Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Minnesota

Appliance Replacement

I have a washer/dryer combo in my unit which broke down. After waiting 4 days for a replacement the one they brought in was old, dirty (I had to scrub for 2 hours to get it clean) the washer doesn't work on 2 of the 3 cycles and the dryer doesn't heat and stops after 15 minutes of drying. I need to constantly go in and push the button again to get it to start. My landlord tells me that he doesn't have to replace it even though the unit came with and was advertised as having a washer and dryer in it. Is this something he has to replace or am I just out of luck?


Asked on 12/25/08, 6:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sam Calvert Calvert Law Office

Re: Appliance Replacement

Your response probably depends on how much grief you want to undergo.

If the landlord advertised the apartment as such, my thought is that he would have to provide one that works. You might call an appliance repairman and get an estimate to repair, and tell the landlord you intend to deduct the repair cost from the rent.

I would give the landlord notice and a copy of the estimate long before I did this, as the landlord may well get huffy about it.

The technically correct solution is to commence a rent escrow action in court, but the cost of that is probably more than the cost of repair.

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Answered on 12/27/08, 10:35 am


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