Renting a new place - bed & mattress are in a bad way

PrettyBoy

How's it going folks, not sure if this is the right place to post this but I just wanted to ask for some advice on how to approach this issue.

I moved into a new apartment at the start of January. Been here two months and all's good for the most part but the bed in my room is in a bad way and I haven't been sleeping well since moving in.

The main issue is the mattress. It's too big for the bed frame and doesn't sit correctly in it. The mattress is very lumpy and is dipping in the middle - I think this may be due to the frame not being strong enough though. When I moved in I found 8-9 Argos catalogues stacked underneath the centre of the bed which I assume was an effort to support the dipped part of the mattress.

The bed frame itself is a cheap, poor quality wooden one. I'd guess that it's been here for around 4-5 years (since the room was first rented) and used by at least 2-3 tenants before me. The footboard was removed at some point and is nowhere to be found. I think it was removed purposely to allow the oversized mattress be squeezed in as there's not a hope it would fit in if the footboard was there. The bed frame is very noisy too when moving around in bed, I really feel that it wasn't put together very well.

In any case, a new bed and mattress is needed. Should the landlord be responsible for this or is it up to me to pay for a new one? An issue here is that the apartment has one small storage room that the landlord is using himself to store his own personal things (including another mattress ironically). If he expects me to get a new bed myself then I'll be disassembling the current bed apart and looking to put it into the storage room where there is no room at the moment and when my tenancy is up at the end of the year I'll be taking my new bed with me.

What is the best way to approach my landlord about this situation?

Lizheen

Not too sure about the rights and obligations aspects, but if you don't want the grief of asking the landlord to sort it, nor the cost of buying, and you can arrange transport, they're regulalarly offered for free on Freecycle groups, or on Jumbletown.ie. I know one can be a bit squeamish about second-hand beds, but, well, hotel beds are kind of comparable.

rossmores

It should be a LL responsibility also you should have noticed during the viewing
I will reuse beds & mattress only if they are in perfect and spotless condition but I employ different standards
you could ask him or if you dont want to draw undue attention and plan to stay long-term have a look on done deal you can pick up some real bargains and might inc delivery maybe square it with ur LL he might even help

Samuel T. Cogley

Would the mattress in storage be a better fit?

dr.fuzzenstein

If the bed is part of the furniture of the apartment, I'd ask the landlord before throwing it out.
Even though is disgusting and unacceptable, he should be in the picture.
Personally I'd ask him for a new bed, if he put it there himself. But I'd prefer my own bed. Or at least mattress.
On a side note, I think it's disgusting to provide a bed in a rented dwelling. Bad enough in a hotel.
I would just have to think of all the people eating, sweating, farting and losing bodily fluids (I can think of at least 5) in there over the months and years. Sweaty, smelly, disgusting, unwashed people.
On change of tenant, mattress should be burned in a furnace for the sake of public health.
In most civilised countries apartments come unfurnished, which is the correct way. If I want to fill my own apartment with cheap, crappy furniture, that's my own problem, but everyone should have their own choice.

ongarboy

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Personally I'd ask him for a new bed, if he put it there himself. But I'd prefer my own bed. Or at least mattress.
On a side note, I think it's disgusting to provide a bed in a rented dwelling. Bad enough in a hotel.

Are you saying hotel guests should also have the option of bringing their own mattresses with them???

dr.fuzzenstein

ongarboy wrote: »

Are you saying hotel guests should also have the option of bringing their own mattresses with them???

Obviously not for practical reasons. I'm talking about rented (italics for clarity) accommodation.
You just have to know that other people have been farting, sweating, pi**ing, sh*tting, f*%cking, menstruating, eating and drooling in there.
For that reason I think that beds being provided in rented accommodation is a bad idea.
You just know some sweaty, smelly, unwashed pig did all the above in the bed you're now sleeping in. And that over the course of months and even years.
And you're sleeping in dustmites that have been feeding on their bodily secretions, except now all that stuff has been through the digestive tract of a dust mite.
In a civilised country you bring your own bed. At least you know you sleep in your own filth.
If you knew how disgusting beds were, you'd never sleep again.

edit:
Add childbirth and death to the above list.

cruizer101

All those things happen in hotels too.

That said I do kinda agree the mattress should probably be replaced in tenancies, bed frame is grand. If I was keeping the existing mattress I'd be lashing on a mattress protector or two.

OP are you renting the apartment as a whole, or is it a sharing situation.
I wouldn't be happy about the LL using some of it for storage if you are renting the whole thing.
Get on to them anyway and see what they say about either replacing or getting rid and you getting your own

PrettyBoy

rossmores wrote: »

It should be a LL responsibility also you should have noticed during the viewing

It would've been quite difficult to notice during the viewing as the bed had a duvet over it and covering the end where the footboard was. At a glance it looked like a regular bed, it was only when I moved and in that I discovered how bad the condition of the mattress was and the Argos catalogues stacked underneath the bed.

rossmores wrote: »

I will reuse beds & mattress only if they are in perfect and spotless condition but I employ different standards

I'm really just looking to get a general consensus on whether I should apporach my landlord about replacing the bed himself. He won't be keen on the idea of paying for it himself, that's for sure. This is only my second rental property and in my first place there was a brand new high quality bed and mattress when I moved in which I used and kept in perfect condition. The bed in my new place is low quality, damaged, the mattress is the wrong size and it feels poorly put together (I've found a large loose bolt underneath the bed which I can only assume should be somewhere on the frame).

