I have repair/replace warranty but tenant buys new fridge.

[Mary C. Mathews]

I have tenant in townhouse in Illinois with no lease now. I have contract with Warranty Co. for appliances - if appliance cannot be repaired they replace it.

On Monday tenant says there is a leak from ice maker. My Warranty Co. does not do leaks. l call another repair service who comes on Tuesday. They say fridge should not be repaired (too costly) but replaced. Tenant then asked if I am getting it repaired today-I said "No". She angrily responded and hung up on me.

Later that day tenant says fridge not cooling. I set an appointment with Warranty Co for Thursday. Notified tenant of appointment and that I needed Warranty's serviceman so I could exercise options of contract. Tenant ignored and bought new refrigerator delivered on Friday.

Now tenant wants to be compensated. Warranty would have replaced but tenant ignored my request for service. What is my legal obligation?

[Amy Little]

@Mary C. Mathews Review your lease very carefully. Most leases state that a landlord has to, in good faith, try to remedy the situation in a reasonable time. It sounds like that is what you were doing. If the tenant jumps the gun and buys their own refrigerator, well then, they are the proud owners of a new refrigerator that they can haul to the next place.

When my husband and I rented in CA, my husband bought a new toilet seat and tried to bill back the landlord. I had told my husband that he needed to get the OK from our landlord first before doing that. Guess what? Landlord didn’t reimburse us...which I knew was going to happen. We were the proud owners of a toilet seat!

Every state rental laws are slightly different. I don’t think you are required to reimburse any portion of the refrigerator. Also, the tenant isn’t required to leave that behind when they move out.