Lodger has left mattress badly stained

blued

Our lodger of 6 months left today and I've just been in to check the room. The mattress has a large stain in the middle (about 1ft square) and a smaller darker stain. No effort has been made to clean the mattress.

If it was an old mattress I wouldnt care but this was a new mattress purchased just one month before he moved in because the previous lodger complained the last one had a spring sticking through. When she left the mattress was immaculate.

What is the best course of action? I've not spoken to him yet. I could hire a rug doctor to try to get the stain out and subtract that from his deposit if that sounds fair?

What if it doesnt come out though? Not going to be nice for the next person to see a large stain on the mattress.

slyracoon

Turn it over.

BitterAndTwisted

Ask the lodger to either arrange for it to be professionally cleaned to your satisfaction or for it to be replaced with an equivalent-quality one. If neither, retain the deposit.

blued

It is a no turn mattress, can only be used one way up.

olly300

1. Clean the mattress
2. Turn it over
3. Buy a mattress protector put it on the mattress (they are not expensive)
4. Tell the new lodger they will lose part of their deposit if they don't use one and stain the mattress. (You can't take all the deposit as the mattress isn't new.)

blued

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Ask the lodger to either arrange for it to be professionally cleaned to your satisfaction or for it to be replaced with an equivalent-quality one. If neither, retain the deposit.

He has returned down to the south of England so it is unlikely he'll be able to sort something out.

So does it sound fair to email him and give him the option of a professional clean or a replacement mattress, to be deducted from his deposit?

pupsicola

Speak to the lodger as soon as possible about it if you are going to try to remove the stain. Otherwise he/she may deny having caused it. Advise that you will try to get it cleaned and the cost will be deducted from the deposit. Also I would raise the possibility of not being able to remove the stains and that a new mattress would have to be paid for.

Get a mattress protector fitted in future to avoid this headache, they are cheap to buy.

DVardysShadow

Replace the mattress from his deposit - and don't forget the costs of disposal of the old one. Between the 2 lodgers and the 2 mattresses, you have textbook examples of what is and is not fair wear and tear. I doubt you will get the stains out with anything - and I imagine that whatever is is is actually into the body of the mattress. No one will be happy with it and you should not be happy to supply it for another lodger.

blued

olly300 wrote: »

1. Clean the mattress
2. Turn it over
3. Buy a mattress protector put it on the mattress (they are not expensive)
4. Tell the new lodger they will lose part of their deposit if they don't use one and stain the mattress. (You can't take all the deposit as the mattress isn't new.)

I think it will need a rug doctor or similar, probably left too long to come out by hand. Like I said it can't be turned over. There was a mattress protector on the bed (quilted type - wish I'd used a plastic sheet!!).

blued

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Replace the mattress from his deposit - and don't forget the costs of disposal of the old one. Between the 2 lodgers and the 2 mattresses, you have textbook examples of what is and is not fair wear and tear. I doubt you will get the stains out with anything - and I imagine that whatever is is is actually into the body of the mattress. No one will be happy with it and you should not be happy to supply it for another lodger.

You're right about whatever it is could have soaked into the mattress. I definitely wouldnt expect someone to use it in the state it is currently in. I'll drop him a mail and explain the situation. Just wanted to make sure I was being reasonable.

BitterAndTwisted

In view of the fact that the tenant is no longer local, I wouldn't even bother discussing it, I would deduct 95% of the cost of a new mattress from their deposit. This is based on ten years of useful life less six-ish months of wear.