Tenant Wants New Mattress After 2.5 Years - Original cost £500

shop-to-drop

I'd buy a second hand one if I had to replace it. They can't complain about the fact it isn't new as the original one was always secondhand.

theartfullodger

If tenant is working girl entertaining several paying guests & landlord knew this at start I'd say it's fair wear 'n tear....

BitterAndTwisted

If I'd bought a five hundred quid mattress and it was knackered after only two and half years I'd be going back to the manufacturer.

I'd bet you a fiver the tenants have soiled it, and that's why they think it should be replaced. Something worth £500 and rendered unusable after so short a time would mean to me that the tenants would now owe me £350-worth of the useful life of it. Let them buy their own if it doesn't suit.

jc808

I would be reminding the tenant that, as the let was furnished (Presumably as they want the LL to replace the mattress) that clearly if it is causing this much discomfort it has suffered excess wear/ and or damage and will be either replaced partially by the tenant or deducted from their deposit at end of let

should focus the cheeky !!!!s minds...

nollag2006

Fair Wear and Tear wouldn't cover replacing a mattress every 2.5 years.

If you cant get one off Freecycle, tell them that you will remove your existing one and they can buy a new one themselves to take with them at the end of the tenancy.

Have you visited the property to inspect it?

franklee

What type of springs is it and what's it on? As others have already commented some types of sprung mattresses aren't suitable for putting on a bed frame with slats. They'd need a solid or sprung divan bed base.

tbs624

Seems several people in the thread are equating £££ cost with a specific level of quality, perhaps mistakenly so.

OP what was the brand and what was the manufacturer's stated mattress life expectancy?

Are her tenants particularly large/heavy? Has she actually checked the state of the springs on the mattress?

As others have asked ,was the mattress used with the right sort of base to be able to get the best use out of it?

Presumably, as your friend is letting a furnished property, she is claiming the relevant 10% allowance on her annual tax returns? ( because she will be declaring the rental income to HMRC won't she?)

The mattress topper idea may be a potential solution. If LL is feeling particularly tight she could suggest that both she and the T pay halves.

tbs624

shop-to-drop wrote: »

I'd buy a second hand one if I had to replace it. They can't complain about the fact it isn't new as the original one was always secondhand.

....may cost the LL more in the long run when she has to pay out to clear a bedbug infestation

propertyman

tbs624 wrote: »

Are her tenants particularly large/heavy? Has she actually checked the state of the springs on the mattress?

And on the website of Floggyte and Wrunne the particulars say

" There is 16 stone weight limit on prospective tenants.
Scales are set up in the hallway" :rotfl:

propertyman

I mean really,

1: Make the base solid

2: buy a £150 to £200 mattress,

3: add a waterproof/bugproof cover and a topper and

you can afford to change it every year or two.

We do not buy divan beds in our rental units but framed ones and the handyman re frames the slats with solid mdf and ribs which is then spray plastic coated, You can stand on them quite safely.

Which means the tenant ( and I am thinking of a particular amorous solicitor tenant ) can go bunga bunga and they aren't going to break