Tenants demanding appliances

[Brian Cornick]

I’ve had new tenants in an SFR on a 2 year lease for about 5 months now. When they moved in, I agreed to replace the oven, because it needed some serious cleaning and was about 25 years old. Two months later the dishwasher broke, so I had that replaced. All of the sudden they say the fridge broke. I asked the typical questions (is it staying cold, shutting off, leaking, etc.). They say it’s tripping the fuse, so I had an electrician take a look, and he said it’s completely fine. So I called an appliance repair man in town to ask if he’s ever seen this problem, to which he responded absolutely not, they just want a new fridge. I told them I’d have the repair man come take a look to ensure them it works, yet they call non stop telling me it’s broken and want a new one. My gut tells me they just want brand new appliances in the kitchen, but how can I determine that when I don’t live there, and when I go to take a look myself, it is ironically working fine that day. I’ve argued with them over this for almost a month now, and finally am deciding to replace it with a cheap fridge to make them happy since it’s still the beginning of a two year lease. Has anyone dealt with this type of situation and have any suggestions?