Rights regarding furniture in furnished property

Nirvana9

I'm renting a furnished apartment. We've been here three years and three months.

Everything was new when we moved in, including the bed. However it is the cheapest bed they could possibly have bought. The mattress is now dipping, has springs sticking in us when we sleep and the frame itself keeps collapsing.

We want the landlord to get rid of the bed so we can buy ourselves a very high quality one. We don't want them to replace it we simply want it taken away.

However, after having spoken with the letting agent (we've never met the landlord, all dealings go through the agent) I suspect they will say there's nothing they can do.

What are my rights if this does occur?

Does renting a furnished property mean I have to hold onto all the furniture even if it's far, far past its best (and with a bed, this obviously really matters)?

The bed is king size, we have nowhere to store it.

I just want a really great bed so I can start sleeping properly and stop waking with backache!

theartfullodger

Have you asked agent for landlord's actual address (you are entitled to it, they have to provide it within 21 days.. his real name & address, not c/o agent..).

I'd write a clam & polite letter (yes, write..) email also if possible making the request for bed to be removed and also for address.

If agent declines either request then post again..

If the bed was on the inventory & is still serviceable (albeit is rather worn..) I don't think you can "demand" it's removal..

pmlindyloo

I believe that your furniture must be 'fit for purpose' (I will try and find a link for you)

If the bed has broken springs sticking into you then it would not, in my opinion, be fit for purpose.

(By the way what does it say in your contract about the furniture and the LL's obligations?)

Therefore, if I'm right, you would need to ask LL/LA to remove the bed and explain that you would like to replace it with one of your own.

I honestly do not see that this would be a problem since your LL should be replacing it himself.

Do make sure that you keep a record of any decisions (best in writing) or else you might find your LL tries to keep your bed at the end of the tenancy.

Off to find something official!

G_M

Contact the landlord. If his address on your tenancy agreement is given "c/o the letting agency" write to the agency asking for his address. They have 21 days to provide it.

Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 (section 1)

KateLiana27

Would you be willing to leave the bed when you leave? Or replace it with a cheaper one, but one that is better quality than the present one?

If so, I can't imagine any sensible landlord would turn you down.

Nirvana9

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I believe that your furniture must be 'fit for purpose' (I will try and find a link for you)

If the bed has broken springs sticking into you then it would not, in my opinion, be fit for purpose.

(By the way what does it say in your contract about the furniture and the LL's obligations?)

Therefore, if I'm right, you would need to ask LL/LA to remove the bed and explain that you would like to replace it with one of your own.

I honestly do not see that this would be a problem since your LL should be replacing it himself.

Do make sure that you keep a record of any decisions (best in writing) or else you might find your LL tries to keep your bed at the end of the tenancy.

Off to find something official!

Thanks for the help lindyloo.

The springs aren't broken (that we know of) but it's a single coil mattress and it's all worn so the bed just dips in when you lie on it (very bad for our backs) and as there's so little padding between us and the mattress you can feel the springs.

The bed frame itself is as bad as the mattress. The base moves as we move, and the central bit gets knocked out of place as we move, causing the bed to dip even more in the middle and then eventually collapse altogether. Not great when it happens in the middle of the night!

The wooden slats are also all bent inwards and pop out of place regularly too.

Would you say this is fit for purpose?

I mean you can sleep on it. But not well. I wake up 6 or 7 times each night and every time I move I disturb my partner.

Nirvana9

KateLiana27 wrote: »

Would you be willing to leave the bed when you leave? Or replace it with a cheaper one, but one that is better quality than the present one?

If so, I can't imagine any sensible landlord would turn you down.

The bed I think I want is just over £1200 so no way I'd leave it!

And I don't see why I should have to provide the landlord with any sort of brand new bed... It's his job to replace bed's that are no longer any good and certainly if we were to move out and this place was to be re-let as the 'exclusive' property it's advertised at, they couldn't feasibly offer this bed with it.

franklee

Do you know the make of bed, can you ring the manufacturer and ask them the expected lifespan? Can you do some apportionment calculations and put forward how to work out what the bed will be worth when you leave and then offer to pay that amount to compensate for the missing bed at the end of the tenancy if you get rid?

For example a good quality mattress may have an expected lifespan of 8-10 years but a cheap one, and I reckon say £165.00 for a mattress is definitely at the cheap end, you'd be looking at say five years lifespan. So if the tenant stays say 2.5 years the mattress is now worth £82.50 so that's what the landlord would claim for the mattress if the tenant had taken the original away. Asking for a replacement of a similar spec would be asking too much from a tenant who had been there for a length of time.

Have a read about apportionment here:
http://www.arla.co.uk/information/deposit-protection/betterment-and-apportionment/

But a bed collapsing may cause injury so I'd be sure to put a description of it's behaviour in writing to the landlord he should get something done about that.