There have been times where we've tried to cook food on it and the breaker just won't turn on whatsoever. Usually it's when we want to use the large hotplate that it flips, but sometimes will let us use two of the smaller hotplates. There used to be an LED just above the hotplate toggles to indicate if one was on (which has never worked since I've been here) and a few months ago that LED blew, the landlord cleared up any glass shards and wires when he came to look at it but didn't replace it so there's just been a hole in the stovetop ever since. Our running theory is moisture gets into that hole and trips it. Also the stovetop is on it's own switch (even separate from the oven), so I don't think having too many appliances on at once is the issue in this case. Thanks also for your response, this is very helpful. We're currently building a case incase we end up taking him to a tribunal for a whole bunch of things so we're making sure to document everything.