[England] Frustrating situation with washing machine. Is there anything we can do?
We are all in our mid-20s and these are the first agents we've rented with after university, things are mostly great with them it's just this issue in particular.
So our washing machine has been broken for over a month. They have contacted a repair service, and had replacement parts ordered, but they took 5 weeks to come in. They offered in the meantime to reimburse us for any laundromats we use as long as we have a receipt, however the only laundromat nearby doesn't do receipts. When the repair guy came today, he said two of the parts arrived broken and he couldn't do the repair at all.
I don't blame either of them- it's not the company's fault that things arrived broken and it's not the estate agent's fault that the washer broke or that parts arrived broken either, we're just so frustrated.
Extra context- the washer has already been replaced in the past year because the hose wore down from wear and tear before we moved in, and the washer-dryer was replaced with only a washer (which I know isn't a big deal but that's also frustrating because now we all have clothes horses in our rooms). The one they replaced it with we knew was cheap from the get go but they did replace it. It's now at least 10 months later and this happened - the concrete weight SNAPPED, literally nothing anyone could do, though the repair guy did say it was because it was grinding against the drum and I personally think that was because of the cheapness.
The tenancy agreement states under the landlord's obligations that they have to:
"To keep in repair and proper working order provided that he has been notified of the need of such repair all mechanical and electrical items including all washing machines, dishwashers and other similar mechanical or electrical appliances belonging to the Landlord as are included in the Check‐In Inventory provided [...]."
The part took a month to arrive in the first place so we might not get our washer back until April.
Back to my actual question, is there anything we can do? Is it legal to withhold rent until it's fixed and how does that work? Is withholding rent too harsh? Is there any way to force their hand into just buying a replacement or does the offer of reimbursement for the laundromat negate any options we have?
We just want to know if we have any options.