Rental with no working oven or stove

[Gary Wallace]

As a landlord, how much would you expect to credit your tenant if the oven and stove stopped working and you couldn't replace it for 40 days? The tenant is a family of three and has to order out or dine out almost every meal other than what they can make in a microwave or toaster. Total rent is $3200 for a condo in Newport Coast, CA.   

[Joe Cassandra]

If tenant doesn't alert me of a problem...then it's on them. 

I'm very upfront and quick to repair items...

In return, I tell them.

1) I expect you to be able to take care of little things like clogged toilets...and don't call me if you see an ant. In return, I promise to answer bigger problems within 24 hours

2) I order them to tell me of any problems. Leaks etc. right away. 

In this case, if they didn't tell you about the busted appliances and instead went to purchase it themselves...

Which is weird...

I'm guessing they broke it. :)

Why would they not tell LL and go through headaches of not cooking food and buying appliances themselves. 

It's on them. 

You owe them a fast replacmeent, but no food compensation.

[Ryan Hodges]

To the landlord...   Step up your game.  You should have replaced that immediately.  Don't leave it up to your tenants to decide when and what to replace in your units.  Perception is everything and if your tenants perceive that you don't care about them or your home, neither will they. 

[David Vitarelli]

@Gary Wallace this whole scenario sounds wrong. First of all, I would never credit a tenant for a broken stove. In NJ land lot tenant allows for a “reasonable” amount of time for landlords to make repairs to essential items. These laws mainly pertain to AC in the summer, heat in the winter, running water, plumbing, etc. the correct course of action would to have been to call an appliance repair person on the same day as the complaint...the repair man probably would have been out to the house within 48 hours to diagnose. When I would have learned that a new stove/oven is needed, I would have stopped in at my local Home Depot and had a new on at the house the next day. This should have been a 4-5 day ordeal, $500 ordeal. There shouldn’t have been a month and a half of waiting and there DEFINITELY shouldn’t be ANY credit owed. This WILL set a precedent with the tenant for future maintenance issues that will certainly arise.

[Brian Lucier]

@Gary Wallace

Thank you again for this post. I took stock of what we have in storage this week because of this post.
Just in case of an emergency, we have on hand:

• 4 new dishwashers
• 3 new refrigerators
• 1 used but working electric stove

I think I am good to go for now.