Old housemate refusing to pay

tothemax200

Many thanks for any advice on this before I start. . .

I jointly sign for a large 4-bed house with a friend. We have a clause in our contract which allows us to swap the other two occupants during the term without any hassle, as we are the only two that have actually signed the contract for the house itself. We create what we called a Tenancy Agreement with the other two occupants (often friends who are loooking to move out from home) which outlines the rent, deposit, notice period, schedule and possible move out dates. There is a line in the Agreement which reads "the deposit shall be returned in full, minus any costs needed to redecorate the room to the original condition".

One of the occupants wanted to move out quickly so we did all we could to find a replacemetn before the 2 months. Luckily we did. He left and the room was filled straight away. He left very early in the morning which was a bit unusal, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. DUring the day I went to check the room again when there was light and relaised there was an iron mark on the carpet. The carpet had fused together due to the heat. It had not gone balck, but just discoloured the carpet and obviously chenged the texture. I immediately rang him and asked what had happened and his reply was that it had fallen and that he was annoyed with himself.

Knowing that an iron mark was not going to go down well withthe landlord, we got the regular handyman in to look at it and get his opinion. After he spoke to the owner, we were asked to replace the carpet when we vacated the house - whenever that was to be. It was a shame nothing else could be done to clean/remove the mark (we tried sandpaper, combing etc), as replaceing a 13 by 13 foot room due to a 12 inch mark was unfortunate, but understandable.

Luckily I had not transfered the deposit back to the occupant. I explaine dto him that I'd need to keep this whilst we sorted this mess out. He is now extremely resolute that he won't be paying for a new carpet. Our issue here is that not only did he not tell us about it, he's left us to sort the whole thing out and is not inthe least bit concerned about the time/effort we've spent and effect it will have on all our relationships.

The carpet would cost between £180 -£250 te replace, and I still ahve £240 of the deposit. Is this an unreasonable request?

Having asked many other people the general response is that it is taken for granted that a room needs to return to its original condition, walls painted etc etc, and dropping an iron cannot be put down to wear and tear. Whilst it was an accident, and unfortunate, most people are saying it needs to be paid for.

Many thanks for any thoughts

Max

19lottie82

IF his agreement fell under one of a lodger then it would be the case that you would keep what is required and if he wants to challenge this, he would have to take you to the small claims court.

Perhaps someone else can offer some more accurate advice?

AlexMac

The guy who left is clearly responsible, and in practice, is unlikely to be able to get you to return all of his deposit unless, as above, he takes court action, which is a) unlikely, and b) will probably fail if you document the incident in letters and emails to him, including the fact that that he's admitted the damage, photos, and the landlord's response.

So you've probably lost that friend! I guess, if you have time, and feel so inclined, and are handy at DIY, you could halve the replacement cost by buying a chunk of carpet of comparable qaulity and replacing it yourself- probably at a cost of under £100 if the original was conventionally fitted and the underlay and grippers are still in place.

But why should you- especially as the LL may jib at a bodge job? Your mate 'did the crime', so he has to learn to 'do the time'. As a LL myself I'b be pooped off if tenants left live irons on carpets- the place could gave burned down!

Tough it out

Tixy

Replace the carpet using his deposit - try to get it done for less than £240.
Then I'd write to him to say you are enclosing the remainder of his deposit after deducting for the replacement carpet - and include the remaining amount and a copy of the invoice for replacing and fitting the carpet.

jennifernil

Was the carpet brand new? If not, then I doubt the landlord is entitled to have you pay for a new carpet. That would be "betterment".

What you pay should reflect the age and expected life of the carpet.

e.g. if the carpet is 3 years old and could reasonably be expected to last 10 years, you should pay 70% of the cost.

But yes, housemate should pay, so you need to keep enough of his deposit to cover it.

mrsbmartin

The LL is obviously pretty good to them - I'd just get the carpet replaced. I'm guessing that because it is a student rental the carpets aren't top notch quality so the actual carpet shouldn't be too expensive - often it is the fitting that is the stinger. We recently replaced a hallway and dining room carpet (and we had to get 5m lengths) and I just ordered samples from an online retailer. The samples (free) arrived within a week and I called them up, ordered the 2 lengths of the one I wanted and they arrived within 48 hrs (free delivery).

Carpet fitters here typically charge £4 sq/m (don't know how that compares nationwide) so it would have cost approx £160 for fitting. So I watched a you tube video and did it myself. I'm small (5ft 4) and not the strongest so it was really quite difficult to get the 5 m roll of carpet around awkward corners by myself but it took me 2 hours start to finish to get it absolutely perfect (lots of awkward cut ins) and to cut up the new carpet so I could put it in bin bags to take to the tip. The carpet has been down about 3 months and it is better laid than the rest of the carpets in the house.

So...if you want to be really nice you can lay it yourself and save some cash to return to him. Or if you want some revenge you can lay it yourself and bill him for you fitting it! Or just get another guy to do it all for you...in any instance - he needs to pay!!!!

DRP

jennifernil wrote: »

Was the carpet brand new? If not, then I doubt the landlord is entitled to have you pay for a new carpet. That would be "betterment".

What you pay should reflect the age and expected life of the carpet.

e.g. if the carpet is 3 years old and could reasonably be expected to last 10 years, you should pay 70% of the cost.

But yes, housemate should pay, so you need to keep enough of his deposit to cover it.

^^ i think this is most fair and appropriate way of doing it.

It will be a bit of a pain because to avoid getting stung by the LL at the end of your own tenancy, you'll have to get the LL to ok it in writing (rather than just taking the full cost of the replacement carpet from the deposit), but that is part of the hassle/repsonsibility you have taken on by 'subletting'...

thelem

tothemax200 wrote: »

There is a line in the Agreement which reads "the deposit shall be returned in full, minus any costs needed to redecorate the room to the original condition".

That seems oddly specific. What happens if there are rent arrears, or damage to the furniture (if it's a furnished room)? Is this a professionally written contract, or one that you've written yourself? If the latter, I'd recommend getting a professionally written one, possibly from a landlord's association or even WH Smith!

tothemax200

Many thanks for all your advice

Max

G_M

As Jennifer said above, 'betterment'!

The LL cannot make you put in a brand new carpet when the tenancy ends, to replace a 2? 5? 8? year-old one (whatever).

He can make you pay the appropriate % of the cost of a new one, dending on age and expected life expectancy.

You should take the same approach with your 'lodger' (no, he did not have a 'tenancy agreement' even if that is what you called it!).

So:
1) check the cost of a new carpet of that quality/style/size
2) check the current age
3) estimate the expected life (dirt cheap carpet? 5 years? Top quality? 12 years? ... in a tenanted property)
4) Calculate cost of the damage, deduct from lodger's deposit, and send a letter with your calculation.