# Roommate Left Oven On Overnight, Now Oven is Broken-- Who Pays? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346 "2012-11-28T03:55:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/21 "2012-11-28T17:31:34Z")
Have the landlord fix it. That’s why you’re paying rent. People who choose not to be homeowners are always talking about how if something breaks, they make a call to the landlord and it’s fixed. StG ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/22 "2012-11-28T17:39:00Z")
Have you been in a kitchen where a full Thanksgiving is being cooked? It’s not uncommon for the oven to be on all day as the turkey, casseroles, and pies are being baked. An oven being left on overnight should be fine. It sounds like the element was ending the end of its life and just happened to go out at that time. Just be glad it didn’t catch fire overnight. It would be like if X left the TV or ceiling fan on overnight and it broke. You wouldn’t expect X to pay for the repair in that case. The oven is the same type of situation. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/23 "2012-11-28T18:48:06Z")
Another vote for “this is your landlord’s problem” If you have an asshole landlord, call a renter’s legal aid and find out if you can legally withhold rent until it is fixed or what your recourse is. Working appliances are part of the expectation of your lease. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/24 "2012-11-28T19:16:17Z")
> [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](#): > > One of our housemates, X, l What the hell kinda name is “X”? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/25 "2012-11-28T19:43:34Z")
> [@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. I agree that the landlord should be notified and that they have the choice of how to make the fix. Offering to replace it and use the receipt for the part as part of your rent wouldn’t be outrageous, though. Most elements are designed to be replaced easily. Some even pop in and out. But leave it as the landlord’s call. Landlords can get twitchy if they’ve had a few idiot tenants. Some people can’t be trusted to change light bulbs correctly. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/26 "2012-11-28T20:12:46Z")
“I need to go to the Apartment Depot, which is just a big warehouse with a whole lot of people standing around saying, ‘We don’t have to fix shit.’” - Mitch Hedberg ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/27 "2012-11-28T21:40:57Z")
I have a related question along these same lines: My wife has two orthodox Jewish sisters who wanted to have a meal at our house. Cooking with new cookware, and serving on disposable paper plates with plastic cookware seems to satisfy the requirements for cooking otherwise kosher food. The problem was with our oven that has been used for non-kosher cooking. They asked us to put the oven through two self clean cycles, and that would effectively make it “new”, and acceptable for cooking kosher foods. We obliged, or at least tried to. The oven is 20+ years old, and when we put it into its second self clean cycle, it started to flip out. The digital panel started blinking and it made a loud buzzing noise. There was also no way to end the self clean cycle to the point that I had to kill the power to it on the fuse box. As such, we never did successfully make the over kosher, but more importantly, now our oven doesn’t work right. Now it always buzzes loudly when it’s left on for any length of time longer than 15 minutes, and my wife is fearful it will die because of this double self-clean cycle. I will be getting a repair guy out soon to look at it and see what damage was done, and if the buzzing can be fixed. The question is: should we ask the sisters to pay for any part of this repair? I assume not since we agreed to do it, although if I had known there was any risk in this happening, I certainly wouldn’t have undertaken this exercise. I’m not even sure what the logic was as to why this self cleaning was supposed to be done twice. Is that a real orthodox rule or one they made up to accommodate us? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/28 "2012-11-28T21:55:24Z")
Society should pay! ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/29 "2012-11-28T22:09:07Z")
Likely the high heat fried something in the control panel. Running the cleaning cycle is a normal function for an oven, so I don’t think you should ask them to pay. Hopefully they will volunteer to help out. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/30 "2012-11-28T22:13:39Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > I have a related question along these same lines: > > My wife has two orthodox Jewish sisters who wanted to have a meal at our house. Cooking with new cookware, and serving on disposable paper plates with plastic cookware seems to satisfy the requirements for cooking otherwise kosher food. The problem was with our oven that has been used for non-kosher cooking. They asked us to put the oven through two self clean cycles, and that would effectively make it “new”, and acceptable for cooking kosher foods. > > We obliged, or at least tried to. The oven is 20+ years old, and when we put it into its second self clean cycle, it started to flip out. The digital panel started blinking and it made a loud buzzing noise. There was also no way to end the self clean cycle to the point that I had to kill the power to it on the fuse box. As such, we never did successfully make the over kosher, but more importantly, now our oven doesn’t work right. Now it always buzzes loudly when it’s left on for any length of time longer than 15 minutes, and my wife is fearful it will die because of this double self-clean cycle. I will be getting a repair guy out soon to look at it and see what damage was done, and if the buzzing can be fixed. > > The question is: should we ask the sisters to pay for any part of this repair? I assume not since we agreed to do it, although if I had known there was any risk in this happening, I certainly wouldn’t have undertaken this exercise. I’m not even sure what the logic was as to why this self cleaning was supposed to be done twice. Is that a real orthodox rule or one they made up to accommodate us? No way the sisters should pay. That’s like asking someone to pay for your car repairs when it breaks down on the way to pick them up at the airport. AS for whether it is a real orthodox rule the answer is likely yes and no. There is no _de facto_ rule for this. Different rabbis would probably have different interpretations. But being kosher is a guide, it isn’t a sin. The key is that it was satisfactory for the sisters. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/31 "2012-11-28T22:20:17Z")
> [@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. Totally agree. The landlord fixes it. There is no one to blame. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346/32 "2012-11-28T22:42:51Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > I have a related question along these same lines: > > My wife has two orthodox Jewish sisters who wanted to have a meal at our house. Cooking with new cookware, and serving on disposable paper plates with plastic cookware seems to satisfy the requirements for cooking otherwise kosher food. The problem was with our oven that has been used for non-kosher cooking. They asked us to put the oven through two self clean cycles, and that would effectively make it “new”, and acceptable for cooking kosher foods. > > We obliged, or at least tried to. The oven is 20+ years old, and when we put it into its second self clean cycle, it started to flip out. The digital panel started blinking and it made a loud buzzing noise. There was also no way to end the self clean cycle to the point that I had to kill the power to it on the fuse box. As such, we never did successfully make the over kosher, but more importantly, now our oven doesn’t work right. Now it always buzzes loudly when it’s left on for any length of time longer than 15 minutes, and my wife is fearful it will die because of this double self-clean cycle. I will be getting a repair guy out soon to look at it and see what damage was done, and if the buzzing can be fixed. > > The question is: should we ask the sisters to pay for any part of this repair? I assume not since we agreed to do it, although if I had known there was any risk in this happening, I certainly wouldn’t have undertaken this exercise. I’m not even sure what the logic was as to why this self cleaning was supposed to be done twice. Is that a real orthodox rule or one they made up to accommodate us? \ you must sacrifice your first born son. ETA: or say 12 Hail Marys. I’m losing something in translation, and there’s the OT/NT thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roommate-left-oven-on-overnight-now-oven-is-broken-who-pays/642346.md?page=1)