Damaged kitchen worktop - landlord wants to replace?

caprikid1

Sounds like some drunken idiot tried opening bottles of beer on the worktop corner.
If feel for you OP but I would get quotes for a new worktop, lots of landlords rent high end houses in London, lots of people are relocating and renting out their old house. It is tough for the ex home owner and the new tenant in these situations expectations are often unrealistic and tenants find themselves stuck in the middle.
Personally I would try a repair, there is so much difference it has to be worth a shot. Shame you had told them , chances are they don't have good enough photo's to prove it was not like that.

deannagone

I agree with the above.  Try a repair.  £30 for a kit (try on an unseen/less obvious part of the granite first).., get it as good as you can, then take a photo when you move out.  I suspect the LL will have problems proving anything else is needed. It just needs to look good in the photo.

A lot of people don't realise granite needs maintaining because its 'stone'.., and can get charged if the granite is looking a bit sorry for itself when they leave.  Try this link https://www.planetgranite.co.uk/blog/karens-kitchens/granite-worktop-maintenance/

[Deleted User]

Landlord should learn the life lesson not to put £4k countertops in a rental!

Nothing wrong with this for next time!:

https://www.savoytimber.com/rossini-granite-laminate-kitchen-worktop-3000-x-600-x-28mm.html

GDB2222

If this were my own house, and I had damaged an expensive worktop, I might well try a chip repair, rather than replacing the worktop. I'd accept that it is not as it was, but I'd be £000s better off. 

I'm struggling to see what an adjudicator would say? Is a cheap repair good enough? If the owner gets the worktop replaced, that might well sway the adjudicator.

Besides that, I'm not convinced that the owner needs to agree to using the arbitration scheme? 

Greymug

tangerine27 said:

theoretica said:

I suggest against letting the landlord replace the counter now - you really wouldn't want any risk of damaging it again! 

Yes, as a house we've basically decided that it's going to happen at the end of the tenancy, and not right now!

good, now from today until when the damage is repaired ask for a reduced rent because a chipped kitchen top can be a hazard. If it's sharp you may accidentally slice your hand open or you may "accidentally" damage your clothes if they get caught.

Now go take all your oldest clothes, "accidentally" damage them on the kitchen top and ask the landlord for the right compensation because it's their hazardous kitchen top what has caused the damage. That's how you do it.

pbartlett

since you don't know how it happened, could it have been a faulty work surface that had inherent flaws and stresses in it all along? rocks do fall apart.