Stain on radiator - fair wear and tear?

minikc123

I'm in a bit of a dispute with my landlord and am wondering what the law is and what's fair.
During summer while the storage heaters were off we pushed the sofa up closer to the wall to save space. While moving out we discovered that this left a blue dye transfer on a section of the storage heater (about 3 inches by 8 inches).

The storage heater model has since been discontinued and I can't find spare parts anywhere to replace the cover. I've tried everything to remove the stain but there is no budging it.

My landlord is insinuating that I am going to have to pay to replace the entire thing and new storage heaters cost £600+. I think this is unfair as it still works perfectly and it is an outdated heater anyway with similar models being sold for around £100 online.

What do you think? Is this fair wear and tear? Can they make me pay for an entirely new heater?

tom9980

minikc123 wrote: »

I'm in a bit of a dispute with my landlord and am wondering what the law is and what's fair.
During summer while the storage heaters were off we pushed the sofa up closer to the wall to save space. While moving out we discovered that this left a blue dye transfer on a section of the storage heater (about 3 inches by 8 inches).

The storage heater model has since been discontinued and I can't find spare parts anywhere to replace the cover. I've tried everything to remove the stain but there is no budging it.

My landlord is insinuating that I am going to have to pay to replace the entire thing and new storage heaters cost £600+. I think this is unfair as it still works perfectly and it is an outdated heater anyway with similar models being sold for around £100 online.

What do you think? Is this fair wear and tear? Can they make me pay for an entirely new heater?

It is damage.

What the Landlord proposes is called betterment and that is not allowed either.

Is your deposit protected?

read this: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67759912&postcount=3

skint_chick

Have you tried Astonish oven cleaner? You can get it in pound shops and B&M bargains. It worked wonders shifting stains from economy 7 heaters in my friends flat - they had some really weird brown stains on :eek:

G_M

What do you think? Is this fair wear and tear? Can they make me pay for an entirely new heater?

No it's not wear & tear, it's damage. Entire new heater? See below.....

tom9980 wrote: »

It is damage.

What the Landlord proposes is called betterment and that is not allowed either.

Is your deposit protected?

read this: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67759912&postcount=3

You are right Tom that 'betterment' is not allowed, but to be honest, storage heaters last forever!

So OK, lets give that storage heater a natural life of, what, 30 years? So the next question is 'how old is it?' OP gives no indication how long the tenancy has been, nor how long the heater may have been there prior to her tenancy.

For the sakeof argument, let's say it's 10 years old - so 2/3s of its life remains. So the LL can claim 2/3s of the £600 replacement cost which is.... ummm.... well, someone help me out here!

On the other hand, it does seem hard to make the tenant pay £400 to replace a working storage heater - I wonder what the arbitrators would decide? Only one way to find out: raise a dispute. It's free.

pinkladyvenus

we had a stain on our storage heater and sprayed stain with can of radiator paint which worked will and covered it.


https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-appliance-radiator-spray-white-400ml/p/0413887

shinytop

OP, as well as repairing the damage with radiator spray paint you could respray the whole cover. Lots of youtube videos available. Or if you're not confident doing it yourself, find a powder coating company and get the whole thing done, assuming the cover comes off and it's metal. It won't be that expensive.