Roommate Left Oven On Overnight, Now Oven is Broken-- Who Pays?

[F.Pu-du-he-pa-as]

One of our housemates, X, left the oven on overnight. Oft wears hats and I found it and turned it off the following morning.

The next time we went to use the oven, the lower heating element caught on fire. When we had the chance to look at it, the lower heating element was melted and corroded, and needs to be replaced.

Obviously, there’s no way of knowing for certain whether leaving the oven on overnight is what caused the heating element to break. After all, these things are designed to produce heat for long periods of time. At the same time, it is awfully suspicious timing.

Oft wears hats and I researched what it would take to replace the heating element, and it looks like it’s just going to be a $30 part and some labor he and I can easily do ourselves.

What do you think would be a fair way to handle the cost?

Oft wears hats proposed splitting the cost of the heating element evenly among the housemates. X doesn’t want to pay their share. We considered paying their share because it’s not worth the hassle, but we don’t want to open the door to picking up more of their slack. Also, since X was the one who left the oven on overnight, it seems especially unfair for them to refuse to pay their share.

Another possibility would be to ask the landlord to pay for it. But, I feel in that case, it would be necessary to tell the landlord that the oven had been left on overnight immediately prior, and who did it. Obviously, this could engender bad feelings with X, which we would rather avoid if possible. Oft also doesn’t believe that the landlord should pay for it, given that the oven being left on overnight may have hastened the heating element’s demise.

We don’t really know what’s the best way to resolve this issue, and welcome your input.

[Alice_The_Goon]

Offering to split it 3 ways is more than fair on your part. X is being a douche for refusing to pay his share. I’d give him one more chance to pay up and tell him that if he doesn’t, you’ll tell the landlord what happened and ask him (the landlord) to fix it. And follow through if he refuses again.

[spoon_river]

@Alice_The_Goon

Offering to split it 3 ways is more than fair on your part. X is being a douche for refusing to pay his share. I’d give him one more chance to pay up and tell him that if he doesn’t, you’ll tell the landlord what happened and ask him (the landlord) to fix it. And follow through if he refuses again.

Nice response. Why in the hell would you want to avoid stirring it up with your retarded roommate X_____? Yeah, it can happen an oven gets left on, and no, it shouldn’t break the oven, but he’s a piece of garbage for not putting in his fuck like everybody else.

Just don’t think of him as a human being, if it makes it easier. Think of him as a fat roundworm and do everything in your power to make his life miserable in every way if he doesn’t pay his share.

Hey, beats Monday Night Football – hobbies can be fun.

[CanvasShoes]

Why do you have to tell the landlord who broke it? You can’t just say “hey, the oven won’t work, please fix it”? I don’t understand why having an oven on would break the element, they’re not that dang delicate. Many times (in my destitute past) I’ve had to warm a house that way (usually with an old old stove/oven). It sounds as if the element was already old and almost ready to go anyway. I’d try simply asking the landlord first, a direct, no explanation other than “this is broken, please fix it” isn’t that their job?

[Shagnasty]

The landlord should pay for it. It is his oven and it only $30 in parts. It shouldn’t take much labor to replace it. I could do it in 10 minutes. Ovens are supposed to be built to be left on for a long time at high temperature. Hint: That is why they are called ovens. If it has a self-cleaning function like most of them do, you actually supposed to do that a very high temps overnight from time to time to clean it.

I would rule it as an accident on an already depreciated and faulty part. No one person caused that so it is malicious to blame it on the straw that broke the camel’s back. You can split the cost evenly or just deduct it from your rent.

[Alice_The_Goon]

@CanvasShoes

Why do you have to tell the landlord who broke it? You can’t just say “hey, the oven won’t work, please fix it”? I don’t understand why having an oven on would break the element, they’re not that dang delicate. Many times (in my destitute past) I’ve had to warm a house that way (usually with an old old stove/oven). It sounds as if the element was already old and almost ready to go anyway. I’d try simply asking the landlord first, a direct, no explanation other than “this is broken, please fix it” isn’t that their job?

Oh yeah, this is true. I’m so used to having asshole landlords, I’m always thinking of how I can fix something myself or just pay for it myself. I forget that some people have normal, sane, law-abiding landlords. I change my response to this.

[CanvasShoes]

@Alice_The_Goon

Oh yeah, this is true. I’m so used to having asshole landlords, I’m always thinking of how I can fix something myself or just pay for it myself. I forget that some people have normal, sane, law-abiding landlords. I change my response to this.

Yikes, I’m sorry! Yeah, the times I’ve had landlords, it’s been at a “chain” type apartment complexes where they pretty much have to. How do non-law-abiding landlords manage to get away with it?

[SeaDragonTattoo]

As a renter, I would never consider fixing an appliance myself. Nor would I try to affix blame on someone for breaking an appliance. I just call the landlord and tell them what’s wrong and it’s up to them how to fix or replace it. I am renting these appliances, they are not mine to fix.

[oft_wears_hats]

@Shagnasty

The landlord should pay for it. It is his oven and it only $30 in parts. It shouldn’t take much labor to replace it. I could do it in 10 minutes. Ovens are supposed to be built to be left on for a long time at high temperature. Hint: That is why they are called ovens. If it has a self-cleaning function like most of them do, you actually supposed to do that a very high temps overnight from time to time to clean it.

I would rule it as an accident on an already depreciated and faulty part. No one person caused that so it is malicious to blame it on the straw that broke the camel’s back. You can split the cost evenly or just deduct it from your rent.

This is kind of what I’m feeling now. At first, I didn’t want to push it on the landlord if there was a chance that the damage was caused by negligence. But I agree that it’s unlikely that the burner was hale and hearty right up until it was left on overnight last week. The landlord will probably be happy that I’m handling the procurement and installation myself instead of having him call a handyman.

