Having worked in IT I can tell you that often asking for specifics (even simple ones like what you said) will just get you a reply of "I don't know it's just broken. Fix it." If you even get a response at all. Asking for a screenshot (or a picture in this case) is an action that you are requiring the user to take and is much more likely to at least get a response even if the response isn't always helpful.

If the landlord had just asked for clarification I wouldn't be surprised if they just got a response of "It just doesn't work." Which is far less helpful than even that picture.