UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am letting a property out through an agency, who notified me that the washing machine was broken. This was prompty replaced. At the time, the agency offered to fix it 'like for like' at around £500, not inclusive of their extra management fee. I thought I could save some money by replacing it myself, and bought the property a good quality washing machine. However, I was notified later on by the agency that the broken machine was a washer dryer and the tenants would require a dryer as well. So now I am a bit stuck! I was not aware that the initial machine was a washer dryer (which is probably my own fault, but it came originally when I purchased the property and I've not used it myself).

Would very much appreciate any advice! Please & thank you!

I think that strictly speaking you do not have to repair or replace certain appliances.I always do though.I suppose you could offer to pay something towards the cost of a dryer,but it would belong to the tenant.Will there be room for a separate dryer? 

It makes sense that you would replace like-for-like. You'd not be happy to have something taken from you, and have no choice in the matter, and receive nothing in compensation. You wouldn't take it lying down. I wouldn't.

I'm not saying the view on whether you're obligated to or not stands... a Landlord's Repairing Obligations are quite clearly defined and limited... what I'm saying is that you can't reasonably / morally expect to get away with replacing a washer-dryer with a washer... unless the Tenant says "nah, that's OK, I never used the dryer anyway". You've obviously tried to do it on the cheap, nothing wrong with that at all, and it's back-fired a little bit, this time. It doesn't mean you change your way of working... just that you're going to assume less in the future.

For me, with things like washer-dryers (or washers, or dishwashers) I go the John Lewis or AO route... full takeaway and install service... it gives a peace of mind to it all. And the Tenant knows you care (about your property). I can recommend either John Lewis or AO for the full install service, and I found it all to be quite reasonable, really.

Thanks for the replies & recommendations! I think there was a bit of miscommunication between the agency and ourselves, as we were initially told it was just a washing machine that was broken, hence the replacement with another. I understand where you are coming from, but we've decided to try talk to the tenants about it for a middle ground - lession learned I guess!