Fridge broke; food spoiled; what should landlord pay?

Thanks. He's Italian and I've lived here 11 years - we discuss things in terms of fairness not in terms of what he legally owes me so that helps.

Thanks mod.

whynot_31 wrote: I don't know the guy.

If he's a good guy, he'll offer to pay something after you tell him how much you spent on the food, and how it sucks that the thing broke and spoiled your food...

I agree, he should have fixed an obviously limping fridge before it died.

...but putting $200 of food into a fridge that was dying wasn't the best idea on your part. (be honest, it wasn't...) He could take the point of view that "why'd she do that! She knew it was dying".

...and you'd risk having him end up thinking that you are a whiny bitch. (note: I am not asserting same. I am asserting that he may assert same ...a fine difference)

So, because
1. I don't know his propensity to be a jerk (hopefully not, the world has enough of them)
2. I don't know whether you are in fact a whiny bitch (hopefully not, the world has enough of them)

I would pursue the "show him the food that spoiled. Tell him you spent about xx amount on it. Then see if he offers to take it off the rent." technique.

I'd be ok if he split the difference with me: $100.

No one won ...he loses $100 in cash and has to replace a dead a fridge. You lose $100 in food.

Let us know how it goes.

Look the fridge has been limping along - I could have just spent $20 on food every couple of days but it's hard to cook (or eat) when you have no groceries.

He's not a jerk but he's Italian and can get feisty and argumentative sometimes if he gets his back up (he can also be a softy). I'm not a whiny bitch. ;-)

That is super-creepy about the fridge ad!!

It's like those ads that beam to your cellphone when you walk by or near a certain Manhattan location inviting you to save $10 at the restaurant a block away.

Toadette wrote: [quote=whynot_31]P.S. That google knows puts fridge ads on right as a result of this conversation is too crepy.

A couple of months ago my gmail was showing me ads for digeridoos all the time. It took me forever to figure out what the association was: at the time I was sending lots of gmail chats to a friend about being sleepy - apparently digeridoo playing has some sort of positive effect on sleep apnea. Who knew?

So did you buy a digeridoo and will you be performing in the nabe anytime soon?

Thanks Flo and Landlord.

Update: I tried to have a conversation with my landlord this morning and he freaked out and started yelling at me and kept cutting me off when I tried to talk. The conversation got very heated and I finally told him I was going to talk to his wife. She was very nice and told me that when he is upset about something else he yells at the people around him, including her and that today he is upset about something. When I told her that he knew the fridge was dying and that he said, "I will replace it when it dies completely," she immediately said, "He should have replaced it right then." I gently mentioned the food issue but she didn't comment on it and I don't think she's on board with that.

I may or may not push the food issue but:

- I have lived in the apartment for 11 years and have only requested one thing in that time - that he paint 1 room whose paint was peeling off in sheets (and he bitched and moaned about it for weeks but finally did paint it - complaining, "You're lucky. You're the only tenant I've done this for.") I have 4 rooms and he has only painted that 1 room (under protest) in 11 years. He also has not replaced the rugs in that time. I know by law they are supposed to paint every 3 years and replace the rugs every so many years, as well.

- The ceiling in the bathroom occasionally leaks. He nailed a board up on the ceiling to "contain" the leak rather than fix the ceiling. I haven't said a word but I imagine that that area is ripe for mold growth which, obviously, is dangerous, healthwise.

- 2 of us have slipped on the stoop which is in need of repair.

- I am going to have a conversation with both of them when everyone's calm about making some repairs and improvements (rugs/paint/fixing the bathroom ceiling). I have been reticent about doing so because I have a large, rent-stabilized apartment. However, I think I've hit the end of my rope.

Sorry, venting...

whynot_31 wrote: good luck.... ah, the unpredictable jerk of a landlord I was afraid of.

P.S. Stick with talking to his wife.

Good advice. Thanks for reading.

Thanks, Flo, for the follow-up.


For everyone's entertainment, here's the next running installment of "How the Italian Landlords Turn":

My landlord's wife and I talked tonight and she told me how good her husband is to me. She said:

-He lets you have space in the basement;
-He brings up your suitcase from the basement when you go on trips (I said that's because the basement door is locked and Frank is the only one with the key);
- He didn't have to paint the 1 room he painted. I told her that the paint was coming off in sheets and that he did have to paint it by law and she scoffed, "By law? There's no law that says we have to paint your apartment. And who can do everything required by law?"
She then told me that Frank has worked hard all his life and is old now and can't paint anymore. She said, incredulously, "What is he going to do, pay someone to paint your apartment?? He's not going to do that." I said nothing just thinking of my large, rent-stabilized place and how I would like to keep it.
- I also told her that Frank had "fixed" the bathroom ceiling leak by nailing a board over the leak and that there is probably mold growing there which is probably not good for my health. She got stone-faced said she had never been in my bathroom and she didn't know anything about it.
- I didn't think she would appreciate if I brought up the lack of heat (they turn off the heat at 10:30p and turn it back on at 6:30am) as that tends to be a sore subject with my landlords so I kept mum on that.

Anyway, she said that Frank told her to give me $100 for food replacement and she grandly took the cash out of her pocket and set it on her kitchen table between us. I thanked her for the offer, said that I appreciated the fact that she offered it and said she could keep the money. She didn't understand that. One, I did appreciate the offer and, two, I know they will throw it in my face for the rest of my days here that they "gave" me $100.

At the end, she said, "If you have any more problems, talk to me. Everyone in this building is family, hon" and she hugged me.

Moving forward, I am going to have to keep my mouth shut and/or hire someone to paint/make repairs (and they will freak out) and rationalize it because I pay cheap rent.