Tenant damaged carpet do I have to replace?

kazire

Hi, looking for some clarity on this situation,

Tenant moved in with new carpet in hallway, tenant turned out to have a dog.


It appears from the images the dog has been pawing at the doorways presumably being shut out.

Now the tenant has cut the carpet and is now claiming "this is not fair wear and tear but this is the damage that happens due to ill fitted carpets that don’t quite meet the edges.
The hoover picks up the fibres now and again and has done ever since we moved in gradually getting worse and worse.
Please explain this to the landlord. Please also explain that ill-fitting carpets cause the sharp pointy grips to become exposed occasionally pricking mine and my young children's feet making them bleed every so often"


Where do my responsibilities lie with regards to this as tenant has damaged but now it is a hazard?

Many thanks
Edit had to remove photos

maninthestreet

If the tenant has cut the carpet, they are responsible for the damage they caused. Did you know the tenant was keeping a dog in the property?

G_M

If you believe that there is a hazard (eg sharp carpet grippers) which was caused by the way the carpet was fitting, then you will need to remove the hazard.

If you believe that the hazard has been caused by the dog, you should make this clear to the tenant, and warn him that at the end of the tenancy you expect the damage to be rectified, either by him or from his deposit.

it sounds as if this will escalate into a dispute though. In which case it might end up with the depsoit scheme arbitrators, or the courts.

Do you have evidence from the start of the tenancy?
* an inventory, signed by the tenant, stating the carpet was newly fitted & in good condition?
* photos of the carpet?
* receipt from the carpet fitter?

It might also be worth getting your carpet fitter to come back (could be worth paying him for this?). He could then either rectify the problem (if it was a fitting problem, or provide expert evidence that it was caused by the dog.

I have to ask, of course, why the tenant has a dog. Your tenancy agreement surely prohibits this..........

kazire

Not initially, however now have an additional pet deposit. Yes I do have pictures of the Carpet when fitted on the inventory. I have visited the property today and the tenant is not overly looking after the property, so aware if I did replace to keep the peace it would be ruined again

G_M

So leave it till the end of the tenancy.

but cover yourself against a claim at that time that the problem was your fault ("this is not fair wear and tear but this is the damage that happens due to ill fitted carpets that don’t quite meet the edges.
The hoover picks up the fibres now and again and has done ever since we moved in")

* Write to the tenant (yes a formal letter) politely pointing out that the damage is dog-related

* consider getting the carpet fitter to examine/report

maninthestreet

So why did the tenant cut the carpet???

KingS6

I don't think the tenant is the sharpest knife in the drawer to be frank from what you've stated. They could have tried to say it was fair wear & tear but instead chose to extrapolate the issue and claim it was poor fitting. Then try to top it off by claiming it was causing injury to their children. (Hoping perhaps to provoke a sympathetic response).

I'm sure if the carpet being poorly fitted had caused personal injuries they would have taken some snaps straight away and been on the blower to you threatening a claim.

bouicca21

Did you actually have a carpet fitter or did you do it yourself? Because tbh it does look like an amateur job and I'm not surprised that relying on carpet gripper in a high traffic area rather than tucking the carpet under the threshold has caused problems.

Marvel1

Is it just me or can I see when looking at the other photos there is roots growing from the inside?

Tygermoth

Living in a cheap rental - i had the same issue with a carpet - i didn't have a dog so that made the situation more clear cut. The hoover did pull the long plastic silver fibres out where the carpet had shrunk away from the gripper and caused a pull line similar to what you can see running on the photo. You would try to be careful round the pulled area but those silver strands would just leap out at you.

We also had to 'trim'* the area as the long silver strands would suddenly appear with homicidal tendencies and liked to catch an unsuspecting toe or shoe heel.

It was a cheap carpet with no underlay so moved in high traffic areas.

Looking at the other photos it does look like a really bad fitting carpet IMHO

Luckily, in my case the landlord was aware of the issues with the carpet as he had it fitted on the cheap through a number of his houses and they were all having the same problem.

'buy cheap, buy twice' was all he muttered when he saw the hall flooring.

deposit was returned in full.

*note trim, we did not hack or cut off sections of the carpet - just trim the frayed edges

warby68

I'm a neutral observer.

To me they look like pull lines rather than cuts and the carpet is some distance back from the gripper rods and that looks dangerous.

It does LOOK like a bodge.

It could have been 'arranged' like that I suppose with a bit of a pull here and there but not sure there is anything that suggests its dog related.

Sorry, but if someone asked me to judge purely based on the photos I would say it looks like poor fitting.

I'd get it refitted because of the exposed gripper rods to protect myself from further claims.