Fridge repair issues

[Siimplymichelle]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I'm currently in California and renting an apartment where they have provided a refrigerator for us to use. However, about a month ago, the fridge compartment of the unit stopped cooling. We contacted maintenance and requested someone come and fix our fridge. It took them several days to get back to us, then a week later someone finally came to look at our fridge. They attempted to fix it but weren't successful. We called them to come back out and that took another week and they didn't fix it again when they came. A couple days after that the maintenance man tells me that he's going to call our complex and tell them we need a new fridge. It's been a week and we still haven't heard from our apartment complex despite our phone calls. As a pregnant mom of a toddler, having no fridge is absolutely unacceptable. At this point I am looking into buying our own fridge. Can I tell our apartment to come take their broken fridge and make them sign something acknowledging that I am no responsible for their broken fridge and so on? What if they don't take it? I've had it with our management. This happens all the time but this is just frustrating.

 

[FarmerJ]

call your city housing inspections desk , Your landlord has no excuse to not keep on hand extra working appliances to slide in as replacements when appliances they supplied failed. Your landlord has not taken reasonable steps to correct this if you have had to complain twice so make that call.

 

[Zigner]

call your city housing inspections desk

It's not a habitability concern, rather, it's a contractual concern. Inspections won't care.

 

[FarmerJ]

Zigner in many places when a landlord has supplied a appliance it is a issue when the LL wont fix it and Ive seen many city inspectors order a landlord to repair things like cook stoves , fridges. Michele you live in the tenant friendly state of CA. Call your city / county building inspections desk!

 

[Just Blue]

Zigner in many places when a landlord has supplied a appliance it is a issue when the LL wont fix it and Ive seen many city inspectors order a landlord to repair things like cook stoves , fridges. Michele you live in the tenant friendly state of CA. Call your city / county building inspections desk!

In my state, not Cali, it is that way.

 

[FarmerJ]

In all of the larger cities in my state unless a landlord specifically says in a lease that the tenant must get own / supply own appliances ( cookstove, fridge, washer , dryer) and a landlord rents a unit with them in place if the LL wont fix them when they break and the city is called if your in a city, inspectors will order that the appliance be repaired ( I cant say for rural townships like mine since we do not have a formal building inspector BUT our township supervisor has gone out a few times over the years to investigate tenant complaints that were left by township rental residents and he tells me if he investigates and complaint is true, justified he will let the county zoning desk ( that's where our county inspections is based) know what his findings are. I have no idea from there what happens since the city we get mail from its inspector as soon as he learns you do not live in the city he politely says `I cant help you since my authority is only with in the city limit`

 

[Zigner]

If city inspections makes such an order and the LL ignores it...what then? City inspections has no authority to make an order of a matter that is not a habitability matter. In other words: There is no law that states an apartment must have a fridge.

ETA: City inspectors overstep their authority all the time...

 

[FarmerJ]

it is not overstepping anything when a building inspector orders a landlord to repair a appliance in a rental unit when the appliance is supplied by the landlord. Many years ago a lot of rental ads flat out said that appliances not included and I remember more than one relative who had to bring appliances with them when they moved to new places. SO if a landlord leaves a stove or fridge in a unit and the lease doesn't say that the tenant must supply own appliances and the appliance breaks why then is it the tenants responsibility to fix it or go get a new one? One of the many reasons that people rent is that they do not have the resources to fix / replace stoves , fridges, etc let alone the huge stuff like furnace replacements / roofs. I know lots of landlords want to argue that they don't have to fix the things they have supplied or will claim that appliances didn't belong to them but were left by a previous tenant , My reply is BS, then don't have a stove or fridge in a unit do not supply washers dryers and instead require in a lease that a tenant must supply own but when a landlord goes that route of course some qualified renters will just go somewhere else, BUT then the landlord is off the hook for repairing appliances since they are not supplied.

 

[Zigner]

it is not overstepping anything when a building inspector orders a landlord to repair a appliance in a rental unit when the appliance is supplied by the landlord. Many years ago a lot of rental ads flat out said that appliances not included and I remember more than one relative who had to bring appliances with them when they moved to new places. SO if a landlord leaves a stove or fridge in a unit and the lease doesn't say that the tenant must supply own appliances and the appliance breaks why then is it the tenants responsibility to fix it or go get a new one? One of the many reasons that people rent is that they do not have the resources to fix / replace stoves , fridges, etc let alone the huge stuff like furnace replacements / roofs. I know lots of landlords want to argue that they don't have to fix the things they have supplied or will claim that appliances didn't belong to them but were left by a previous tenant , My reply is BS, then don't have a stove or fridge in a unit do not supply washers dryers and instead require in a lease that a tenant must supply own but when a landlord goes that route of course some qualified renters will just go somewhere else, BUT then the landlord is off the hook for repairing appliances since they are not supplied.

The city doesn't have the authority to enforce a private contract. Since the fridge isn't a habitability issue, it falls under contract law.

Again, I have no doubt that there are city inspectors that overstep their actual authority, but the fact of the matter is that in private apartment rentals, it's not of the city's business whether or not the fridge works.

I will concede that, if the renter is in some sort of government subsidized housing, things may be different. But even then, it's not the city's code enforcement division that would handle the matter, since it's NOT a code-related issue.