Mark, I would investigate the possibility of having the cooker professionally deep cleaned before I threw it out.
When I was acting Bursar at a university college, all the cookers were deep cleaned professionally at the end of each term.
I am so sorry that this is necessary.
Very good advice. Depending on the price of replacement of course.
Personally, we provide good equipment, but bought at Sale prices with the idea of replacing every year if necessary.
The thing that really gets to me is that these āpeopleā can have no self respect or self pride. I seriously wonder how they can live in such a disgusting state, and how they manage not to have any feelings of guilt.
Jane, Pauline says she WILL get the cooker clean, but it might take more than one tin of oven cleaneršHave to get her some more rubber gloves!
true!
Can you ask for references from their previous landlord?
He was a home owner who had sold up in the UK, so no, not possible. I have been asked for a reference for him thoughā¦
Mark - without sounding patronising, best not to give him a bad one. Slander / libel laws are pretty unforgiving. Just better to say youāre āunableā to give one - speaks volumes 
Thanks Simon, a picture can speak a thousand words!!
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Heck - the bare faced cheek of the guy giving you as a referee!!
This is a problem that is becoming more and more common as people (of both nationalities) decide to take advantage of the French law that prevents a landlord from evicting a tenant for any reason during the winter months. I would never do a winter let. Too many horror stories on the expat forums. In one case it was a supposedly honest Notaire who managed to stay in the premises the whole period after only paying one monthās rent.
Yes, I was quite (very) surprised.
Stella, where do you get a good sale deal?
When the January Sales are onā¦ I look for the bigger stuff that we need/might need to replace. (white goods, mattresses etc)
For the smaller bits (kettles, microwaves, blenders etc) I pick them up throughout the yearā¦ whenever I see a bargainā¦ and store them until needed.
Basically, we are always on the look-outā¦
We have always found that the January sales around here are disappointing in the discounts they give.
So far we have not had to replace anything, we are only in our fourth year, but it is going very well so far.
As we are in the east of France we have many Belgian and Dutch clients who usually leave everything beautifully clean.
We have found that the best deals are normally the promos in Conforama or Leclerc, but sometimes mr good deal or cdiscount.com, but delivery charges can be high Although most people do leave things "quite " clean, appliances like cookers always need another clean, and Mrs R is quite vigorous with powerful cleaners and it can be this that eventually leads to the need for replacement. I would guess that we replace a cooker every 5 or 6 years or so, same for fridges, dishwashers and washing machines.
She has just about got the oven clean now, but it has been a pita!
Are you allowed to give lower prices on your own website if you are with b.com? They told us we couldnāt because they guarantee the lowest prices.
Yes, since 2015