The VA landlord tenant act is in Title 55, chapter 13. The Residential Landlord Tenant Act is in Title 55, ch. 13.2.
L is obligated to provide you with WORKING appliances. [55-248.13] L is forbidden from putting the onus of maintaining or installing the W/D on you. [55.148.13(c)] If L hasn't provided a working W/D within 30 days of notice to do so, you can withhold the rent until he complies. [55-248.25]
Send L a letter that includes these provisions: (1) L's failure to provide you with a working washer & dryer constitutes a material breach of the rental agreement, and the lease will terminate in 30 days if you are not provided with a working washer & dryer within 21 days of L's receipt of this letter. [55.248.21] You'll have to provide L reasonable access to fix the electrical problem. (2) Requiring you to purchase the adaptor cord was a violation of 55-248.13(c)]. Demand that L reimburse you for the cost of the cord. Attach a copy of the receipt. (3) Inform L that you are paying $xx per month for a working W/D, & that you demand L reimburse you for the extra rent you've paid while the W/C sat around holding the floor down. (4) (Optional But Recommended) Inform L that you are paying July rent into a general District Court escrow account pending L's compliance with the lease. Send the letter certified, return receipt required so you can prove when L received it. If the appliances aren't fixed in 21 days, you get to terminate the lease & pay only pro-rated July rent. If L fixes the appliances, you can't break the lease. You may want to wait until July 1 to deliver the letter if it's easier for you to move at the end of the month.
If you decide to use the escrow account (a good idea, since the court will pro-rate the rent for you if L doesn't comply AND will credit you for the W/D rent & cord), you have to file a declaration asserting that L has had notice of the W/D problem for more than 30 days, that failure to provide the W/D is a material breach of the lease, and asking for "one or more forms of relief specified in 55-248.29." [55-248.27] I copied 55-248.29 for you below. The relief you'll want is termination, pro-rated rent, reimbursement for the W/D fees you paid up till now, reimbursement for the cord, & reimbursement for coin-op laundry costs exceeding the amount you should have paid (the monthly W/D fee).
If you're just sick of dealing with this landlord & want out, you can terminate the lease by giving 3 months written notice. [55.222]
Ain't law grand?
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§ 55-248.13
Landlord to maintain fit premises
(a) The landlord shall:
2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition;
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4. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him;
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(b) If the duty imposed by subdivision 1 of subsection (a) is greater than any duty imposed by any other subdivision of that subsection, the landlord's duty shall be determined by reference to subdivision 1.
(c) The landlord and tenant may agree in writing that the tenant perform the landlord's duties specified in subdivisions 3, 5 or 6 of subsection (a) and also specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling, but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith and not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord, and if the agreement does not diminish or affect the obligation of the landlord to other tenants in the premises.
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§ 55-248.21
Noncompliance by landlord
Except as provided in this chapter, if there is a material noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement or a noncompliance with any provision of this chapter, materially affecting health and safety, the tenant may serve a written notice on the landlord specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and stating that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than thirty days after receipt of the notice if such breach is not remedied in twenty-one days.
If the landlord commits a breach which is not remediable, the tenant may serve a written notice on the landlord specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach, and stating that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less that thirty days after receipt of the notice.
If the landlord has been served with a prior written notice which required the landlord to remedy a breach, and the landlord remedied such breach, where the landlord intentionally commits a subsequent breach of a like nature as the prior breach, the tenant may serve a written notice on the landlord specifying the acts and omissions constituting the subsequent breach, make reference to the prior breach of a like nature, and state that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than thirty days after receipt of the notice.
If the breach is remediable by repairs and the landlord adequately remedies the breach prior to the date specified in the notice, the rental agreement will not terminate. *** If the landlord's noncompliance is willful the tenant may recover reasonable attorney's fees. If the rental agreement is terminated on account of the landlord's noncompliance, the landlord shall return all security plus accrued interest, if any, recoverable by law.
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§ 55-248.29
Same; order of court
Any court shall make findings of fact on the issues before it and shall issue any order that may be required. Such an order may include, but is not limited to, any one or more of the following:
(a) Termination of the lease or ordering the premises surrendered to the landlord;
(b) Ordering all moneys already accumulated in escrow disbursed to the landlord or to the tenant in accordance with this chapter;
(c) Ordering that the escrow be continued until the complained of condition or conditions is remedied;
(d) Ordering that the amount of rent, whether paid into the escrow account or paid to the landlord, be abated as determined by the court in such an amount as may be equitable to represent the existence of the condition or conditions found by the court to exist. In all cases where the court deems that the tenant is entitled to relief under this chapter, the burden shall be upon the landlord to show cause why there should not be an abatement of rent;
(e) Ordering any amount of moneys accumulated in escrow disbursed to the tenant where the landlord refuses to make repairs after a reasonable time or to the landlord or to a contractor chosen by the landlord in order to make repairs or to otherwise remedy the condition. In either case, the court shall in its order insure that moneys thus disbursed will be in fact used for the purpose of making repairs or effecting a remedy;
(f) Referring any matter before the court to the proper state or municipal agency for investigation and report and granting a continuance of the action or complaint pending receipt of such investigation and report. When such a continuance is granted, the tenant shall deposit with the court rents within five days of date due under the rental agreement, subject to any abatement under this section, which become due during the period of the continuance, to be held by the court pending its further order;
(g) In its discretion, ordering escrow funds disbursed to pay a mortgage on the property in order to stay a foreclosure;
(h) In its discretion, ordering escrow funds disbursed to pay a creditor to prevent or satisfy a bill to enforce a mechanic's or materialman's lien.
Notwithstanding any provision of this section, where an escrow account is established by the court and the condition or conditions are not fully remedied within six months of the establishment of such account, and the landlord has not made reasonable attempts to remedy the conditi
