Renting question - broken bathroom sink, whose responsibility?

monkey_writer

We're in a rental property.

Something fell out of the bathroom cabinet and cracked our sink :eek:

I was going to replace it, but my family told me the sink is the landlord's responsibility. A similar thing happened to my sister, and her landlord fixed it.

According to our contract it seems to be the landlord's responsibility -

In schedule 1 of our contract it says -
4.1 The tenant is not responsible for the following:
Repairs for which the Landlord has responsibility (set out in schedule 2)

Schedule 2
3.1 ...Landlord obligations to repair and keep in good order:
3.1.3 sanitary appliances including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences;

These are the obligations from Section 11 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985

We can't find any clause in our contract which specifies that accidental damage negates that obligation.

The agency has responded that "as the damage was caused by yourselves as such you’re liable for the cost of repairs."

Which, you'll probably say is fair enough, but we're in London and pay the majority of our incomes in rent so can't afford to pay for anything we're not required to.

Does anyone know whether the 'Landlord's obligation to repair and keep in good order... sinks' excludes accidental damage caused by the tenant?

Thanks!

chris_m

You broke it, why should the landlord pay?

G_M

The repairing obligations in the 1985 Act relate to wear & tear/normal maintenance etc, not tenant damage.

You break something, you are liable.

Either fix the sink, or ask the LL to fix it and offer to re-imburse the cost.

jjlandlord

Actually the repairing obligations relate to all cases. But if tenant is responsible for the damage then he is liable to refund the landlord for the costs of repair.

monkey_writer

Leaving aside the ethics of it for now, the act just says that the landlord is responsible for repairs to the sink - it doesn't say anything about wear/tear/damage or about the tenant having to refund the costs. Or is there a part of the act which I haven't found yet which set out the details of what is included in their repair obligations?

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

googler

Might this be covered under accidental damage terms of the landlord's insurance?

jjlandlord

You caused the damage, you are liable for the cost. That's standard civil liability.

BillNBob

Even before I read the responses I knew the answers would be what they are!
Apart from that it does seem to have a lot to do with who your LL is.
From a tenants point of view I would still say you are liable, you broke it, claim on your insurance. Living in London and paying London rents has nothing to do with it really, good luck!

phill99

If you hired a car and returned it with a big scrape down the side who would be responsible to pay for the damage?

If you hired a lawn mower from a tool hire shop and returned it with damage, who would be responsible for paying for the damage?

Why should you damaging the sink be any different?

I'm amazed that people actually have to ask these questions.

monkey_writer

I ask because it says in the contract that the landlord is responsible for repairs to the sink.

G_M

monkey_writer wrote: »

I ask because it says in the contract that the landlord is responsible for repairs to the sink.

As jj says above (whilst splitting hairs with my own previous post), yes, LL is responsible for repair, but T is liable to refund the landlord for the costs of repair.

Jeez - talk about straw-clutching! LL has to ensure the property is maintained. But you bust something, you pay. So LL fixes, and charges you.

Or you choose (if you wish) to shop around and get it fixed yourself, perhaps cheaper than LL would (but still ensuring quality), and by-pass the LL.

It's hardly difficult to grasp. Nor is the fairness in question.