Furniture wear and tear question

healz

Hi all,

I'm currently renting a furnished property that I hope to move out of soon.
I have a question to do with the funiture...
Basically, there are 2 leather sofas that I know for sure have been on the go for about 5 years - I am the 2nd tenant and the furniture has not been replaced since the first tenants. The leather has what are termed: 'stress rips' by those in the know. Also, the leather is probably not 100% leather considering it is for use in a rental property.
To make matters worse, my 2 year old daughter loves nothing more than to poke and pull at the bits of leather that are literally hanging on for dear life!
I obviously need my deposit to move out. Am I responsible? Is this beyond normal wear and tear? anyone been in a similar bind?
Advice etc please!

Thanks

djimi

If your daughter has been pulling lumps out of the leather then Id say that is beyond what would be considered normal wear and tear and the landlord would be within their right to seek the cost of repairs.

athtrasna

A leather sofa would be bought for longevity purposes and would be expected to last significantly longer than 5 years. I would consider this to be above and beyond normal wear and tear. Particularly if you have allowed your daughter to increase the damage. Not what you wanted to hear but unless you have a very generous landlord I would be expecting deductions for this damage.

healz

I see what both of you are saying, but the leather (I think it's that plasticky leather mix) split along a stitch line in the middle, in the exact same way on both sofas, I didn't take a knife to it or anything!
My daughter is 2 and tears to fabric are incredibly fascinating to a child of that age. I can't realistically keep her away from the sofas, neither can I stick anything on the leather because if its taken off it will take the leather with it.

odds_on

healz wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm currently renting a furnished property that I hope to move out of soon.
I have a question to do with the funiture...
Basically, there are 2 leather sofas that I know for sure have been on the go for about 5 years - I am the 2nd tenant and the furniture has not been replaced since the first tenants. The leather has what are termed: 'stress rips' by those in the know. Also, the leather is probably not 100% leather considering it is for use in a rental property.
To make matters worse, my 2 year old daughter loves nothing more than to poke and pull at the bits of leather that are literally hanging on for dear life!
I obviously need my deposit to move out. Am I responsible? Is this beyond normal wear and tear? anyone been in a similar bind?
Advice etc please!

Thanks

I would go along with the two previous posters and say that it is not all wear and tear considering what your daughter was doing.

However, was there a detailed entry inventory? If there was not, then the landlord would have a very hard time convincing any PRTB adjudicator that the damage was caused by your family and that it was not at least partly damaged before you took up occupancy.

Again, the landlord cannot claim the replacement cost of a new sofa - the landlord cannot seek betterment. In this case, I think it only fair that you should pay something towards replacement/repair unless you want to take it to the PRTB where you might expect an adjudication in your favour in a year or two.

healz

To be honest I expect this will go against me in getting my full deposit back, I just wasn't sure if the fact that it split due to wear and tear and then my daughter started pulling little bits off would go in my favour!! The rest of the furniture is in perfect order and there's no other damage to anything else. I even bought my daughter her own little soft chair so she wouldn't be sitting on the sofas in the hope that she wouldn't fiddle with the split pieces but of course she climbs up on the sofas...
I wouldn't go down the road of disputing it, I've no problem paying for a repair since I am effectively responsible for the additional damage.
Thank you for your replies...

athtrasna

A throw or a blanket that completely covers the couch should have prevented your daughter from adding to any damage to the "leather"?

P. Breathnach

Leather is 100% leather or it is not leather at all.

For tax purposes, the landlord is allowed write off 12.5% of the value of the contents of the property each year. That implies that the sofas should have an expected life of 8 years. You can reasonably argue that your liability should not exceed 3/8ths of the original purchase price.

healz

athtrasna wrote: »

A throw or a blanket that completely covers the couch should have prevented your daughter from adding to any damage to the "leather"?

Both sofas are actually covered, one with a blanket and one with a huge throw, to prevent further damage.
I do have respect for my landlord's furniture! The 'leather' only seemed to split last weekend (that's when I first noticed it) and my daughter discovered it during the week so I covered them both so she couldnt access the splits.
The splits are due to wear and tear, my daughter just discovered them and was a little curious unfortunately.

Also, just to add this, the throws are not really that effective. They slip down all the time because the leather - or whatever it is - hasnt the best traction.

healz

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Leather is 100% leather or it is not leather at all.

For tax purposes, the landlord is allowed write off 12.5% of the value of the contents of the property each year. That implies that the sofas should have an expected life of 8 years. You can reasonably argue that your liability should not exceed 3/8ths of the original purchase price.

Thanks for that info...no doubt it could come in handy.

healz

djimi wrote: »

If your daughter has been pulling lumps out of the leather then Id say that is beyond what would be considered normal wear and tear and the landlord would be within their right to seek the cost of repairs.

Just to clarify, she hasn't been pulling lumps out of the leather, the amount of damage she actually caused is less than that of the 'wear and tear'. She saw the split and tugged at a piece of it and it tore a little more, comparable to the size of an old pound coin.