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Is landlord responsible for fixing washing machine?

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I live in Maryland. I have been renting a room in a house for 5 weeks. A washer and dryer is provided for tenants here. The washer recently broke, and the landlord said he is not going to fix it. Is the landlord required to fix a washer that he provides to his 5 tenants? The lease does state that tenants shall have access to the laundry area during certain hours and days of the week, but does not specifically state who shall be responsible for repairs.
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
Call your city building inspections desk and tell them your LL refuses to fix a appliance he supplied for tenant use when you moved in and you want it to be repaired , I suggest this route because If your LL didn't want to fix appliances then your LL should not have had them in place when you or any other tenant there moved in!
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
What does your lease say regarding this matter? In some leases an appliance such as a washer and dryer are provided as a courtesy only and if they break the landlord is not required to repair or replace. In addition, why/how it broke also plays a role here; if caused by one or more of the tenants they can be charged for the cost of the repair.

It would, therefore, be useful to review the lease to see if it addresses any area regarding this.

Gail
 
What does your lease say regarding this matter? In some leases an appliance such as a washer and dryer are provided as a courtesy only and if they break the landlord is not required to repair or replace. In addition, why/how it broke also plays a role here; if caused by one or more of the tenants they can be charged for the cost of the repair.

It would, therefore, be useful to review the lease to see if it addresses any area regarding this.

Gail
The lease says 2 things:

"Laundry area is to be used between the hours of 9:00am and 9:00pm any day of the week, ONCE a week."
"Tenant shall give prompt notice of any defects or breakages to structure and fixtures. Tenant shall be responsible for all repairs made from tenant negligence or carelessness."

Landlord is saying it was because of negligence, when he has no evidence of such. It just stopped working and he did not have a repairman even check it out as to what is wrong or why.
 
The lease says 2 things:

"Laundry area is to be used between the hours of 9:00am and 9:00pm any day of the week, ONCE a week."
"Tenant shall give prompt notice of any defects or breakages to structure and fixtures. Tenant shall be responsible for all repairs made from tenant negligence or carelessness."

Landlord is saying it was because of negligence, when he has no evidence of such. It just stopped working and he did not have a repairman even check it out as to what is wrong or why.
Oh, and 1 more point. The lease says, "Tenant is renting room only, not the entire property. Landlord allows access to the home as long as tenant abides by the rules that the landlord has in place."

And I have followed all rules that he has in place. So it was not caused by negligence on my part for sure. Not sure about other tenants.
 
Call your city building inspections desk and tell them your LL refuses to fix a appliance he supplied for tenant use when you moved in and you want it to be repaired , I suggest this route because If your LL didn't want to fix appliances then your LL should not have had them in place when you or any other tenant there moved in!
Do you mean contact the "Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement"?
The ones who do property code enforcement?
 

quincy

Senior Member
How exactly did it "stop working?" What (in your nonprofessional opinion) do you think is the cause?
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Richard if that's the department that handles building inspection issues YES call them. there are landlords who think that leases that don't list the appliances that they didn't remove takes them off the hook for repair and I disagree with the idea of a LL supplying something as a courtesy for tenants to use but then getting out of fixing it when it stops working, that idea to me is bovine excrement! if a sleeping room tenant sees a place that doesn't include a washer / dryer then they know what they see is what they got. when looking at places to live If a tenant sees A & B in a rental of course those items can be what lead them to agree to rent there. AGAIN If a LL doesn't want to fix something then remove it while a place is vacant so when prospective tenants look at a place they are not misled .
 

not2cleverRed

Obvious Observer
Richard if that's the department that handles building inspection issues YES call them. there are landlords who think that leases that don't list the appliances that they didn't remove takes them off the hook for repair and I disagree with the idea of a LL supplying something as a courtesy for tenants to use but then getting out of fixing it when it stops working, that idea to me is bovine excrement! if a sleeping room tenant sees a place that doesn't include a washer / dryer then they know what they see is what they got. when looking at places to live If a tenant sees A & B in a rental of course those items can be what lead them to agree to rent there. AGAIN If a LL doesn't want to fix something then remove it while a place is vacant so when prospective tenants look at a place they are not misled .
I would also think that "tenant negligence and carelessness" can only be determined to be the cause if the appliance is actually repaired, and that "responsibility" would be reimbursing the landlord for the repair after the tenant's fault has been determined.
 

quincy

Senior Member
I would also think that "tenant negligence and carelessness" can only be determined to be the cause if the appliance is actually repaired, and that "responsibility" would be reimbursing the landlord for the repair after the tenant's fault has been determined.
Or professionally inspected prior to repair. It helps to have several estimates and opinions as to cause and cost.
 
Richard if that's the department that handles building inspection issues YES call them. there are landlords who think that leases that don't list the appliances that they didn't remove takes them off the hook for repair and I disagree with the idea of a LL supplying something as a courtesy for tenants to use but then getting out of fixing it when it stops working, that idea to me is bovine excrement! if a sleeping room tenant sees a place that doesn't include a washer / dryer then they know what they see is what they got. when looking at places to live If a tenant sees A & B in a rental of course those items can be what lead them to agree to rent there. AGAIN If a LL doesn't want to fix something then remove it while a place is vacant so when prospective tenants look at a place they are not misled .
Yes, that makes sense. There are 4 other tenants here as well. After I moved in, I saw a printed note in the laundry room informing tenants that if the washing machine breaks he is not going to fix it anymore. He told me in person that he replaced the washing machine 4 times already (because, in my opinion, he keeps buying cheap used ones). Is that note, which may have been there BEFORE I moved in (and he claims it was), binding? I would think the lease would need to say something about that, and not a note sticking on a wall. Especially when the lease itself says that I could use the laundry room as long as I obey the rules.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Yes, that makes sense. There are 4 other tenants here as well. After I moved in, I saw a printed note in the laundry room informing tenants that if the washing machine breaks he is not going to fix it anymore. He told me in person that he replaced the washing machine 4 times already (because, in my opinion, he keeps buying cheap used ones). Is that note, which may have been there BEFORE I moved in (and he claims it was), binding?
If placed prominently where all tenants can see it, yes. The Notice could be enough to protect the landlord if there was no mention of the washer or dryer in the lease.
 
If placed prominently where all tenants can see it, yes. The Notice could be enough to protect the landlord if there was no mention of the washer or dryer in the lease.
Well, there is a mention of the laundry room in the lease, which states we can have access to it as long as we abide by the rules, which I have been. Would that make a difference?
 

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