Gas stove/oven with broken igniters

I’m renting a house with a gas stove/oven. When I owned a house, I had an electric induction cooktop and electric oven. I don’t like gas or the open flame. The problem is that 2 of the 4 burners don’t light, the broiler doesn’t light at all, and the oven doesn’t work reliably. I had to have an appliance repairman come to fix the refrigerator, and I had him look at the stove. He said that the igniters needed to be replaced (2 burners, broiler, oven), and that it would make more sense to replace the stove. I’m trying to decide whether to approach the landlord about repairing or replacing the stove/oven. I’m trying to be a very easy tenant, because the real estate market is crazy here. I’ve been trying to buy a house, but I’ve been outbid several times (multiple offers, prices well above asking). And there are very few rental houses. I’m afraid that if this isn’t really easy for him, he’ll decide to sell the house. He’s a young doctor who used to live here with his family until he moved to a larger house in the next town. I think that I’m the second tenant.

The burners aren’t a problem, I never need more than 2, and I don’t need the broiler, but the unreliable oven is an issue. I know that there are lighters that can be used. Is it safe to just light the oven with one of those, or should I ask the landlord to deal with the broken igniters?

I hate gas, and I don’t like the idea of lighting the oven myself. I don’t even want to keep one of those lighters around - the warning labels say, flammable liquid under pressure.

I love gas cooktops and can’t stand gas ovens. A broken gas appliance is a safety issue, so I would not hesitate bringing it up with the landlord. Are you willing to pay for the repairs or do you want the LL to take care of it?

Any chance you could (or want to) buy the place from LL? That might be an option since you’re in the market anyway.

I’d be also be concerned about defective or broken gas appliance and want notification promptly so I could repair or replace. I’d worry about potential harm to the tenant. Ranges with ovens are fairly low cost new anyway.

You don’t own this house. Your landlord should be taking care of repairs to broken appliances…unless YOU broke them.

Check the tenant laws in your state…and the lease.

Most new gas stoves have safety provisions. When the burner isn’t lit, it’s not emitting gas. That wouldn’t necessarily be enough to assure me, but OP did have a repairman look at it.

But you have a right, usually backed up by some habitability law, to be able to cook. A “reasonable expectation.” I would share the repairman’s report with him. He’s not going to kick you out for discussing.

As for lighting the oven, yes, old versions had a little slot in the oven. But clearly you’re not familiar with gas. Many of us have done this. But I wouldn’t suggest a rookie risk that. Without savvy, you could cause a bigger problem.

Just ask him. Or think about buying a countertop oven, many good ones are inexpensive.

OP does have a right to a working oven, although I understand the concerns about the owner deciding the place is just too much trouble and selling it. What OP might consider is getting a quote for a replacement oven, including installation. Maybe see if an electric oven is an option while you’re at it.

Then OP can tell the owner that the oven is broken, a replacement is $xx, and OP will take care of everything if they can just deduct the cost from the rent. That way the owner doesn’t have to lift a finger. When I was managing my own rental property, I liked it when my tenants did all the groundwork for me like that. Just be sure to get any agreement in writing (email is fine) and save all paperwork (owner will want a copy for their taxes).

That’s correct–had forgotten about the nice, reasonable countertop ovens. Pricing one and proceeding as suggested in #5 is a great idea.

The owner is a young doctor. I would think he could afford the ~$1000 or so for a new stove. In addition, if/when he wants to re-rent or sell the house, he’ll want it to have a working stove. He may not even know that there’s a problem. I’d discuss it with him.

Not even 1k, for electric, if he just wants to rent and it isn’t a fancy upscale place (and this sounds like a reasonable rent cost, if it’s OP’s interim while she house hunts.) All he’d need is to shut off the gas in an approved way.

And if he decides to sell, there may be a provision in the lease about that. Plus it takes time to contract, show, sell, and close. Wanting a stove repaired or replaced isn’t grounds for eviction.

If he used to live there, he may be familiar with the issues with the stove. It is his responsibility to provide safe appliances, again assuming the cause if the malfunction was not under your control. I personally much prefer gas to electric cooktops. Don’t know which is less expensive up there (gas or electric) but that could drive a decision too.

I like the idea of pricing out a few ovens and telling him you will take care of it. Or he might for tax purposes want to make the purchase himself. If he is like many younger single men he might not even know the oven doesn’t work. If he evicted you he would have the same issue with another tenant. Most tenants would want working appliances.

If you want to avoid confrontation and you live alone you might consider a countertop combo convection/toaster oven. My D who has an oven that doesn’t work well got a Cuisinart brand toaster/convection oven from Costco. She is so happy. She can fit a small roasting pan in to roast vegetables. She isn’t much of a cook. In her case it’s actually silly since her landlord would replace her oven if she took the time to go look for a replacement.
Count me in as another who loves a gas cooktop though I have an electric oven.

Actually, I’ve heard pro cooks prefer gas top, electric oven (for the consistency of the oven cooking temp.) Last time I looked, that’s more expensive. Dunno.

If the kitchen has not been originally wired for an electrical stove, it could be very expensive to wire for one retroactively. A stove needs to be on a separate circuit, so the panel has to be able to accomodate a 220 V 50 amp (or so) circuit. I am sure the codes all over the country require that. Plunking in a new gas stove is a less expensive exercise.

A modern often usually (actually always) has a safety feature that it will not turn on the gas unless the ignitor is functioning. I doubt that you will be able to light yourself if the ignitor is bad. Older oven have a pilot light. Again the gas would not turn on unless the pilot light was lit.

I am not as familiar with the burners.

