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Deposit disagreement - am I in the right?
Jaffapig
Posts: 79 Forumite
Hi all, sorry another deposit deductions thread.
Haven't got as far as that really - we've vacated the house with two weeks left on tenancy and landlord has asked us to do some work to return the house as we found it.
My issue is he is asking us to repair some cracking in the bathroom paintwork. This has only arisen in specific areas where you can see there was once a border and some sea shapes stuck to the wall. It's clearly been painted over at some point or the adhesive was left before painting and has since caused gradual small scale cracking of the paint during the course of our tenancy. We have nothing to do with the painting over whatever was there before, it occurred before our tenancy. We have ventilated and heated that bathroom and there is no damage to the paintwork in any other area. He wants us to sand down and repaint the cracked areas but I feel we are not responsible for that as it is caused by someone else's shoddy workmanship. He says we should return the bathroom to how it was when 'we found it'. Not sure that's quite the way it should work? Don't know if it classes as wear and tear but is certainly not caused by anything we have done.
The second point is we cracked the corner of the glass hob. We glued the edge back on and have used the hob without issue ever since as it is just a small edge which comes nowhere near the functional part of the hob. I know it's not ideal but he tells us we haven't repaired it because it's not 'as we found it'. Personally I think he is angling for a new glass top but I would argue it's wear and tear. If it was my own hob I wouldn't replace the entire thing because of a small crack at the edge.
I don't want to keep going back and forth with him arguing as we are never going to agree. I'm likely going to suggest we let the TDS decide. Do you think this is a sensible approach?
Haven't got as far as that really - we've vacated the house with two weeks left on tenancy and landlord has asked us to do some work to return the house as we found it.
My issue is he is asking us to repair some cracking in the bathroom paintwork. This has only arisen in specific areas where you can see there was once a border and some sea shapes stuck to the wall. It's clearly been painted over at some point or the adhesive was left before painting and has since caused gradual small scale cracking of the paint during the course of our tenancy. We have nothing to do with the painting over whatever was there before, it occurred before our tenancy. We have ventilated and heated that bathroom and there is no damage to the paintwork in any other area. He wants us to sand down and repaint the cracked areas but I feel we are not responsible for that as it is caused by someone else's shoddy workmanship. He says we should return the bathroom to how it was when 'we found it'. Not sure that's quite the way it should work? Don't know if it classes as wear and tear but is certainly not caused by anything we have done.
The second point is we cracked the corner of the glass hob. We glued the edge back on and have used the hob without issue ever since as it is just a small edge which comes nowhere near the functional part of the hob. I know it's not ideal but he tells us we haven't repaired it because it's not 'as we found it'. Personally I think he is angling for a new glass top but I would argue it's wear and tear. If it was my own hob I wouldn't replace the entire thing because of a small crack at the edge.
I don't want to keep going back and forth with him arguing as we are never going to agree. I'm likely going to suggest we let the TDS decide. Do you think this is a sensible approach?
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Comments
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The paint I am with you, fair wear and tear on top of shoddy pre-existing work. Having said that, is it worth arguing over 30 minutes work?
The second, damage is damage, not wear and tear. None-the-less the L is not entitled to new-for-old. If the hob needs to be replaced then you should only pay a portion based on the age of the hob.0 -
You are going to have to pay something towards the new hob because you damaged it. The landlord can't let the property again with a damaged hob but you won't have to pay for a new hob. He can't get new for old.0
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I see your points both, thank you (though he can let the property with a small crack in the glass corner! I've been using it like that for years it is very small!) I will offer a contribution to replacement.0
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OK landlord wants us to pay for the whole thing...0
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How long were you in the property?0
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How old is it? What did it cost? And how long is it expected to last?
Use those figures to work out your obligation. He can't have a new one as that is betterment. He's entitled to the cost of a similar secondhand one in good nick.0 -
Whatever deposit scheme your landlord used will ultimately decide the cost of replacing the hob if you can't agree, my worry would be they look at a labor charge that's probably more than the hob will cost anyway, plus say £50 towards the hob. Might be cheaper to get it replaced yourself or by a cheap tradesman than let landlord send quote inflated by £100 to deposit scheme. Cynic me? Never.Mr Generous - Landlord for more than 10 years. Generous? - Possibly but sarcastic more likely.0
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We've lived there 3.5 yrsjbainbridge wrote: »How long were you in the property?0 -
How old is it? What did it cost? And how long is it expected to last?
Use those figures to work out your obligation. He can't have a new one as that is betterment. He's entitled to the cost of a similar secondhand one in good nick.
It must be 5 or more years. Is an IKEA one and a new one looks to be £195. Don't know how long you'd expect it to last tbh. It was already heavily stained on two rings when we moved in.
I have offered to contribute to its replacement but not pay for whole thing but they're not happy with this.0
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