Mirror next to shower cracked. Landlord claiming for damage.

[StuKP]

Hi,

 

We've just moved out of a flat and the final inspection flagged up a cracked mirror.

 

The mirror is right next to the shower head over the bath and is hit by hot and cold water repeatedly. A crack formed, unsurprisingly, and we reported it about 8 months ago.

 

Crack now covers the bottom corner of a 2' x 2' mirror and he wants to take it out of our deposit. We're claiming that we didn't wilfully damage it and that it shouldn't have been there in the first place as this would've happened eventually. Also, it could've been repaired when we first reported it.

 

Were do we stand, please?

[Steve__M]

Hi,

 

We've just moved out of a flat and the final inspection flagged up a cracked mirror.

 

The mirror is right next to the shower head over the bath and is hit by hot and cold water repeatedly. A crack formed, unsurprisingly, and we reported it about 8 months ago.

 

Crack now covers the bottom corner of a 2' x 2' mirror and he wants to take it out of our deposit. We're claiming that we didn't wilfully damage it and that it shouldn't have been there in the first place as this would've happened eventually. Also, it could've been repaired when we first reported it.

 

Were do we stand, please?

 

Have they specified an amount, and is it a reasonable amount relative to the cost of getting the work done.

 

You can of course object to the landlord. Secondly, assuming your deposit is protected in an approved scheme, you have the right to a free conciliation service to decide if you should pay for the damage and how much you should pay.

 

I think that some would argue that there is no reason why a mirror should crack just because of spashing from hot and cold water. Water from a shower isn't that hot. That said, it sounds like a weird place for a mirror!

[StuKP]

Have they specified an amount, and is it a reasonable amount relative to the cost of getting the work done.

 

You can of course object to the landlord. Secondly, assuming your deposit is protected in an approved scheme, you have the right to a free conciliation service to decide if you should pay for the damage and how much you should pay.

 

I think that some would argue that there is no reason why a mirror should crack just because of spashing from hot and cold water. Water from a shower isn't that hot. That said, it sounds like a weird place for a mirror!

 

Thanks Steve__M, I think we're going to wait and see what kind of figure they come back with. If we're talking less than £100, bearing in mind that they couldn't charge us for the full cost of a new one, then we'd pay as a gesture of goodwill whilst not admitting liability.

 

The mirror is definitely in a weird place, being at about chest height to ceiling height right next to the shower that's over the bath. The shower head sprays part of its jet onto the mirror and the crack has formed at precisely this point. We deduced that that 's what has caused it as we definitely haven't hit it with anything and there's no impact marks anywhere.

 

The Deposit is with a TDS so we do have their conciliation route plus the Landlords, of course, have to return any amount not in dispute so at least we have that.

 

We're of the opinion that it's a slightly dangerous place to have a mirror of that size and that repairs should've been attempted when we first reported it and the crack was a few inches long.

 

I guess we'll see what they come back with.

[ericsbrother]

a mirror with fixing holes will cost less than £30. How long have you lived theire? Reason I ask is because there will be a certain deduction from its value for wear and tear/depreciation anyway and the LL can offset that cost againt thier tax liability so if you owe anything it should be less than £20. Put all this along with the issue about the shower and its inevitable effect in a letter and see what is said. If they arent perpared to accept that it is just one of those things then the arbitration should be agreed to and you wil be able to show that you havenot only tried to settle this but done your sums in a proper manner so the LL cant go for a bit of "betterment" at your expense.

[StuKP]

Hi ericsbrother, thanks for that.

 

We're keeping the wear and tear and betterment cards close to our chest for the moment to see what the LL comes back with.

 

We were in there for about 18 months and the professional cleaners we hired at the end of the tenancy actually restored the surface of the mirror to a condition better than when we moved in. The original appears to have been fixed in place with glue as there's no visible fixing holes so we're not quite sure how they're intending on replacing it. I've attached a photo from when we moved out so you can see for yourself.

 

If they do decide to pursue the claim then we'll certainly put the tax liability point to them so thanks for making us aware of that, it's much appreciated.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to report back with some positive news soon.

 

Thanks again.

[ericsbrother]

It looks like a stress fracture, probably caused by the glue itself. Put a lot of glue on something like this and when you heat and cool the area you get differential thermal expansion which causes the less solid object to break under tensile failure. screw fixings allow the glass to move that fraction of a millimetre and prevent this