As other said, call your landlord. I doubt he would decide yto sell the house because he had to call a repair man. Sell a house is expensive. Foxing a appliance is cheap compare to a real estate commission.

Agreed that you deserve a working stove and oven, and the landlord needs to get working appliances in there to sell regardless. I replaced mine, just prior to selling, as there were issues with both oven and cook top. The new owners promptly replaced the entire kitchen and gave me the working gas cooktop back, for when I get around to a kitchen remodel. However , a warning-I bought a replacement electric oven, a marked down higher end separate oven from Sears. The thing was not calibrated right, and baking was never right, even though I had the service folks out to see if it could be fixed. Later, when still not right, I called, and they told me how to self calibrate, which didn’t work well either. I am glad to be rid of the thing! My current house has an inexpensive stove, if later model, that works perfectly, gas oven and all. I now would not fear a gas oven.

When my old cooktop had a problem with the electronic ignitor, I used matches to light the burners. No big deal, if you are used to camping fires and camp stoves.

If the gas oven uses an ignitor, you can’t light it (what you are referring to is on older stoves, they had a pilot light that basically stays lit all the time (hot water heaters still use this). On a stove like that, when the oven calls for heat, the ignitor goes on, and when that is ready a gas valve opens up that will be lit by the igniter. It is safe because if the igniter is defective, the gas will not flow (I know, just went through this with my own stove).

With the burners, you can light them yourself if the igniter is broken, the standard lighter you use for grills and such works fine.

The broiler has an igniter like the stove, same kind of setup.

These are a lot safer than a pilot light model, since it is highly unlikely you could get gas flow without the igniter going.

On my oven it cost like 200 bucks with labor to fix the igniter,but mine is a higher end stove, if the stove is a typical standard home range, the igniter itself is easy to replace, same with the burners. I don’t know what kind of price the guy was talking about to fix all that, but if it was more than the stove is worth, then the stove should be replaced. A working stove is something the landlord needs to fix or replace, if he is willing to let you replace it or fix it and take that off your rent, then go that way, but in the end it is his responsibility.

Electric stoves require wiring the house likely does not have set up, you need a 220v circuit as BunsenBurner mentioned, and while it is probably possible to have an electrician do that (assuming the house doesn’t have 50 amp service like some older houses still have), but it would be very expensive to get that done, plus the cost of the stove, and quite frankly, there is nothing to be scared of with a modern gas stove as long as it has been installed properly.

Thank you all for the information and suggestions. Just to clarify: I have no concern about being evicted, but my lease ends in less than 6 months, and the landlord could decide to not renew. Then I would be faced with trying to find another rental (it was hard enough to find this one) if I hadn’t yet found a house to buy (I’m still looking but feel quite discouraged), and moving for the third time in less than 2 years.

The landlord is responsible for repairing/replacing the applicances, thanks to my lawyer. The standard lease makes the tenant responsible. My lawyer insisted on changing this. The last lease that I had, in another state, also made me responsible for applicance repairs, and the appliances were old and low-quality. I did have to take care of a couple of repairs in the year I was there.

This is why I am concerned: the house market is insane here, and it has been for a couple of years. I am looking in this town and an adjacent town. Both are very desirable because of excellent school systems and proximity to Boston. Because I want a small house, I am looking at the low end of the market and competing with young families who will stretch to get into the school systems. This is how things go here: houses come on the market Tuesday-Thursday, there are open houses on Saturday/Sunday (or only one of those days, or only approved buyers are allowed to see the house at a specified hour on the weekend), offers are due around 6 pm on Monday, the house is off the market a day after that. I have made offers on two houses; both received many bids, all over the asking price. One went for $100k over the asking price. The other was at an insane asking price, and it still went for well over that. A really awful house I looked at, that my agent and I agreed was an awful house with obvious structural issues, still sold in a day for over the asking price. The agent told me that there has been very little inventory for the last few years, and there’s a lot of pent-up demand.

I was looking last fall/winter; there was very little inventory and I didn’t find anything. I believe that things have settled down a little because it is too late for families to be in before the school year starts. I hope that something good will come on this summer or fall and there won’t be so much competition.

So my concern is that if I am anything but a nice check coming in each month, the landlord will decide that renting this house is too much trouble. Especially since I assume he’s heard about the crazy market. This house is a low-end house, because it’s small, in a great neighborhood. It would sell instantly to a young family. The landlord is an academic doctor, so he does not earn all that much, with young kids, so he is busy.

I did think about offering to buy this house, but I don’t like it enough to want to buy it. Also, under those circumstance he would expect top dollar.

I will approach him about repairing or replacing the oven. I’ve called the appliance service and left a voicemail asking for an estimate. I’ll do some groundwork on replacing the oven. I don’t want to ask him to convert to electricity for my sake, because I hope not to be here forever (but I don’t want to lose the option).

Thank you all.

I don’t want to buy a countertop oven; in my last rental, the oven was so small that I couldn’t fit my cookie sheets or lasagna pan in it. I had to buy a small quarter-jelly roll pan to be able to roast vegetables. I was enjoying having a full-size oven, but it has gotten more and more unreliable.

I am not responsible for the oven/stove problems, they were present when I moved in, except that the oven has been getting worse (more frequent unsuccessful attempts to light it).

Wow, I’ve been a landlord for over 40 years and have never heard of making the tenant responsible for appliance repairs (unless they caused them to break). I guess everything depends upon the real estate market.

I’ve been a landlord since we married over 3 decades ago. We have never made tenants pay for appliances or repairs or refused to renew tenants wanting working appliances. When we were tenants, LL was always responsible for keeping all appliances in good working condition.