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Paying for damaged carpet in rented flat - overcharging!
mystra
Posts: 295 Forumite
Hello!
Just moved out of a 3-bed flat i was sharing with my mate and one other person (he stayed behind, but a whole new contract was drawn up, flat was professionally cleaned including carpets - the usual)
I paid double deposit for myself as I have two cats. (about £1300)
The there is carpet through out the flat - one bedroom had new carpet just before we moved in - the rest is the same carpet - wool, beige. Before moving in it is noted in the inventory that there were yellow/orange stains from previous tenants, a huge hole in the living room carpet from moths eating it :eek: and worn edges on some of the stairs (including the stairs this will be about). Basically this carpet, aside from one bedroom, was probably due to be replaced even before we moved in two years ago, but seeing as she was allowing pets in i can understand why she wouldn't bother.
Now the downstairs hallway has three stairs splitting it, one of this stairs has unfortunately been ravaged by one of the cats, and yes needs to be replaced. Understandably the hall carpet either end (the landings) would also need to be replaced. My landlord agreed I would pay a contribution as the carpet was very old anyway and showing clear wear on the edges of the steps (this is what my cat liked i think - she could get at the threading under the fluffy part
)
Fairly straight forward no? I'm co-operative and understand damage has been caused but I don't have to pay for "betterment".
She has sent me a quote from Carpet Right for nearly £900!!
The quote is for 10.99 per sq meter carpet (she claims she is at least buying cheaper carpet than the original wool carpet - although why would you buy wool again in a house with a serious moth issue I do not know!) Fair enough - her property she can choose whatever carpet she wants - i probably would have no leg to argue if she quoted for the expensive stuff. The quote is also for grippers, fitting and underlay. Fine ok.
What I am not ok with is the fact that her breakdown of costs (she gave the total of the carpet, the total of the underlay etc) works out that she wants to replace 38 SQUARE METERS OF CARPET :mad::mad::eek:
This is not a large hall way. I don't have the measurements, but it's fairly average sized. My bedroom there was only 10.5m square. and the landings were no where near that big each.
I've not replied to her email yet.
Deposit is in DPS so at least it is protected. Annoyingly I am the lead tenant and all the deposit goes to me to give back to the others. My mate doesn't mind, but I'm waiting for the other guy to moan about the delay. She says if i agree she will release the remainder of the deposit this week.
I wish she had said she was going to do this before i forked out for carpet cleaning as well because she has been round recently and would have seen the steps in question! I paid for the whole house to have carpet cleaning because of my cats, i wanted it to be as clean as possible, what a waste of money
Would appreciate any help!
Just moved out of a 3-bed flat i was sharing with my mate and one other person (he stayed behind, but a whole new contract was drawn up, flat was professionally cleaned including carpets - the usual)
I paid double deposit for myself as I have two cats. (about £1300)
The there is carpet through out the flat - one bedroom had new carpet just before we moved in - the rest is the same carpet - wool, beige. Before moving in it is noted in the inventory that there were yellow/orange stains from previous tenants, a huge hole in the living room carpet from moths eating it :eek: and worn edges on some of the stairs (including the stairs this will be about). Basically this carpet, aside from one bedroom, was probably due to be replaced even before we moved in two years ago, but seeing as she was allowing pets in i can understand why she wouldn't bother.
Now the downstairs hallway has three stairs splitting it, one of this stairs has unfortunately been ravaged by one of the cats, and yes needs to be replaced. Understandably the hall carpet either end (the landings) would also need to be replaced. My landlord agreed I would pay a contribution as the carpet was very old anyway and showing clear wear on the edges of the steps (this is what my cat liked i think - she could get at the threading under the fluffy part
)Fairly straight forward no? I'm co-operative and understand damage has been caused but I don't have to pay for "betterment".
She has sent me a quote from Carpet Right for nearly £900!!
