Recently something happened that got me wondering about the legal implications of it.
About a year an a half ago I moved to a flat in the UK. Of course there was a contract. There is a clause in the contract that states that the tenants are responsible of maintaining the quality of the items (listed) in the house and replacing them (unless there has been a fire). This is worded longer but has this information.
When I was considering signing the contract, I read the clause and decided to ask the landlord what would happen if something breaks "because is old". The conversation was more or less as follows:
Seating in the Landlord's living room in his own house, me, my girlfriend, Landlord and his wife, reading the contract.
Me: About this clause, what would happen if something breaks?
Landlord: If it breaks... what do you mean?
Me: Well, if the thing is old, sometimes they just break. Would you pay for it in that case?
Landlord and wife, together: Yes, yes of course.
We sign.
Recently something broke (after 1.5 years) and we called the landlord. After about a month of doing technicians etc the result ended in needing to buy a new one. While discussing moderately about how long is taking to fix thing my landlord told us that we shouldn't complain, because he is paying for it, and we should be the ones paying. While asking why he says that if he mentioned that he would pay for it he said "you should have read the contract, its in the contract that it is your responsibility to pay for it".
It seems that nothing bad will happen, but I am curious about the legal implication if he decides to make us pay for it.
We asked about it and he said it, but of course, its not literally written like that. However, one of the reasons we signed that contract was because of that verbal agreement (can it be called like that?).
In British law, is there somehow a possibility that that conversation can be used to defend us? Or as it is not written is as if it didn't happened?
Would this mean that a landlord could actually tell a lots of lies about a contract (for example to someone that has limited reading capabilities, or like me, someone that is not used to English law "slang" as its not their mother tongue) and "cheat" the tenant to sign?
I guess one possible (and likely) answer to this is "its the tenant responsibility to understand the contract, and the only things that apply are the ones in the contract".
Disclaimer: I'm not looking for real legal advice, just curious on how far the law extends here.