is this too much wear and tear / damage?

damino

Hi

I am enquiring on behalf of a friend of mine.. They're renting a flat and it must be that they haven't been keeping the kitchen top dry, because it has developed some rust.

They've sent me some pictures which i've included. I'd like to know if their landlord is likely to make an issue of it before they leave. Like, would it be considered damage, or reasonable wear and tear? I've included some pictures

http://imgur.com/a/U640C

there are some white dots in the first picture i'm not sure what that is maybe the camera light was funny, but they're not that visible.

there is some visible rust on and around the hobs, as shown in the pictures.

And there's a strange mark visible in the second and last picture. It doesn't look like rust but it's visible and doesn't seem to go.

I'm wondering if the landlord would expect my friend to replace the whole unit.. or if they'd even take an interest in that kind of wear and tear / damage after a year of use?


Thanks

fairy_lights

It looks to me like it just needs a really thorough clean with a strong oven cleaner. The sink in particular looks like it's got some ingrained dirt rather than rust. What have they tried using on it to clean it so far?

damino

a sponge and even a metal scourer one which I think scratched it a bit.

I will look into an oven cleaner..

suppose the rust and the other quite visible mark or two(as you say, ingrained dirt) don't come off, would a landlord be completely unreasonable if they said he had to replace the whole unit for damage done to it? Also I wonder what about if they almost never clean it and in another year it ends up many times worse. I already helped them by giving it a clean. I wonder at what stage a landlord would say it's damage and should be replaced?

moneyistooshorttomention

I think we can only give our own views on that. I've done similar before now - to my own property.

It was basically my own doing - ie I hate cleaning and hence try to minimise it.

End result was = I paid to replace it (chucked the cooker concerned and bought a new one).

I'd advise your friend to give it a darn good clean and hope it comes up back to normal, followed by continuing to keep it clean. If it does get back to normal = okay. If it doesn't get back to normal - I'd be asking for replacement costs if I were the landlord.

shortcrust

How do you rust a sink? My mum's draining board doesn't drain and has water on it most of the time and it still gleams if you give it a gentle wipe. I'd be suggesting the landlord turned to the manufacturer if he tried to charge me. The oven looks bad though. More the Socrates than the rust (autocorrect - obviously that should be scratches but I've left if because it made me laugh.:)).

Cakeguts

The stuff that is on the hob looks like burnt on food to me. The whole thing just needs a better clean. The sink needs to be cleaned better.

TheGardener

Nothing there that elbow grease and a good cleaner,wont fix. Try not to use steel wool pan scrubs though as they scratch and dull the surface. Stainless steel sinks don't rust. You need a proper oven cleaner for the hob and a multi purpose cleaner and a bit of effort for the sink.

edwink

As far as I am aware (maybe someone would correct if needed) you are allowed 10% wear and tear on a private rented property. Well it was 10% when we rented several years ago.

With the hob plates I agree with others that it needs a jolly good clean with an oven cleaning spray or something similar. The black plates on the hob themselves can be spruced up by buying some black stove grate polish. If they are the slightly porous type that will take the stove grate polish ok. Can not see clearly from your photos what the surface of the hob plates are made from.

Are the scratches that visible to the naked eye? Just wondering if they are looking so bad in the photos because of the flash on the camera showing them up more.

HTH

Edwink

Upsidedown_Bear

Some of this....



And....



With some elbow grease....

Lloyd90

edwink wrote: »

As far as I am aware (maybe someone would correct if needed) you are allowed 10% wear and tear on a private rented property. Well it was 10% when we rented several years ago.

With the hob plates I agree with others that it needs a jolly good clean with an oven cleaning spray or something similar. The black plates on the hob themselves can be spruced up by buying some black stove grate polish. If they are the slightly porous type that will take the stove grate polish ok. Can not see clearly from your photos what the surface of the hob plates are made from.

Are the scratches that visible to the naked eye? Just wondering if they are looking so bad in the photos because of the flash on the camera showing them up more.

HTH

Edwink

I believe 10% wear and tear allowance was what the landlord count have tax free from the rent.

1) This is no longer allowed, and,
2) it would make no difference to the tenants leaving the place with damage etc.

How can you claim the amount of damage someone has left as a percentage?

imho

If that's the state of the sink and hob what's the rest of the flat like?
They must have known they were moving out ages ago so should have started cleaning the flat up.
Or better still not let it get like that in first place.