Renter rights

[eddly]

Just moved to Calgary with my wife and three children. Moved into a rental house on Sept 1. On Sept 9 the fridge died, the owner called in someone to look at it and it was determined that it was in fact dead. The owner bought a new fridge (on Sept 10) and it will be delivered on Sept 13.

As a renter do I have any rights here in regards to food? I have estimated at least $100 in food spoilage. Also, we have had to eat out for lunch and dinner... we usually try to be very tight with our money as we are saving to buy a house. I'm not sure how my wife has managed to prepare lunch for my two children in school (grade 3 and 4).

Anyone have experience with something like this?

[KeepCalmCarryOn]

Not sure you're entitled to anything... A Fridge dying is normal course and is likely going to fall under normal maintenance items.

[normtwofinger]

At least your landlord purchased a new fridge within 24 hours. He/She cannot be responsible for the appliance company taking 3 days to deliver.

[GreenLantern2814]

Stop being so cheap... Your landlord acted as swiftly as possible to resolve the situation, it's not his fault you didn't go get a cooler and ten bucks worth of ice to keep what is frankly a small amount of food for five people.

I understand that you wanna save money where possible, but getting other people to pay for things that result from completely unforeseeable and unexpected circumstances is a fairly crappy way to do it. Be a man, you'll be fine.

[Robotic]

Some home renters insurance covers food in the event of the fridge itself breaking, power outages, etc...

[onetwo_threefour]

Could be worse, I'm in a temporary rental for six months while my new house is being built, the fridge started crapping out three weeks into the tenancy, took the landlord a week and a half to get a guy out, who recommended replacement, which the landlord said he would do, and it's now almost two months later. Food on the top two shelves doesn't, get cold and spoils quickly, food on the bottom shelf freezes, and the freezer seems to work relatively okay, as long as the temperature control is maxed...

Haven't demanded a rent abatement yet, but I'm pretty damn close. I'm pretty apathetic about it as I'll be moving in a couple of months, but that would be my recourse if I felt like making an issue of it.

[Flamenspiel]

He got you a new fridge in three days and you are complaining. Give me a break, as an example, if our fridge went out today in my home that I own, I don't think i could get a replacement faster then that.

His actions are very reasonable and within the context of most leases, on top of that most leases will have a "waiver and indemnity" which would cover your loss of food. Typically it reads like this:

"...The Landlord shall not be responsible for any loss of the Tenant’s property in the
premises or stored in the building...."

[jayswin]

Sounds like you have a very good landlord, who took care of the situation as fast as he could. Trust me, there's a lot of crappy landlods that would put you through the ringer in the same situation.


You can try and get something out of him, but to me, this is one of those "s*** happens" situations, where you just accept that you took a bit of a financial hit and move on.