The quote is for 10.99 per sq meter carpet (she claims she is at least buying cheaper carpet than the original wool carpet - although why would you buy wool again in a house with a serious moth issue I do not know!) Fair enough - her property she can choose whatever carpet she wants - i probably would have no leg to argue if she quoted for the expensive stuff. The quote is also for grippers, fitting and underlay. Fine ok.
What I am not ok with is the fact that her breakdown of costs (she gave the total of the carpet, the total of the underlay etc) works out that she wants to replace 38 SQUARE METERS OF CARPET :mad::mad::eek:
This is not a large hall way. I don't have the measurements, but it's fairly average sized. My bedroom there was only 10.5m square. and the landings were no where near that big each.
I've not replied to her email yet.
Deposit is in DPS so at least it is protected. Annoyingly I am the lead tenant and all the deposit goes to me to give back to the others. My mate doesn't mind, but I'm waiting for the other guy to moan about the delay. She says if i agree she will release the remainder of the deposit this week.
I wish she had said she was going to do this before i forked out for carpet cleaning as well because she has been round recently and would have seen the steps in question! I paid for the whole house to have carpet cleaning because of my cats, i wanted it to be as clean as possible, what a waste of money
Would appreciate any help!
0
Comments
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Simple. Prove the condition before, to the DPS arbitrators, and let them resolve it.
There's no way she'll be able to claim betterment, and there's probably a join in the carpet at the top of the stairs anyway.0 -
It sounds as though she is lookin for betterment - what is the total cost of the carpets? I can't see that she could claim for more than a very small proportion reflecting the age of the carpet and the small area damaged by your cat.
And arguably the splitting due to age means that she would have needed to replace the stair carpet anyway so there is no loss at all to her as a result of the cats having scratched the stair carpet.
How old was the exisiting carpet?
You could offer her what you think is reasonable, and / or simply claim the depaosit from the protection schemeAll posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)0 -
it just seems like she is replacing a lot more carpet than the damaged bit. I'm not giving her half towards replacing all her carpets when only one area is damaged. 38 sq m of carpet is ludicrous - half of that would be 19 m sq - i doubt the hall and the 3 steps are even that much!0
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It sounds as though she is lookin for betterment - what is the total cost of the carpets? I can't see that she could claim for more than a very small proportion reflecting the age of the carpet and the small area damaged by your cat.
And arguably the splitting due to age means that she would have needed to replace the stair carpet anyway so there is no loss at all to her as a result of the cats having scratched the stair carpet.
How old was the exisiting carpet?
You could offer her what you think is reasonable, and / or simply claim the depaosit from the protection scheme
Not sure - they were very worn and the moth attacks everywhere wouldn't have helped. Moth damage did not worsen while we were there at least, well at least what was visible to the inventory man.
If it had been my home (as in owned and living in it) i would have replaced that carpet two years ago as it was so tatty in general. And not with wool - why give the moths more food lol.
So the quote is as follows
Carpet £417.62 (£10.99 per square metre)
Underlay £279.65 (£7.99 per square metre)
Grippers (for edges) £37.25
Fitting and service charges £159
TOTAL £893.52
50/50 split = £446.76.
I find it very crafty that she would break down the cost so much yet not say how many square meters is actually involved. But if you work it out of course it's ridiculous!0 -
I'd be querying the gripper & underlay charges as well - what's wrong with the existing?0
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ciderboy2009 wrote: »I'd be querying the gripper & underlay charges as well - what's wrong with the existing?
it's probably as ragged as the tatty carpet. In fairness the cats did scratch into the underlay on the damaged step, so i would be liable to pay towards that0 -
I've replied to the landlord politely asking what square meters of carpet the quote is for, just so we can have that figure in black and white!0
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landlord has just replied with 38 sq meters (literally just that)
I'm so cross!0 -
any advice on how to word a reply would be greatly appreciated, other than me not replying yet as i am still very much seeing red!0
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