Yesterday I told you about our washing machine/dryer leaking water and needing a repair. It’s one of those things that needs to be dealt with right away so I immediately got in touch with our unit owner Sunday night via e-mail and received a response yesterday.
Let’s call our unit owner Mr. Orange for the sake of argument.
Mr. Orange asked if we would mind calling for the repair, pay the costs upfront and (this is where the good stuff starts) he will cover everything after the first $100.
This goes back to last November when I found myself buying furnace filters, light bulbs and other things for the unit. It started to add up, especially when the lights were $15 a piece and I’m replacing them four at a time. I’m all about picking up the little costs here and there but I’m not the unit owner so where do we draw the line.
Here’s a portion of his e-mail from back in November . . .
“. . . Would it be agreeable to you, if in the future we could have a diminimus amount of $100. I would cover any expenses above this amount . . .”
First thing I did back then was look up diminimus and found out it’s latin for little things. Gotcha. I responded with the following:
“. . . What I meant to imply was over the course of the next two years how would you like to handle incidentals that are sure to pop up from time to time. It has been a while since we rented and neither (H) or I could recall how we dealt with various issues that came up from time to time.”
At the time I wasn’t quite sure the guy wanted me to pick up the first $100 of any expense so I wrote the above back to him hoping to elicit a response but nothing.
So now the washer/dryer is broken and he drops the $100 again, saying whatever the expense is we can deduct any amount after the first $100 from this month’s rent.
Let me get this right – my rent has a deductible?
I e-mailed back because I still had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming things and mentioned something along the lines of how I thought we would pick up small incidentals. Mr. Orange responded saying I was correct and the first $100 will be incidentals and everything else he would cover.
Is this a California thing? Does anyone else have this situation? I’m all for buying furnace filters and little things here and there for the place I rent and live in. However a piece of equipment that comes with the unit is broken and needs repair. Why am I being asked to kick in for part of the cost?
I have not yet responded to the unit owner and the repair person is coming out today between 10 am and 2 pm (I hate the four hour window – luckily we work down the street and they said the person would call 1/2 hour out). I’ve got to pay the entire bill upfront so it’s moot for the time being but will become an issue the second the repair person walks out the door.
So I ask you two things:
1. Is this normal?
2. Is this grounds for getting out of our lease agreement?
He’s the crazy one.
When an appliance breaks down in my apt, I do not have a deductible. Maybe he needs to re-look up the word “de minimus” in the dictionary.
You’re in the city of Los Angeles, right? Let me introduce you to your soon to be best friend, the Landlord Tenant Handbook: http://www.lacity.org/lahd/rsopubs.htm (link at the top).
He’s nuts, don’t pay for it.
See that is why a good rental agreement comes into play detailing and explaining such responsibilities and obligations.
So everything is clear and direct.
And yes as Hilary mentioned above the Landlord Tenant Handbook is a good resource.
By the way did you guys sign a rental agreement, such things should of been in there.
The one responsible for the repair of the washer/dryer- if the unit was furnished with such an appliance is the owner/landlord.
But on the other hand if you brought in your own washer/dryer into the unit then its your obligation.
There is no deductibles either lol
If your landlord lives in LA and is nearby he should drop by in person to assess the situation and over see the repairs, it is in his best interests really.
-”Its amazing what you get if you quietly, clearly and authoritatively demand it”-…Meryl Streep.
My lease explicity says I pay for ALL appliance repairs- I didn’t catch that first time I signed- but 2nd time I brought it up and was told “well, you signed it before”.
I spoke with a couple of friends who rent their properties to tenants and they said that basically their lease is same- the tenant is basically being left with an appliance (refridgerators are easy to understand since many rentals in LA do not come with a refridgerator) to use- you are not paying rent for it, but for the property. But you must leave the unit in condition you found it, so if refridgerator breaks down, you need to fix/replace it or it will come out of deposit.
It sucks- now being a renter is just about like owning the place… whatever happened to normal wear-and-tear?
That sucks, Skidrowdude. I see it differently from your landlord….I’m paying rent for a unit with working appliances. I assume that’s part of my monthly rent.
If it breaks down (assuming no negligence on my part), that’s not my fault. I didn’t chose that particular appliance, brand, model, etc. so it shouldn’t be my responsibility for its repairs if it breaks down.
I read somewhere (maybe the Tenants’ Handbook?) that you can deduct the cost of appliance repairs from your monthly rent payment.
That’s the problem with renting from a private individual rather than a professionally managed building. I can’t deal with that.
Hi everyone . . .
Hilary – Thanks for the link! I read through it this afternoon and I didn’t see anything pertaining to items in the unit and so forth. I know those words exactly won’t be in there but you know what I mean
Love&Hate – Going to crack out our rental agreement tonight and give it a once over to see if it says anything about this. I doubt it does – I think our guy thinks anything up to $100 is an ‘incidental/not a big deal’.
SkidRow – Wow, I sure as hell hope our rental agreement doesn’t say that. It shouldn’t be your fault if the fridge breaks or whatever, unless you do something to damage it on purpose. Yikes!
Lola – I should have know when he used the word ‘di minimus’ that we were in trouble.
Rich – If you can remember where you read that let me know. Haven’t come across anything yet.
All – As a follow-up: tech came out today and it’s 2 days to get the part, and then they still have to come back for the repair. This could take a while and I am not sure I have enough socks or underwear. We’re also looking at a $300 repair total.
Call the LA Housing Dept then…the number should be at the back of the handbook and they will tell you the rules.
And be careful about doing the “repair and deduct” thing that Rich mentioned. My neighbor once tried it and got screwed. It’s only applicable if whatever is broken makes your home inhabitable, and even then you have to prove that you tried to get your landlord to repair it first.
Hilary is correct..that is used as a last resort in case you cannot come to a resolution with your landlord and thats usually when the conditions become “inhabitable”.
Thinking about your particular situation, I think you rented/leased the unit WITH APPLIANCES if im correct, right?
If so then it is the landlords obligation and responsibility- not yours, period!
And do your laundry the old fashion way temporarily…in the bathroom sink..cold water and wool-lite for your delicates