Hi! I posted about a 給湯器 problem a few weeks ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/s/igMu1UutDr) and many of you told me it was the landlord’s responsibility to fix it.
As I didn’t know who my landlord is and never had direct contact with them, I contacted my 不動産(eiburu/エイブル) and reported about the broken 給湯器. Soon enough, email from eiburu did come and said they had discussed with the landlord and a contractor will be arranged to contact me. I got the call from the contractor (Tuesday) and on Wednesday he came by and checked, told me it can’t be fixed and had to be fully replaced. He told me it’d probably take place after a week. Well, a week had passed and there’s been no updates. So I called him again, and honestly couldn’t make out what he said but I think he apologised and told me it’s being arranged with the landlord and to just wait some more…?
Well, tomorrow would mark 2 weeks since the contractor first came. And it’s been almost 3 weeks without proper hot water and I’m freezing. I don’t want to call the contractor too much as to not bother and be that annoying gaijin but I’m so desperate TT… If there’s no update by tomorrow I’ll probably send another email back to Eiburu.
Has anyone had similar experiences? Does repair or replacement usually take this long or maybe even longer? Am I being impatient?
by ChanceCharming746
4 comments
> Am I being impatient?
Three weeks without hot water? I wouldn’t accept a day.
Your landlord is being lazy and the realtor is being soft. You need to lay on the pressure. Go directly to the realtor office and force them to contact the landlord on the spot and arrange a fix. There’s no excuse for being this late, any service specialist can be over in a few days if not that day with emergency pay.
Able is always slow at repairs, as they have to go back and forth between their internal process (verify, report, summarize), external contractor, and asking the landlord for the repair permission, so even a simple 1-2 day fix can take half a month. It’s one of their annoying quirks, despite being one of the better agencies in the market.
That being said, if a boiler is broken for more than few days, you should try negotiating for a rent reduction (賃料減額請求) quoting Civil Code Article 611 (民法第611条) for the period where the boiler is not working.
With our property manager it usually takes at least a month for anything to be repaired. In your situation though I would probably not last a month in this weather.
In my experience, repairs have been arranged ASAP, the only limiting factor being when I can be at home.
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