Landlord Charging for Dishwasher Replacement

[AFWashington]

The dishwasher in my apartment stopped working. The landlord replaced the dishwasher and said that I was responsible for the price of the new dishwasher and labor. The next month, after paying my rent in full, the landlord sent me a letter stating that $500 of my rent payment was applied to the replacement of the dishwasher. Every month since then, I've been paying the regular amount of my rent in full and subsequently receiving letters from my landlord stating that my rent payment was $500 short. This month, he started proceedings to have me evicted. Is it legal for him to take out money from my rent payment to go towards replacing a dishwasher that, by the way, malfunctioned through no fault of mine? Some background info: My lease states that appliances are the responsibility of the tenant. HOWEVER, the dishwasher was not working properly when I moved into the apartment, and I specified this on my move-in checklist (I have brought this to the attention of my landlord and sent him a copy of the checklist). The dishwasher was never fixed since I moved in and finally just stopped working and had to be replaced.

Any advice offered would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
aw

[able1]

Normally you don't pay for fixtures and equipment like that.

He pays.

You have to keep them up, but you don't replace them. You could take the issue to small claims court if need be.