quick question on betterment

papizzac

My question is simply - the inventory on check-in does not state that there is any damage to the wooden toilet seat. On check-out, there was a crack across it of the sort that often eventually appears in wooden seats as they age. Now the landlord is looking for £45 to replace and have a new one fitted by the person who provided this quotation. Does a complete replacement of what was not a new toilet seat to begin with, and possibly on its way out anyway hence why it eventually developed the crack, constitute betterment? In any case, there is no way the original toilet seat cost anything like £45 - it was of the cheap variety!

Any advice gratefully received.

Notmyrealname

No it doesn't. It is a repair. Replacing it with a gold plated one would be betterment but simply replacing a broken one isn't.

Wooden toilet seats aren't cheap ones and £45 sounds about right for supply and fit when you include the labour element. You seem to have forgotten about the fact that the LL is paying labour.

G_M

Go to B&Q or a bathroom shop and check th price of similar seats.

Bear in mind, however, that the £45 might include labour (" have a new one fitted by the person who provided this quotation. ")

How long have you been there? You are right that if the seat is now, say, 5 years old, and a seat of that type might be expected to last, say, 15 years, the LL can only charge you 2/3rds of the price of a new seat, plus labour.

pmlindyloo

How long have you been in the property?

Is your deposit registered in a Deposit Protection Scheme?

From what you are saying the £45 includes the fitting so not that extortionate. The cost of someone to fit and replace it sounds about right. I know it's a 5 minute job but workmen tend to charge by the half hour (if they're generous) or more often by the hour.

If this is the only dispute you can raise it with the protection scheme if you wish but to be honest it would have been better to have fitted a new one yourself before you left. (Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?)

And to answer the priginal question, no the LL can't charge for betterment but he can charge for the fitting.

You could try and negotiate and offer to fit and replace it yourself but, of course, he has the right to refuse since you no longer have any rights to enter the premises.

If your deposit hasn't been protected then post back.

papizzac

Thanks for all your responses. Deposit is protected, so intend to open a dispute about other charges which seem 100% unfair (i.e. cost of industrially cleaning a DOORMAT, when I'd have thought the whole point of a doormat is to get it dirty rather than the precious floors beyond it), but just trying to work out the toilet seat issue before including that one! It was definitely old, and more of the £9 from Argos variety than solid classy wood from John Lewis (I have been checking out prices today...) and I can absolutely guarantee that landlord's intention would be to charge us £45, and then fit it himself. Can also be pretty certain that the doormat would be binned, and the £25 for industrially cleaning it pocketed as well. It's highly unlikely it ever cost anything like £25 in the first place anyway! I intend to demand receipts for the labour so I can be sure that at least it is the workman lining his pocket, NOT the landlord. Is that reasonable? Or will they argue that they cannot carry out the work until I have coughed up the money out of my deposit, thereby putting us all in a Catch 22 situation? In any case, from what I understand on the DPS website, I am entitled to the undisputed sum back immediately. Is that the case?

Yorkie1

You can't demand receipts for work done / goods bought. There is no obligation on the LL to actually replace or do the work. The deposit is treated more a compensation for devaluation (to lift a phrase from an identical thread by a different poster).

Yes, you are entitled to the undisputed amount back.

jayship

You can buy a sturdy white toilet seat from Wilkinsons for less than a tenner and fit it in no more than 10/15 minutes. If u have a Wilko near u check it out.

G_M

jayship wrote: »

You can buy a sturdy white toilet seat from Wilkinsons for less than a tenner and fit it in no more than 10/15 minutes. If u have a Wilko near u check it out.

I don't see how this helps the OP:

* the OP has already moved out so it is too late to fix a new seat himself
* the original seat is wooden, so a "sturdy white toilet seat " would not be a direct replacement
* A contractor will charge, say, £30 minimum to travel to site and spend 15 minutes there. Possibly double that.