I've been sleeping in a decent bed for the last few years so you could probably say my standards are relatively high too but not unreasonable IMO.

PrettyBoy

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Would the mattress in storage be a better fit?

This has crossed my mind too, I'm going to get it out this evening and see is it any better.

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

If the bed is part of the furniture of the apartment, I'd ask the landlord before throwing it out.

Of course, I wouldn't throw it out as it's not mine. I want to tell the landlord that I can't continue to sleep on it and it will be up to him to do what he wants with it, throw it out himself or put it into storage.

PrettyBoy

cruizer101 wrote: »

OP are you renting the apartment as a whole, or is it a sharing situation.
I wouldn't be happy about the LL using some of it for storage if you are renting the whole thing.
Get on to them anyway and see what they say about either replacing or getting rid and you getting your own

I'm sharing with one other guy who's been here for a couple of years. I agree that the landlord using the storage room here for his own personal things isn't really acceptable as we're paying for the whole apartment but we don't have the use the room to store our own things. It's particularly annoying as the other tenant has a couple of large boxes with his things that he keeps in the corner of the shared living room area.

Lux23

We just asked our landlord if we could replace the mattress and he didn't mind. We won't take it with us either.

April 73

You’re entitled to have a bed that isn’t held up by Argos catalogues. Best to have an honest chat with your LL and say the bed isn’t acceptable. He will either replace it or you can buy one yourself & take it with you when you go. Up to the LL to arrange storage for the other one.
Life is too short to sleep on a crap bed!

Tenigate

Maybe you should check to see if there's a pea between the mattress and bed frame.

dr.fuzzenstein

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

If the bed is part of the furniture of the apartment, I'd ask the landlord before throwing it out.
Even though is disgusting and unacceptable, he should be in the picture.
Personally I'd ask him for a new bed, if he put it there himself. But I'd prefer my own bed. Or at least mattress.
On a side note, I think it's disgusting to provide a bed in a rented dwelling. Bad enough in a hotel.
I would just have to think of all the people eating, sweating, farting and losing bodily fluids (I can think of at least 5) in there over the months and years. Sweaty, smelly, disgusting, unwashed people.
On change of tenant, mattress should be burned in a furnace for the sake of public health.
In most civilised countries apartments come unfurnished, which is the correct way. If I want to fill my own apartment with cheap, crappy furniture, that's my own problem, but everyone should have their own choice.

Most people do not want unfurnished especially those only renting rooms etc I'd have found it a massive pain when I rented it everything wasn't provided. So what if the bed has had many previous occupants, the beds I've had were probbaiy slept in by close to double figures Of people each and I lived, haven't you a sheet on it anyway not like you are lying on the mattdress.

pilly

You are entitled to furniture that's fit for purpose OP and it sounds like the bed and mattress are not fit for sleeping on it.

You could ask the LL for a new one but then he could just give you a 199 Bargaintown job so no guarantee it will be good quality.

If you want high quality then you're probably going to have to buy one yourself.

PhoenixParker

I would talk to the landlord but if he delays or prevaricates I wouldn't over think it. Just buy your own and have the delivery guys take the old one away.

You're responsible for returning the landlords property to him at the end of your tenancy minus fair wear and tear. The value of anything else can be deducted from your deposit BUT the value of an old mattress that needs to be held up by Argos catalogues is pretty much zero.

Document how terrible the mattress was (describe and photograph it in the email asking your landlord to replace it). When you're leaving you can decide what to do but there's really no reason for him to dock your deposit. If you want to avoid hassle get a cheap crappy one from adverts.

spaceHopper

There are plenty of online places what will deliver a full bed for less than 500 and take away the old one. Talk to the LL get them to order it and you be there to let them it so it's less hassle for the LL and he'll probably go for it.

rossmores

PrettyBoy wrote: »

rossmores wrote: »

It should be a LL responsibility also you should have noticed during the viewing

It would've been quite difficult to notice during the viewing as the bed had a duvet over it and covering the end where the footboard was. At a glance it looked like a regular bed, it was only when I moved and in that I discovered how bad the condition of the mattress was and the Argos catalogues stacked underneath the bed.

rossmores wrote: »

I will reuse beds & mattress only if they are in perfect and spotless condition but I employ different standards

I'm really just looking to get a general consensus on whether I should apporach my landlord about replacing the bed himself. He won't be keen on the idea of paying for it himself, that's for sure. This is only my second rental property and in my first place there was a brand new high quality bed and mattress when I moved in which I used and kept in perfect condition. The bed in my new place is low quality, damaged, the mattress is the wrong size and it feels poorly put together (I've found a large loose bolt underneath the bed which I can only assume should be somewhere on the frame).

I've been sleeping in a decent bed for the last few years so you could probably say my standards are relatively high too but not unreasonable IMO.

ok now we need pictures please include the oldest Argos catalog and any unknow moving object would be a bonus

PrettyBoy

rossmores wrote: »

ok now we need pictures please include the oldest Argos catalog and any unknow moving object would be a bonus

I threw the Argos catalogues out when I moved in and cleaned the room but the oldest one dated back to 2015. This is the bolt/screw I found underneath the bed (car key in the picture just to give an idea of size).

Mrs OBumble

Just ask the LL to remove the bed and mattress (and adjust the inventory accordingly), and provide your own. He's not required to provide it anyways.