I have been living at my current residence for two years now, and never had any problems, but now they handle all my microwave is broken and my landlord refuses to fix it. Whose responsibility is it to fix an appliance in an apartment that you are renting and the appliance and use of the appliance is part of the lease? Landlord says I broke it, so I should pay for it. I believe that this is normal wear and tear and that simply open the door to a microwave should never have broken, and I never mistreated the microwave. What are my legal rights in the situation?
ANSWER:
In this situation, the microwave, which is the appliance in question, is the responsibility of the landlord. When you rent an apartment or home, which is furnished with appliances, the appliances are the sole responsibility of the landlord. With that being said, if there is obvious damage that is not within the normal use of the appliance, the damage will be the responsibility of the tenant. An example of which is if a baseball bat went through the door of your microwave, this is obviously not normal use and wear and tear of this item, and therefore the tenant would responsible to fix this appliance. But if the damage occurred within the normal use of the appliance, is the sole responsibility of the landlord to repair the appliance. This is something you have to go to your local housing court or Board of Health office in the town or city you live in.
Joseph F. Botelho, Esq.
BOTELHO LAW GROUP
Attorneys At Law
901 Eastern Ave.
Unit 2
Fall River, MA 02723
Office: 888-269-0688
Email: jbotelho@botelholawgroup.com
https://www.botelholawgroup.com/
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