Deposit/ insurance question

englishrose19

Hi all,

We move next month, we have contents insurance and we had to get landlords content too. We also paid our standard deposit.

The only thing that has broken whilst we've been here is one of the wheels of one of the two sofas. They are very poor quality, stapled at the bottom, cushions don't fit. Bargin basement ikeaish, old and worn too.

Question is how much realistically can they take from the deposit? We have repeatedly tried to put the wheel back on but it doesn't work, we only sat on it!!

Thanks

G_M

How old is the sofa?
How did it break?
Did you inform the landlord in writing when it broke?
Have you spoken to a sofa shop about possible replacement of wheel (as opposed to whole sofa)?
How much would a new sofa cost?

englishrose19

G_M wrote: »

How old is the sofa?
How did it break?
Did you inform the landlord in writing when it broke?
Have you spoken to a sofa shop about possible replacement of wheel (as opposed to whole sofa)?
How much would a new sofa cost?

Have no idea how old or how much it would cost, it's not a proper sofa, just one of those crappy ones which is basically a metal frame covered in material. Didn't tell our agent as only just noticed as we were clearing out, our ll is going through financial difficulties nd hasn't been able to do other works which we have needed. The wheel can't be replaced. I guess a similar style sofa would cost about £40 so I assume that's what they can take? It broke when my bf sat on it... As I said its not very sturdy!!

englishrose19

It's from 2006, judging on the label

G_M

So a £40 sofa aged about 7 years.

Let's say a sofa of that quality has an expected life of 10 years. 3 years left. 3/10ths of 40 = £12.

So that is the max the landlord can claim. To claim the full £40 would be 'betterment' (getting a brand new sofa in place of a 7 year old one).

englishrose19

G_M wrote: »

So a £40 sofa aged about 7 years.

Let's say a sofa of that quality has an expected life of 10 years. 3 years left. 3/10ths of 40 = £12.

So that is the max the landlord can claim. To claim the full £40 would be 'betterment' (getting a brand new sofa in place of a 7 year old one).

Thanks a lot! I knew about the wear and tear/ depreciation of value but thought they could still charge for brand new settee. Will try and find more details but lack of labels bar year of manufacture!

Thanks