fixed?
I feel like a real asshat not getting it fixed, but we simply don't have the money -- if we did have money like that to toss around, we'd own a house and worry about our own appliances. As of now, our plan is to buy a cheap one off Craigslist that will work for the next 8 months until we move.
I guess I'm just looking for feedback from other landlords. Is this something you would do or have heard of other people doing?
Sounds like you have a clueless landlord. If they're supplying the appliance, they have to repair the appliance. Straight from NC Landlord/Tenant law...
§ 42‑42. Landlord to provide fit premises. (a) The landlord shall:
(4) Maintain in good and safe working order and promptly repair all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and other facilities and appliances supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord provided that notification of needed repairs is made to the landlord in writing by the tenant, except in emergency situations.
Even if she put it in your contract that you are responsible for the repairs, it's not legal and therefore can't be enforced. The law trumps the contract.
I'd send her a letter outlining your request for the dryer to be fixed and include this section of the law. Full landlord/tenant law for NC can be found here...
It comes down to whether the Landlord is "Supplying" the dryer and/or is the dryer considered a "Required Appliance"
Does the contract you signed state she is not furnishing a dryer or does it state you are responsible for repairs?
If the dryer belongs to her, she needs to take care of it.
If the unit was left from a previous tenant and she "Gave" it to you... I don't think she has the responsibility to repair it and neither do you.
I don't supply Washer or Dryers... I have had tenants gift them to me and I will make them available to new tenants.
The new tenants have the option of having me remove them or they can accept them as a gift and it will be written into the Rental Agreement as such to prevent any misunderstanding down the road.
As a practical matter, I'm guessing the Dryer needs a new drive belt. I recently replaced one on a Kenmore/Whirlpool and I paid $22 for the part.
Ultrarunner, I don't think that's going to fly. If the appliance is in the house, it's going to be considered as "supplied" by any adjudicator, should a tenant require you to repair it. Saying or putting in writing that it is a "gift" isn't going to let you worm your way around the law, regardless of how good your intentions are. Otherwise, every slumlord in NC would "gift" every lightbulb, stove, furnace, etc. to their tenants in the rental contract.
The OP should do what Baby said. If she doesn't do it, record everything, get her refusal to fix it on paper, then hire a repairman yourself and deduct it from the rent. Send a letter explaining why the rent is short, include the repairman's invoice, and maybe the pertinent section of NC law.
Ultrarunner, I don't think that's going to fly. If the appliance is in the house, it's going to be considered as "supplied" by any adjudicator, should a tenant require you to repair it. Saying or putting in writing that it is a "gift" isn't going to let you worm your way around the law, regardless of how good your intentions are. Otherwise, every slumlord in NC would "gift" every lightbulb, stove, furnace, etc. to their tenants in the rental contract.
The OP should do what Baby said. If she doesn't do it, record everything, get her refusal to fix it on paper, then hire a repairman yourself and deduct it from the rent. Send a letter explaining why the rent is short, include the repairman's invoice, and maybe the pertinent section of NC law.
Good Luck.
You do have a point... I got into trouble once over a phone line.
I've had renters add multiple phone and cable TV lines... especially when teenage children live in the unit. Often the installation is haphazard... run under carpets and over doorways.
Landlords in my State are responsible for maintaining a functional telephone jack in each unit and the law has morphed to cover all telephone jacks regardless of the quality of the installation or who installed them if they are present at move-in.
I now personally remove all extra lines and jacks at move-out because the liability of not doing so. It only took one $180 phone repair bill to convince me.
Appliances... It's sad, but you are probably right. It's kind of like the saying no good deed goes unpunished.
My policy is to only supply built-in appliances... City-Data.com has had several spirited discussion about the pros and cons of Landlord supplied appliances. Each appliance I provide is listed on the lease under the title "Landlord Supplied Appliances"... by Manufacturer's Name and item Serial Number. This has avoided any misunderstandings so far.
Occasionally, an outgoing tenant will want to sell or leave behind a appliance they no longer need and I pass this information along to incoming tenants... always thought of it as a win-win situation
In today's climate... I'm sure some would argue I'm responsible since I was involved.
One of the best things I did as a Manager of Section 8 properties was to no longer provide appliances... the $2 a month extra rent just wasn't worth it.
Had a family once claim they lost $400 of food when the refrigerator stopped working only to find out later the refrigerator stopped working because the power company turned off the electricity for non-payment
As always... local law will determine compliance...
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 02-07-2009 at 11:22 AM..
I don't understand cheap LL's. I supply washer/dryer with my unit, and happily have any repairs neccessary done as soon as I'm aware of a problem.