[pulykamell]

@SeaDragonTattoo

As a renter, I would never consider fixing an appliance myself. Nor would I try to affix blame on someone for breaking an appliance. I just call the landlord and tell them what’s wrong and it’s up to them how to fix or replace it. I am renting these appliances, they are not mine to fix.

And as a landlord, I’m not exactly comfortable with our tenants fixing appliances themselves. What if they fuck it up and burn the place down? I know it’s a longshot, but I’d rather the tenant tell us so we could get it properly fixed.

[CanvasShoes]

@pulykamell

And as a landlord, I’m not exactly comfortable with our tenants fixing appliances themselves. What if they fuck it up and burn the place down? I know it’s a longshot, but I’d rather the tenant tell us so we could get it properly fixed.

Good point. Generally when something’s gone wrong in my condo, I pay to have it fixed unless it’s something really simple. My current tenant hasn’t had anything go wrong (knock on wood), but my previous tenant fixed various little things and took it out of the rent, plus I always told them to take a little bit extra for their troubles (20 to 50 depending on the item).

[Grrr]

Leaving the oven on all night has exactly nothing to do with why the oven broke.

That shouldn’t even be in the thought process as to who pays for what.
Actually, I don’t even know why you guys are debating this. Your landllord should fix this with out question.

[engineer_comp_geek]

Leaving the oven on for an extended period of time wouldn’t by itself cause the heating element to break. Now if the heating element was already old and corroded, then leaving it on could have caused it to finally die, but the point is that the heating element was already damaged and would have probably died sooner or later anyway. In this case, leaving the oven on just made it sooner instead of later.

The point is, the heating element was old and worn out, and died. Even though X probably put the final nail in the coffin, X wasn’t to blame for years of corrosion and age. X shouldn’t be responsible for the replacement of the heating element. It’s just something that died.

In most places, the landlord is responsible for maintenance of the appliances, so this is a no-brainer. Call the landlord. If they don’t bother to fix it, threaten to withhold rent until they do. It should be their responsibility.

On the other hand, in some places it is common for folks to rent the apartment but provide their own appliances, and take care of any maintenance on those appliances as well. If for some reason you are in one of these situations, then the maintenance of the appliance (in this case, fixing the broken heating element) should be split in the same proportions as the any other maintenance item. If X would normally pay his share for the maintenance, then he pays the same share for this, no more, no less.

Since the OP’s case seems to be that the landlord is responsible for the maintenance, don’t hesitate to take this one directly to the landlord. X leaving the oven on probably did cause the failure, but X didn’t cause the years of age and corrosion that made that failure possible. The heating element was already damaged. X just finished it off. This one falls under normal wear and tear, IMHO.

[spoon_river]

@engineer_comp_geek

In most places, the landlord is responsible for maintenance of the appliances, so this is a no-brainer. Call the landlord. If they don’t bother to fix it, threaten to withhold rent until they do. It should be their responsibility.

Great points. I don’t know if I’d go further than just threatening to withhold rent, though – if it comes to small claims court, it’s a big hassle and the landlord might prevail anyway. At the very least I wouldn’t plan on getting too much cozier in your place if you go that route – zey have ways of making things unpleasant for you, some legal and some not, depending on where you live.

I was hysterical last week when my garbage disposal in my rental unit died – I was flipping circuit breakers, trying the reset button, everything like mad. Finally I just concluded that there was no magic system of rehabilitating a 35-year old disposal with a few tricks, and gave up. I have a nice landlord – a friend, really – and she’ll replace it whenever I say go. Preferably later than sooner – it’s a hassle trying to tidy up my place during a busy time of the year for me – but, yeah. Not my problem.

[MrDibble]

Chiming in to agree that leaving the oven on overnight probably didn’t cause the break - hell, leaving it on overnight is how you make the yummiest lamb

[Cinnamon_Imp]

This OP would have been a lot easier to read if it had been indicated that Oft wears hats was the name of a third individual, and not just a really random typo for some phrase.

[Gary_T]

@Cinnamon_Imp

This OP would have been a lot easier to read if it had been indicated that Oft wears hats was the name of a third individual, and not just a really random typo for some phrase.

The convention of bolding names works nicely for this. And I agree – I had to read the OP three times wondering what the hell was it trying to say before it came to me that Oft wears hats might be someone’s name.

[Mangetout]

@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as

When we had the chance to look at it, the lower heating element was melted and corroded, and needs to be replaced.

That’s what oven elements typically look like when they fail naturally - one part of the resistive heater breaks down, overheats, melts, breaks - often there’s an electrical arc across the break for a moment or two - and they end up looking melted and corroded.

At worst, I’d say your housemate hastened the natural failure of the element by approximately the amount of extra time it was left on - so it probably would have failed the next day regardless.

So I’d deal with it by whatever mechanism is appropriate for failure under everyday circumstances.

[Machine_Elf]

@Mangetout

At worst, I’d say your housemate hastened the natural failure of the element by approximately the amount of extra time it was left on - so it probably would have failed the next day regardless.

This. Leaving it on overnight was another 8 hours of normal operation on top of probably hundreds of hours of normal operation that it had already experienced.

Which doesn’t even matter at all anyway. If you’re renting, none of you should be paying anything to get this fixed. Tell the landlord the oven is broken (he doesn’t know who used it when, how often, or most recently), and you’d like him to fix it ASAP so you can stop eating out and start cooking at home again. Having your landlord take care of maintenance/repairs is an important part of what your rent money is supposed to cover.

[Kimballkid]

Nevermind.