Vacating rented property deposit retention dispute

[hugo1963]

Hi 

My friend and i have just left a property we rented for 3 years,  we left it very clean and tidy, and with fair wear and tear.

 

We have received a message re a small indentation in a laminate floor in the bedroom, (see pics)

this measure aprox 75mm x 50mm caused by a support pole in the centre of the bed.

 

The pics are taken by the landlords representative and taken at an angle to make the indentation look worse than it is,

im worried this could affect our deposit,

how should i respond to this if try taking money from our deposit

 

[BankFodder]

Is this a bed which was supplied by the landlord?

[hugo1963]

No it was my own, there is no rip or tear in the laminate just a indentation and scratches, which would be covered by another bed anyway.

Thanks

[45002]

hugo1963

 

Assuming your deposit was protected in one of the official schemes ?

 

Just wait until and see if LL/LA do make any deductions from the deposit .

[BankFodder]

Had it been a bed supplied by the landlord then there really would be no difficulty because it would have been the landlord's responsibility.

However, because as damage caused by a bed which you installed then I think that you will probably have to accept some liability. I'm afraid that if a bed support post is capable of making this kind of indentation in the floor then it might have been an idea to put some kind of disc under it as a load spreader. It almost looks to me as if the support post under the bed was fairly pointed at the end and this caused the damage – also, the scratches seem to indicate that the bed have been moving as a result of activities occurring on the bed – which you might consider to be normal wear and tear! But the landlord might hold a different view.

The question then would become what kind of deduction the landlord be entitled to make. As has been advised above, you had better wait and see what the landlord has to say about it. Meanwhile, can you give us any indication as to the condition of the rest of the floor – it's age et cetera? If this was a brand-new floor when you moved in then there may be some difficulty. If the floor was clearly an old floor and may be showed evidence of other damage then the landlord would certainly not be entitled to claim the value of a new floor.

 

An important principle to remember is that even if the damage is not – "normal wear and tear" – this does not automatically deliver a carte blanche to the landlord to charge you for a completely new floor.