I’ve been in an apartment in Taipei for four years without incident: however, the water heater recently became erratic and we called out an engineer. He says it needs replaced, and could be dangerous, containing dodgy fusing and plastic tubes.
The landlady insists that when we rented the apartment, we ‘agreed’ to deal with any problems ourselves. The cost of replacing the water heater, which heats the water for our shower and kitchen taps, would be 9,400NTD.
If we paid for this replacement ourselves, the landlady would get a brand new water heating system, for free, for their next tenants, whenever we move out.
This clearly isn’t morally right, but whether or not I have any way of legally coercing them into repairing or replacing the current water heater isn’t clear. I’m hoping someone here has advice.
take the new heater with yourself when you move out
OR
buy a small instant heater that you can easily take with you
OR
look for a new apartment.
Fortunately, in my experience, the owners ALWAYS replaced items (be it cooking oven, refrigerator, air-conditioner) when they stopped working. And they didn’t ask me for money ever.
In my experience, landlords tend to think of the water heater as a consumable item that the tenant will be responsible for. As has been said, it goes with you.
Buying the heater then taking it with us when we go and leaving the old on in its place is of course an option, but that also begs the question of where to put the old one - it’s not that big of an apartment - and what to do with the new one as and when we moved on. It’d still be a huge amount of hassle.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a small instant heater that plugs into the mains for showers and the kitchen hot water. Or is there such a thing and I don’t know about it?
I find it hard to believe a landlord here or anywhere else would be in the right to expect tenants to replace various necessities that are fixtures and can’t be easily moved. It leaves landlords open to fit the shoddiest of broken fixtures.
I’m still hoping someone has specific knowledge of any legal tenant’s rights that might exist in Taiwan.
Unless otherwise provided by the contract or customs, the lessor shall make all repairs to the thing leased.
The lessee shall not refuse the lessor to do such actions as are necessary for the maintenance of the thing leased.
Also
If, for the duration of the lease, the thing leased is necessary for repairing incumbent on the lessor, the lessee may fix a reasonable deadline and notify the lessor to make such repairs. If the lessor fails to make such repairs within the deadline, the lessee may terminate the contract or make the repairs himself with demanding the lessor to return for any expenses incurred therefrom or deducting the said expenses from the rental.
try to see if this document is of help. I found it on a forum here.
I’d go to the legal aid foundation , they give free consultation and the lawyer there can advise. Other option is go to the courthouse and there is usually a free lawyer there to advise people in the mornings. As mentioned by others it is her responsibility.
I’ve had water heaters break in two different places and the landlord fixed it no issues.
She is just being cheap.
My partner is looking into the legal aid thing. The landlady isn’t moving on this issue and, to be clear, she and her family are very well-off. We’ll see.
If your contract states that a water heater is provided then it is the landlords responsibility to repair or replace, check your contract. If it is not listed then you are responsible to repair or replace. If the landlord is responsible and he has not acted within a reasonable time period then you can replace and deduct the cost from your rent. If you take this route make sure you have written evidence from a qualified repairman that the old one was beyond repair and written evidence that you informed the landlord.
You can call http://www2.tmm.org.tw/English/index.html , generally you get to speak to their lawyer directly, for free. Her families financial status is irrelevant to your issue.
Normally when a water heater breaks due to normal use, it is the landlord that needs to pay for it. If you break it by yourself; not by normal day to day use, then the renter needs to pay.
Our landlord asked us to align such a lease regarding AC replacement if they break down. His logic is he hasn’t increased the rent in years and we are 'wearing out ’ his stuff.
Stupid I know but common here.
I had one potential landlord in Kaohsiung show me his place, it was all run down , furniture old or broken, toilet was leaky, AC and refrigerator were old. He wanted $8000 a month * in Kaohsiung.
I had a Taiwanese ‘mama’ with me to help the negotiation.
First thing out of his mouth is, this is the price, the extras are as is and if anything breaks it’s your problem. Asked for a $1000 discount on the rent with the intention of banking it for failures, he said no way.
I beat it out of there fast. His parting words were that I wasted his time coming over.
Got a call from his daughter a week later
Sorry baba was so rude
We’ll rent it for $7000
Sorry, found another much nicer place.
An AC did break , she promptly fixed it.
All 3 landlords so far have been amazing
dan2006 - the landlady was actually amenable until she talked to her dad, who in fact actually owns the place (she manages it for him), at which point we weren’t going to prise one penny out of his hopefully soon cold, dead hand.
We’ve been talking it over and it might in the long run be worth putting up with this, bullshit though it is: the rent isn’t too high, we’re right around the corner from an MRT, and they let us have our dog there. Getting somewhere else for that price, that lets us keep a dog, anywhere near an MRT for easy transport links would be a bigger hassle.
Which is annoying, because I don’t like people like that getting one over me. Even if we’re in the right, there is a risk they may put the rent up if we kick up a really big fuss.
That’s not to say when we do move out we won’t leave them with the old, dead water heater. It’s so stupid: they’ll have to replace it eventually. Why not now?
That is what I usually do, mostly because when the landlady has handed the repairs she goes for the cheapest stuff…consequences logically not the most desirable.
How about meeting the landlord halfway? At least to have some control over what goes in there. I would be wary of the stingy landlord buying a second hand heater or worse.