Last month my maintenance guy stopped by to look at another problem, and noticed the dryer knob was missing, and the front loader washer door was taped shut. The renter said the latch on the washer wasn't working, so she just taped it when she used it. They weren't complaining, and happy to use it like it was.
A repair man was out the next day and replaced the washer latch, and installed a new switch on the dryer, since a know was un available. I cost $150 for the whole operation and the renter is thrilled.
The goodwill was worth far more than the cost of repair. When renters know you go out of your way to keep them happy, it pays big dividends...
Appliance repair is not expensive....
I don't understand cheap LL's. I supply washer/dryer with my unit, and happily have any repairs neccessary done as soon as I'm aware of a problem.
Last month my maintenance guy stopped by to look at another problem, and noticed the dryer knob was missing, and the front loader washer door was taped shut. The renter said the latch on the washer wasn't working, so she just taped it when she used it. They weren't complaining, and happy to use it like it was.
A repair man was out the next day and replaced the washer latch, and installed a new switch on the dryer, since a know was un available. I cost $150 for the whole operation and the renter is thrilled.
The goodwill was worth far more than the cost of repair. When renters know you go out of your way to keep them happy, it pays big dividends...
Appliance repair is not expensive....
Appliance repair is actually inexpensive... I have a wholesale account and do all of my repairs and installs... the only thing I can no longer do is refrigeration due to the new equipment and certification requirements.
I manged a lot of Section 8 rental properties in Oakland and the greater East Bay early in my career... Over 50% of the total service calls and problems related to appliances... appliances that at the time HUD was paying a dollar a month in increased rent per month.
It just wasn't worth the problems and bad will it generated, not too mention the liability issues for food loss, damaged clothing claims, injured infants or kitchen fires... for a dollar a month.
I've been lucky... I've only had to deal with 3 apartment fires where the unit became uninhabitable. Two were grease fires and one was dryer lint from using a dryer without the lint screen. In every case the insurance company wanted to know ownership of the appliance involved.
Only the stove in one grease fire was supplied with the rental and the insurance company had someone come out to refute the tenants claim it was defective...
Speaking of Stoves... my tenant of over 20 years called me at 3AM this past Christmas morning in a panic... she had family coming Christmas day, put the roast in the oven and it wasn't cooking... I got dressed found the pilot-light out, re-lit it and went back to home to bed ... did I say this was 3AM Christmas morning???
It's all a matter of dollars and cents... A $150 dollar repair on a $1800 a month rental is easier to take than the same repair on a $600 rental.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 02-07-2009 at 12:34 PM..
Thanks for all the opinions, guys. I really appreciate it. I like out landlady - she's a little odd, but she's nice and mostly well-meaning. I'm sure that her not covering appliance work is only to try and keep tenants from trashing the ones that are there (like the tenants before us did) and force them to take some responsibility. Except most tenants rent for a reason.
It's good to know about the law, but I wouldn't want to make things bad between us over a dryer by forcing the fix down her throat and putting the law in her face. In the end, she'll be fixing the thing either way.
I'd rather pay the $50 to find a crummy-but-workable one on Craigslist and just leave them both for her. We'll be moving out in September, but our lease is up in May and I want to keep things peaceful so we can do a month-to-month lease on the balance of months.
The last house we rented had a washer & dryer, dishwasher, frig, stove, etc already on the premises. In our lease, it stated that if any of the appliances were to stop working, the LL could choose not to replace these as they were considered "courtesy items" or something like that. We had them adjust the lease to read that the LL had 24 hours after being informed an appliance no longer worked to notify us as to whether or not they would replace it, and would remove any nonworking appliances they would not replace from the premises within 48 hours or receiving notice that they didn't work. It was also added in that repair or replacement of items must be delivered within 72 hours of LL being informed. The point we made being that I wasn't going to have a non working stove taking up space for 3 weeks while the owner decided whether to fix or replace the items. My preference would've been that they would remove them immediately. It never came up there though.
Our new LL/lease states they'll replace/repair the stove or frig within 72 hours, dishwasher, microwave or disposal within 7 days. The disposal died on day 2. They brought a new one over 3 hours later.
In my rental, which is my home...my tenants know if the fridge, washer- (the dryer caught fire before I moved out of the home)....anyhow...if certain appliances, that were in the home when we bought it, died, I was not going to replace them. Aside from the water heater...Which I replaced Jan 1...that was fun since we're in Chi and the house is in So cal.
How I look at it too...we will be moving back to OUR home in a couple of years so it's not as if I am doing for my tenants...
The stove is new so is the d/w. The washer and fridge came with the house when it was built in 1985. I won't cover that. They can get something and take it when they leave.
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