Broken Oven In A Rental: Who Has To Pay To Fix It?
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The oven's stopped working. You've reported it, and you're waiting to find out whether someone's coming or whether you're buying a countertop hob off the internet.
Ovens sit in an awkward gap in the law. The answer depends on how the cooker is installed, what your agreement says, and whether it's gas or electric. Here's how to work out which side of the line yours falls.
The short version
- A freestanding, plug-in cooker is an appliance, and only the landlord's job if the tenancy agreement or inventory makes it theirs.
- A hardwired or integrated oven is a better argument. Wired into the electrical installation, it's much closer to something the landlord must maintain.
- Gas cookers carry a safety duty regardless. If the landlord supplied it, it must be checked annually by a Gas Safe engineer, even if repairs aren't their responsibility.
- No means of cooking at all, for weeks, is a different problem and may make the home unfit.
Why ovens are a grey area
Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 makes landlords responsible for the installations supplying water, gas and electricity. But it specifically excludes "other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity."
A cooker is the textbook example of an appliance that uses a supply rather than being part of it. So on the face of it, ovens aren't covered.
That's where most articles stop, and it's too simple.
Freestanding versus integrated: the distinction that matters
A freestanding cooker you could unplug and wheel out is plainly an appliance. Landlord's responsibility only if the agreement says so.
A built-in oven, hardwired into a cooker switch and part of the fitted kitchen, is a much stronger argument. It's not plugged in, it can't be removed without an electrician, it was there as part of the property you rented, and it forms part of the fixed electrical installation the landlord must maintain.
Nobody rents a flat with a fitted kitchen expecting to buy their own integrated oven. If it's screwed into the units and wired into the wall, argue it as part of the property rather than as a machine you happen to be borrowing.
Same logic applies to a gas hob plumbed into a fixed gas supply.
What your agreement and inventory say
This decides most cases, so look before you argue.
- Is the cooker on the inventory as the landlord's property? If so it's theirs, they own it, and there's a good argument they maintain it.
- Does the agreement mention white goods, appliances or the landlord's fixtures and fittings? Most decent furnished agreements do.
- Was the property advertised as having a cooker? That formed part of what you agreed to rent.
If the agreement is silent and the cooker is freestanding, you're on weaker ground. That's not the same as no ground, but it's worth knowing before you escalate. Our guide on why the written agreement matters covers what to check.
Gas cookers are different
Repair and safety are separate duties, and this trips people up.
Where a landlord supplies a gas cooker, it must be included in the annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and you're entitled to a copy of the certificate. That's a legal duty regardless of who is responsible for fixing a broken thermostat.
So a landlord can, in principle, say the repair isn't theirs while still being obliged to have it checked and to take it out of use if it's unsafe.
If a gas appliance is unsafe, it must be disconnected. Never use a gas cooker you suspect is faulty, and never let anyone who isn't Gas Safe registered work on it. If you smell gas, leave and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
When no oven becomes a fitness problem
A single broken appliance isn't usually a legal emergency. But a property with no means of cooking at all, for a sustained period, is a different question.
Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, a rented home must be fit to live in throughout the tenancy, and facilities for preparing and cooking food are part of what's assessed. A week without an oven while a part is ordered is an inconvenience. Two months with no working cooker and no plan is arguably an unfit home.
Your council's environmental health team can assess this, free, and can require the landlord to act. What to do if your home is unfit sets out the route.
Repair or replace?
A landlord who is responsible gets to choose, and they can repair rather than replace if repair is sensible. What they can't do is leave you without a working cooker indefinitely because a replacement is inconvenient.
Where a cooker is old, replacement is often cheaper than a repair. Adjudicators and courts think in terms of the remaining useful life of an item, and a fifteen year old oven has very little. That cuts both ways: it's a reason a landlord should replace rather than patch, and a reason you can't be charged the price of a new one if you damaged an old one. Our guide on how often things should be replaced in a rented home covers typical lifespans.
When it's on you
You're responsible where you caused the damage through misuse rather than normal use.
- A cracked ceramic hob from a dropped pan
- A door hinge broken by leaning on it
- Damage from cleaning with something that shouldn't go near it
- A fire from unattended cooking
You're not responsible for an element failing, a thermostat going, a fan seizing or a seal perishing. Those are wear and tear, and they happen to appliances whoever is using them.
Routine care is yours: cleaning it, not letting spills carbonise onto the element, and not using it as storage. A landlord can reasonably charge for a professional clean at the end if you leave it in a state, so getting your deposit back is worth reading before you hand the keys over.
What to do
- Check the simple things. The cooker switch on the wall, the fuse, the RCD, the timer set to auto. A surprising number of dead ovens are a clock setting.
- Read the inventory and agreement so you know which argument you're making.
- Report in writing, describing the fault precisely. "Fan oven heats but doesn't reach temperature, grill works" gets a better response than "oven broken".
- Say what it means for you. If it's your only means of cooking, say so, because it changes the urgency.
- Give a reasonable time and chase in writing. Days if there's no other way to cook, a couple of weeks if there's a working hob.
- Escalate to the agent's complaints procedure, then their redress scheme, then environmental health. All free. What to do when a landlord won't repair has the detail.
Keep receipts for anything the failure costs you, such as extra takeaways or a temporary hotplate. If it drags on you may be able to negotiate some of it back.
Don't fix it and deduct without following the process
There is a lawful way to arrange a repair and take the cost from rent, but it only works if you follow the steps in order and the repair was genuinely the landlord's responsibility. Skip a step and you've simply created rent arrears, which is now a mandatory possession ground at three months.
The full procedure is in can I withhold rent for repairs. Get free advice before you spend anything.
The honest answer
If the oven is integrated and wired in, or listed on the inventory as the landlord's, it's very likely theirs to fix. If it's a freestanding cooker and the agreement says nothing, it may well not be, however unfair that feels.
Either way the practical route is the same: check the agreement, report precisely and in writing, be clear about the impact, and use the free escalation routes rather than paying for it yourself.
For the wider picture on which repairs are whose, see who fixes a broken appliance and what landlords are responsible for maintaining.
And if you went a month without a way to cook because nobody replied, put it on the record. Reviewing your landlord and agent is how the next tenant knows what they're taking on.
This guide covers England and reflects the law as at August 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. General information rather than legal advice, and your own tenancy agreement governs what your landlord agreed to maintain. Sources: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11, Shelter, repairs under section 11.