I caused damage to my rental property...

bobbadog

Hiya

When I moved in to our rental property a year ago, on our very first night I opened the bathroom cabinet above the loo, something fell out of it and it chipped a hole in the toilet pan. My other half is a maintenance man, and he fixed it with waterproof sealant (white, to match the toilet) and it has held fast ever since.

We're now due to move out. The toilet is fine, always has been, just it has a big blob of sealant on the inside of the pan and underneath (to ensure it stuck!). It's a little bit low to hide with a toilet block thing, and I don't really want to hide it...

I'm wondering... will we have to pay for a new toilet or not? It was fixed, it doesn't leak, and we didn't call out the expensive after-hours service to fix it... It'd presumably be covered by buildings insurance if it did bother our landlady...

How much am I likely to lose from my deposit if she doesn't think I 'made good'/? x

silvercar

Will only be covered by building insurance if accidental damage by tenants is included in the cover. It may not be included, as tenant damage is usually covered by the deposit.

It may be fixed and it may not leak, but would a new tenant want a toilet stuck together by sealant? Probably not. It is not fair wear and tear to return it in its current state, so I would expect that the landlord will want it replaced.

Sharon87

You probably should have informed your LL of the incident. It sounds as if the place was falling apart when you moved in!

bobbadog

I did look into getting it replaced, but it seems to be a very old suite and I cannot find it online - discontinued - and as there's laminate it'd need to be one that fitted the same hole.

Any idea how much of my deposit I can expect to lose? x

smk77

Surely it's just a small chip? Not exactly being held together with sealant is it? He did it to protect and partially hide the chip.

If it's a small chip then it should be considered wear and tear - especially if there are no other issues with the house. Unfortunately, some landlords expect their property to be left as though it hadn't been lived in.

bobbadog

It was more of a 5p sized hole, rather than a chip - if we hadn't have fixed it we'd not have been able to use the toilet without the floor getting a bit wet (above water line though!)

Rest of house is immaculate (I say immaculate, but it's by no means a high-end property - it's above a shop and very very small). Probably cleaner than we moved in - especially the windows

nementai

I did this, dropped a glass moisturiser jar in the bowl and a fist size lump just fell out!
Moisturiser was fine though!
We told the landlord there and then, who was very reasonable about it.
He asked us to pay for a new toilet and the new lino to make up the hole, but got the toilet from a wholesale place, think it was about £80 plus about £10 for the lino, and he fitted the new toilet and disposed of the old one.
Perhaps you can call and say it happened yesterday, get it sorted before you actually move?

sooz

Sharon87 wrote: »

. It sounds as if the place was falling apart when you moved in!

Why does it sound like the flat is falling apart? The OP said they dropped something which broke the loo. How is this possibly the LL's fault?

OP - it might be covered under your contents insurance. Do you have tenants insurance, which covers accidental damage to the LL's belongings & fixtures?

bobbadog

sooz wrote: »

Why does it sound like the flat is falling apart? The OP said they dropped something which broke the loo. How is this possibly the LL's fault?

OP - it might be covered under your contents insurance. Do you have tenants insurance, which covers accidental damage to the LL's belongings & fixtures?

Hiya! I have contents insurance but don't have tenants insurance - will have a read of exactly what I do have when I get home! Def not landlords fault that I broke the loo - though it's a pain that the bathroom cabinet is directly above the loo - especially when you're clumsy like I am!

sooz

sadly in poky little bathrooms (like we all have ) it's often the best place to put a shelf or cabinet.

DawnW

I am a LL and like many others, have insurance cover for accidental damage by tenants. You are going to have to speak to your LL about it. Hopefully she or he will have the same sort of cover, in which case they can probably claim. You should really have told them about it when it happened though! If they don't have insurance (and mine is pretty comprehensive, not everyone would necessarily have this level of cover) I guess it will have to be covered from your deposit. Noew tenants will not want a toilet mended with a blob of sealant.