Tenant Refuses Stove - threatens to withold rent

[Josh Polston]

[punchline at the end] I have a legacy tenant that has been living in the building since purchase (7 years ago) and they recently killed their gas range with only one of 4 burners working.  When they notified me it was not working, I did an inspection and it appeared that the burners were shot and clogged with burned grease.  The stove was fairly dirty and I took some pictures.  I had another used stove available, did a quick clean, tested that it worked, and swapped it out.  When tenant saw new (used) stove they freaked-out since #1 it was used and they wanted a new stove, #2 I did a decent job cleaning the stove and burners but the oven had some stains and was less than pristine.  They demanded I come a remove the new (used) stove -- I think not.

I notified them in writing that purchase of a new stove via withholding rent is not authorized.  They are pissed and sending me pictures of the inside of the oven on a daily basis.  Now to the punchline... unit is rent-controlled and tenant is paying less than 1/2 market rent, so I am in no mood to buy nice new appliances for them.  If they do withhold rent then they could be served a 3-day notice and be evicted if not paid.  

My question, dear forum members is, should I go and clean stove, take pictures, etc.. or let them follow-through on threat to withhold rent?  I would not want to get into an eviction and then lose based on a habitability claim of an unclean stove.

"A watched pot never boils"

[Mark Radford]

Technically all you need to provide is a safe, working stove which it sounds like you've done. The rub that has been created:

Stove you provided admittedly wasn't that clean. (Have to be careful with used appliances re: insect infestation etc)

Tenant "demands" you clean or replace. Tenant is now challenging for power. You acquiesce, it may never stop. You refuse, tenant makes life hell until their exit. 

By threatening to withold rent the tenant now knows the dynamic of the relationship has forever  changed and is probably ready to move on anyway. After all would they deal with that if roles were reversed?

 Clean the stove as best you can for your own good karma and get rid of the tenant. Update with new stove, new tenat and more rent.