Cigarette Burn on carpet - how much deposit should I deduct?

Dyna123

My tenant has left a cigarette burn on the carpet in my rented property. There is no way to disguise or repair it. The lease states that it is a non smoking property. I have also found cigarette ends and a lighter in the sofa. How much rent can/should I deduct from the deposit?

quotememiserable

How old was the carpet when he moved in? I'll be interested to hear the answers to this one.

googler

Apart from the cigarette burn, what's the general condition of the carpet?

booksurr

you are a LL yet have not researched the concept of "betterment"?

your carpet cost £A to buy brand new. At point of purchase it had B years expected lifespan. It is now C years old

your deduction = £A - (A x C/B)

your tenant will naturally object and claim that only area D out of the total square area of the carpet (E) is affected by the burn so the true deduction should be A - ((A x C/B)) x D/E)

the deposit protection body you used will also have their own view on what is "fair" and that will be that ...

moneyistooshorttomention

...and a layperson in the street like me would think "Now what would I do if it were my own carpet in my own home?" and go off and buy a totally new carpet and mentally deduct the proportion of the old carpets lifespan I had had the use of.

So it would go, for instance:

New carpet to same standard = £400
Expected lifespan of carpet 20 years
Carpet was 10 years old
Therefore I would require £200 for the 10 years lifespan the tenant had prevented me having by that burn

There is another consideration though that you seem to have overlooked. That is - you can prove the tenant wasnt allowed to smoke there. You can prove he did smoke there. You will need to clean that place extremely thoroughly and even redecorate it in order to restore it to what a non-smoker would expect (ie not smelling of smoke).

So - in your position - I'd not just get a new carpet and charge him appropriate portion of its cost. I would also redecorate the rooms he had smoked in and generally give the place one heck of a major clean-up and I would bill him for that too.

NB; You can probably find the research somewhere online that I've read about they've recently proved third-hand cigarette smoke can have an effect on people even (ie the smoke hanging around in the curtains etc in a smokers place). Personally - I'd be printing that off.

bouicca21

Gosh for once I agree with Money! It's not just the carpet - get the place cleaned at their expense. The smell of cigarette smoke makes me physically sick, and I doubt I'm the only one to have that reaction.

You have of course taken photos to prove they were smoking inside?

AnotherJoe

Another upvote for Money's post regarding redecorating.
Take them, almost literally, to the cleaners

Mgman1965

They will of course refute your claim of them smoking in the house and deny it.

They will claim the lighter and fag ends are not theirs and most likely claim they were left over from a previous tenant.

How long were they there ? Was the house not inspected 3/6 monthly as houses that are smoked in do smell, especially noticeable to a non smoker and that should have been noticed and put in writing on the inspection.

It's a tough one if not been documented and will come down to your word against their denials and the deposit tribunal would have to decide who is most believable so could go either way.

SnooksNJ

According to one poster on here if you don't do regular inspection's and use the right estate agent it's actually your fault for the damage and not the tenant's.

Miss_Samantha

SnooksNJ wrote: »

According to one poster on here if you don't do regular inspection's and use the right estate agent it's actually your fault for the damage and not the tenant's.

It's not...

googler

Miss_Samantha wrote: »

It's not...

Don't be so coy. Tell us why, at least.