Dishwasher blockage food scraps

I've had the dishwasher blocked a few times due to food scraps and I'm sick of it. I just want to prevent it from happening again.

Can I stick a label on the dishwasher asking the tenants to remove scraps before putting it in the machine. I'm also tempted to put that if the blockage is because of misuse, they will foot the bill as this will discourage the scraps behaviour... but is this too excessive?

 

Can you get them to clean the filter?

Funnily enough, another poster started a thread today asking, as a renter, about who pays for cleaning the filter!

 

It's a dishwasher not a dish scraper -

A Dishlex manual states....
"The following hints will ensure optimal cleaning and drying results in daily use and also help to protect the environment.
• Remove larger residues of food from the dishes into the waste bin...."

Bosch manual states...
"Loading the dishwasher
1. Remove large food remnants. It is not necessary to prerinse utensils under running water...."

LG manual states...
"Loading the Dishwasher For effective washing performance, always follow the instructions.
• Remove large particles of food debris from plates including bones etc. before loading. Always rinse off plates when loading if they are not to be washed immediately.
• Items with burnt on food should be soaked prior to loading in the appliance...."

 

Filter is cleaned but food scraps got into the pipes and caused blockage. Had to call a plumber out.

Why do you have to pay for cleaning the filter. Isn't it a removable piece that you take out and just rinse under the tap?

Maybe this is what I should stick in front of the machine

 

This is exactly why I said in a previous thread that I thought a dishwasher in a rental was a liability for a lessor. And I don't think that was a popular opinion at the time.

In theory any negligent damage to the dishwasher can be pinned on the tenants, but its its certainly a pain to prove and deal with administratively.

 

I used to own a unit with an onsite manager and he refused me installing a DW for this reason. I would photocopy instructions on DW use , filter cleaning etc. That's what I've done previously with PM's managing properties to pass onto tenants. Is it a dishlex? that's the only brand I've had tenant whinging about as the sprayers do tend to block more than other brands.

 

Whilst everything is always the landlord's responsibility, it always makes me wonder how some of these tenants would survive if they actually owned the property themselves.

I can guarantee they wouldn't be calling an electrician to change the light globes or a plumber to clear the dishwasher filter .......

 

I would think that you could ask the tenants to pay for the blockage if it was caused by them? Perhaps there could be benefit of the doubt the first time (particularly if they hadn't been there a long time) but after a couple of times- Plumber should be able to make it pretty clear what the problem is.

 

I had an agent call me because the new tenant contacted her to find out which of the two buttons on the garage remote opened the door. I was like ummm I can’t remember - press the left button and if opens the door it’s the left button and if it doesn’t then it must be the right one. And also the following week - on the aircon system which is bed 1 and which is bed 2? Again I was like press the button and see which room gets colder. I would make some snide comment about the future of the world but I’m also a millennial...!

 

I think the tenant's being lazy.

I remember when I worked as a dishwasher in a club restaurant and had to use a huge industrial style dishwasher. This was like the V8 of dishwashers. It didn't have a door. The top lifted up and down and the heat it produced was amazing.

Even with this mutha I had to rinse most plates prior to loading. Especially the dessert plates with hardened chocolate stuck on. And when there's 120 guests you feel like screaming.

Yep plates gotta be rinsed prior to loading dishwasher otherwise machine gets clagged up.

 

Rinse aid = laxative for dishwashers

 

My properties have a statement included in the tenancy agreement regarding dishwasher use. Something along the lines that if a plumber is called out and the blockage is deemed to be caused by the food scraps, they will be paying the bill.

 

So do you ensure the pipes are cleaned out between tenancies?

 

That's exactly why you can't add your own clauses to a residential lease and expect them to hold up in NCat.

 

This is the best ever comment on this forum hands down.

Another classic example is when tenants lose their keys to their premises. What would they do if they owned their own home? Ring the agent that sold them the property in the hope they have a spare set?

 

Call their mum?

 

To be fair, the REA will have a spare set of keys! Calling them seems sensible to me.

 

Maybe the tenant removed the filter then couldn't put it back correctly, so they just threw it away.

 

Must admit, I don’t know whether the PM checks.
But, I haven’t had an issue to date. So maybe it has had some effect.

 

It's not a problem until it's a problem.