Reasonable solution to stained stair carpet - tenancy

sammyjammy

Trying to help me niece out with ending her tenancy.

The landlord has said he wants carpets (main bedroom, stair and lounge) in the house replaced. The inventory states that the lounge and bedroom carpets were badly stained on commencement of the tenancy so its clear he has no claim against them. The stair carpet is stated as in good condition so I think they will need to accept that they will have to pay towards its replacement. It looks like a fairly cheap carpet (not wool or anything)

The problem is the landlord bought the property with the carpets already in place and used, my niece moved in a week later and is now moving out 2 and a half years later so how do we come to an agreement of what she pays? Should she make an offer of £50 (the stain they left is very small)

marliepanda

I wouldn't even offer that!

I lived somewhere with new (probably cheap) carpets and admittedly there were 2 weird stain in the bedrooms. I was charged 60. For old stained carpets, no chance.

Guest101

Offer nothing, go to dispute.


Google betterment

TBagpuss

If the stain means that the carpet need to be replaced then the normal process would be:

1. work out reasonable cost of replacing the carpet (with the same quality as before)
2. Work out the expected lifespan of the carpet
3. Divide cost by ;ifespan to get cost per year
4. Take of cost per year x age of carpet

Balance is the amount the landlord would be entitled to.
EXAMPLE

if the cost of replacing the stair carpet with a carpet of similar quality to the one which was there is £300, and the reasonable life span is 10 years then the cost per year is £30.
If the carpet has been down for 8 years then the 'loss' to the landlord is 2 years worth or £60.
If the carpet had been down for 2 years then the loss would be 8 x £30 or £240
If the carpet has been down longer than the reasonable life-span then the loss to the landlord is £0

(onviously these numbers are purely for illustration - I have no idea of the reasonable cost or age or reasonable lifespan of your daughter's carpet, but this is the sort of exercise the landlord should be doing!)

If the landlord didn't fit the carpets then he or she is going to find it difficult to say how long they have been down for and therefore how much longer it would be reasonable for them to last.

I believe that carpet would normally be expected to last around 10 years, possibly less if it is cheap or in a high-traffic area, so if the carpets had ben new when your daughter moved it it might have been reasonable for her to pay 75% of the cost of replacing the stair carpet . However, it sounds as though they were not new, so the actual amount should be less.

I'd suggest that she claim the full deposit from the protection scheme and let the landlord put forward their evcidence to support their claim.

bouicca21

Id be asking him for evidence of the age and quality of the carpet. If it as at all worn I would be suggesting that it had reached the end of its life and therefore nothing would be due.

sammyjammy

Thanks all for the advice.

Sam