We've broken a sofa in our rental property, how best to minimise deduction?

bitsandpieces

jamie11 wrote: »

:beer: There ain't nuffink from Ikea that I would expect to last in terms of years. That was not the question though.

I bought a second hand Ikea sofa almost 10 yrs ago and it was my main sofa for 5. Still sat in my lounge as a 2nd sofa

Miiri

I had a similar model to this a few years back - I think it lasted about 10 months

sandsni

slowcoachme wrote: »

I am a landlady, if it was reported to me, I'd say Don't worry, the flat is going to be sold and the sofa will be chucked anyway.

If the flat wasn't being sold and you wanted to get a new T in would you feel the same way? We only have the T's word for it that the LL is actually planning an extensive refurb.

Or if the T had reported it when it first broke and asked for a replacement sofa would they have accepted £40 towards the price of one? For that matter, using a broken sofa while "propping it up" for a few years may have rendered the sofa unfixable where it might have been fixed if reported sooner. Why didn't you report it when it broke? What other broken items haven't been reported in a timely manner?

OP, how was the condition of the sofa described in the check-in inventory? Since you can more or less prove the sofa is at least 5 years old it goes a long way to proving it was close to the end of its useful life through normal wear and tear which will work in your favour. Hopefully your LL will take account of your years as Ts (and how well you kept the rest of the place) and write off the sofa.

I think I would be more generous if the T had actually told me when it broke and offered something towards paying for it rather than waiting to be "found out", but since it's been broken for a couple of years and the LA/LL was never told, the chance to do that is long gone.

Ivana_Tinkle

I've had cheap Ikea sofas that have lasted for years BUT that's in my own home, not a rental. Surely a cheap, bottom-of-the range sofa wouldn't be expected to last more than a couple of years at most in a rental? I'd say it's at the end of it's life and due for replacement anyway.

But the suggestion of offering to buy it is genius.

grifferz

Back in May we decided to own up to the letting agents about the broken sofa and ask what the landlord wanted to do about it. If the landlord had wanted to deduct more than the remaining life of the sofa, based on a 5 year expected life span, then we were going to argue against that.

The letting agent responded that they had passed the details on to the landlord and would let us know what the response was. We did not hear anything more.

Our landlord lives in India and the LA have always had problems communicating with them in a timely fashion so this was not unexpected.

The last day of our tenancy ended up being 17th August.

In the end, the landlord never responded to any communication from the letting agent regarding our checkout inspection, the sofa or anything, so after 10 working days the letting agent released our deposit in full!
:beer:

Thanks for all the advice offered, it was much appreciated.