# LA apartments don't come with Fridges. Oh my aching back. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 25, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856 "2017-06-25T19:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/21 "2017-06-26T14:32:24Z")
Wow! That’s a LOT of fridges getting shifted around a huge city. I agree it’s a little odd. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/22 "2017-06-26T14:32:28Z")
Why? Why is a fridge different than, say, a television? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/23 "2017-06-26T16:08:49Z")
You would be even more shocked in a German apartment. Often the kitchen is a bare room - no appliances or cabinets. The same can apply to light fixtures and even bath fixtures. Unless you pay a higher rent or purchase the kitchen from the previous renter, you might rent bare walls with pipes and wires sticking out. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/24 "2017-06-26T17:33:13Z")
Perhaps unsurprisingly, refrigerator maintenance is a PITA for many landlords. My wife and I have only a single rental property, but refrigerator issues are a regular complaint. The water filter needs to be changed, the ice-maker isn’t filling the ice container, the water dispenser is leaking, it doesn’t get cold enough, the freezer is supposed to be frost-free but there’s ice build-up, the shelf broke when I tried to get a huge watermelon in there, etc. I’m not saying that these are legitimate complaints, but we do get them and have to respond to each one. In comparison, water heater and air conditioning issues are much less of a recurring problem. Expensive to fix, but only occur every few years. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/25 "2017-06-26T17:55:31Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > I didn’t think it was legally required in most jurisdictions to provide appliances like refrigerators, but in the four states I’ve lived in it seems to be the standard practice. According to the good people at RentPrep, it’s a good idea (to stay competitive) but generally not a requirement: > [@](#): > > Must Landlords Provide Appliances? > > There is no law requiring landlords to provide appliances in a rental unit, and most states don’t consider an absence of appliances to violate the habitability requirements that landlords must meet. In other words, a rental property must have working electrical, heat and plumbing systems, but there doesn’t necessarily have to be any appliances hooked up to those systems. As **JRDelirious** notes, who would guess that a Cracked article plays fast and loose with the facts, eh? For entertainment purposes only, kids. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/26 "2017-06-26T18:11:46Z")
Most of my moves have been in the US, so I would find it weird if a rental or house for sale didn’t come with a fridge. Even our current house had a fridge when we bought it, and if any house was going to skip that this was the one. The sellers were renovating for the sale and replaced all the appliances. They even asked us which fridge we preferred before installing it. But they did install it. Maybe kitchens in non-US markets tend to be different but many if not most of the houses I’ve lived in have had cabinets such that only a specific sized fridge would be appropriate. It isn’t like a piece of furniture that you just dump along a long wall. If I had to lug around my own fridge from house to house half the time I’d need to replace it anyway because what fits in the old house isn’t appropriate for the new. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/27 "2017-06-26T19:45:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Why? Why is a fridge different than, say, a television? I suspect that our fridges may generally be larger than those of other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/28 "2017-06-26T22:37:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I suspect that our fridges may generally be larger than those of other countries. I think it’s that your pickup trucks are larger. Most people in other first-world countries wouldn’t dream of moving without hiring movers, because there simply isn’t any physical way for them to do it even if they wanted to. Ever tried putting a sofa in a hatchback? And if you’re already hiring professionals, there’s no reason not to have them schlep your fridge, too. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/29 "2017-06-26T23:59:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > They’re not standard in Israel, either. Here, an unfurnished apartment is an unfurnished apartment - floors, walls, ceilings; sinks, toilets, showers; cabinets, if the previous resident didn’t fell like taking them. The only electrical devices the landlord is responsible for are the air conditioning and the water heater. Heh. In NYC, fridges and water heaters are mandated, but air conditioning is completely optional and tenants bring air conditioners from apartment to apartment. Some apartments don’t even have circuits capable of handling the load for an air conditioner. Regional differences are fascinating! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/30 "2017-06-27T00:51:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Most people in other first-world countries wouldn’t dream of moving without hiring movers, because there simply isn’t any physical way for them to do it even if they wanted to. Ever tried putting a sofa in a hatchback? And if you’re already hiring professionals, there’s no reason not to have them schlep your fridge, too. Most people here just rent a truck if they’re not hiring movers. Last time I moved, it was a packed U-Haul truck I rented for the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/31 "2017-06-27T05:48:48Z")
Aus here, when you move your fridge goes with you to the new house/apartment UNLESS you are renting a ‘furnished apartment’ which will also include lounges, dining and bedroom furniture etc. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/32 "2017-06-27T06:04:39Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > This is BS. I’ve had a few apts in Lis Angeles and all have come with refrigerators. Yeah–now that I re-read the article I agree this is obviously BS, because it implies that a tenant leaving an apartment is obligated to take the refrigerator upon moving out. I have never seen anything in any lease–mine or that of anyone else–to indicate that. And, no, you don’t see people moving refrigerators all over L.A. But this kind of sensational tendency in reporting is typical of _Cracked_, so it’s not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/33 "2017-06-27T08:13:26Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Most people here just rent a truck if they’re not hiring movers. Last time I moved, it was a packed U-Haul truck I rented for the weekend. Last time I moved, a year ago, it was in the same building - the same apartment, in fact, one flight of stairs up. And while most of my apartment’s contents, I carried up myself (mainly because I didn’t feel like packing), I hired a bunch of burly kids to manhandle the heavy stuff, like the sofa, oven, bed, washing machine and fridge. Could I have gotten a bunch of friends together and moved that stuff ourselves? Maybe. The thing is, me and my friends are all in our early forties, some of us have bad backs, some of us have trick knees, and none of us have any experience in moving refrigerators. We might, with hours of excruciating effort, have been able to move the stuff ourselves; we might also have killed ourselves in the process. A man’s gotta know his limitations. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856/34 "2017-06-27T20:45:19Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Most people here just rent a truck if they’re not hiring movers. Last time I moved, it was a packed U-Haul truck I rented for the weekend. Or find a bunch of friends with pickups and/or have your own pickup. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-apartments-dont-come-with-fridges-oh-my-aching-back/789856.md?page=1)