Paying for damaged carpet in rented flat - overcharging!

mystra

LL does not know the age of the carpet. I believe there were tenants before us (not sure how long for, but at least a year i imagine) and I think she lived there herself at some point. Which makes me think they are very old if she does not know how old they are!

Mossfarr

As you said it is the same carpet throughout the flat (except one bedroom) there is another option to consider......
Pay towards the cost of replacement of the carpet in the SMALLEST room in the house and use the carpet from that room to repair/replace the stair carpet - its guaranteed to match! Stair carpeting is often done in pieces anyway.
Having said that I agree with previous posters, you have a very strong case to challenge any deductions due to the age & condition when you moved in.
Your landlady is trying it on!

bouicca21

Might be worth checking land registry sold prices to see when she bought. Arguably if she does not know how old it is (I hope you have that in writing) it may have been fitted by the previous owner.

The lifetime of a carpet, depending on its quality, is going to be 5-10 years. If she has her taxes in order she will have been allowing for depreciation at that sort of level.

mystra

i have emailed her asking her why she wants to carpet 38 sq meters on my bill basically. And asked if the underlay of the whole area has been damaged by my cats, and brought up "betterment"

I am trying not to worry but this has really wound me up!

mystra

she basically wants to replace the entire halls and staircases of the house because it "wont match" otherwise. There is a full staircase into the house, and another one that goes upstairs to an upstairs hallway which the cats rarely went up as I was in the downstairs room! This is beyond ridiculous. Suddenly she cares so much about the aesthetics of the place, but it's fine to have moth eaten carpets in the house and mould on the inside of exterior walls (sorry whole other issue!)

AdrianC

Why are you even bothering trying to convince the landlady? Just dispute it with the DPS, fertheloveofgawd. She will get nowhere. Given the age and condition of the carpet when you moved in, you may have to pay nothing.

dgtazzman

Seeing as the LL doesn't know how old the carpets are, she will also have no receipts of any kind for them to prove residual value. Her case is hopeless. Upgrade it to a claim right now, go through the process and get your deposit back. Stop trying to be nice, it gets you nowhere with this type of person, as I found out with my previous LL (who's dispute over a 20 quid kettle might see me report her to the council for council tax evasion on her rental property for the last 10 years as soon as I get back to the UK from work abroad).

parkrunner

AdrianC wrote: »

Why are you even bothering trying to convince the landlady? Just dispute it with the DPS, fertheloveofgawd. She will get nowhere. Given the age and condition of the carpet when you moved in, you may have to pay nothing.

This and nothing else, just ignore her.

mystra

yeah you guys are right, diplomacy has ended i think!

mystra

I don't even know where to start this on the DPS site.... am i being thick? I've logged in and I can see my deposit details. Is it "start a single claim" or "request a repayment" ?