Broken Blind & Landlord Problem

[htid]

We've just moved out of our flat. There's a normal blind in there, which has one of these poles that you twist to change the angle of the slats. One day about a year ago, I tried to use it as normal and it didn't work, something in the mechanism must have broken I guess. Anyway we didn't do anything about it because it still works if you just pull the strings manually (plus we never change the angle so it's never been a problem). The landlord has now noticed it (we weren't trying to hide it, it didn't even cross my mind to mention it) and says we should pay half each, him and us, to buy a new one. Does anyone know where we stand in this regard? It's not like I used excessive force or something, just that one day it didn't work! Is that classed as normal wear and tear or is he right to claim half towards a new one? Just want to know where we stand before getting back to him and you folks are usually quite knowledgeable.

Cheers.

[muddyfox470]

Wear and tear, should be something that is the Landlords responsibility IMO, I can imagine that the landlord doesn't want to fork out for a whole new blind so wants you to subsidise it.

There are some cheap blinds on b+q (diy.com) at the moment, I got some cordless roman blinds for pretty cheap that I am happy with

[danroyle]

un less it states in your tenancy agreement that landlord provides curtains/blinds then him offering to pay half is surprisingly reasonable for a landlord.

[kalniel]

un less it states in your tenancy agreement that landlord provides curtains/blinds then him offering to pay half is surprisingly reasonable for a landlord.

In that case why should htid pay to fix it when he no longer lives there?

More likely it's assumed that fittings provided in the flat when you took on the tenancy form part of the tenancy, and you should leave them in the same condition they were in originally minus wear and tear. A blind partially breaking is kind of borderline wear and tear, borderline damage - it would depend on usage which is hard to prove. What tends to happen is that if you report it during the tenancy they will fix it as you're explicitly taking the line it's a provided fitting that's not working as it should. If you leave it broken when you leave they tend to take it from deposit as it's not leaving the property in it's original state.

[htid]

In that case why should htid pay to fix it when he no longer lives there?

More likely it's assumed that fittings provided in the flat when you took on the tenancy form part of the tenancy, and you should leave them in the same condition they were in originally minus wear and tear. A blind partially breaking is kind of borderline wear and tear, borderline damage - it would depend on usage which is hard to prove. What tends to happen is that if you report it during the tenancy they will fix it as you're explicitly taking the line it's a provided fitting that's not working as it should. If you leave it broken when you leave they tend to take it from deposit as it's not leaving the property in it's original state.

That's basically what I expected to hear - I guess we should do the right thing and pay half then since we didn't report it. When it happened I never thought to report it, simply because we never really changed the position of the slats so thought if it doesn't impact us then what's the need? Lesson learned I guess, cheers.

[TheAnimus]

forgive me if I'm miss understanding here, but last time I bought one of those style blinds it was about £40 from IKEA. If your landlord bothered to notice then odds are he actually takes care of the property in-between tenancy and probably isn't the kind thinking he can make a quick £20, so I'd pay it and chalk it up to life experiance.

My landlady a few years back forgave me for breaking a sofa, mostly because she found it so damned funny (she thought I must have been nobbing a gigantic fatty, I swear I wasn't!). But I also told her at time the time, said I'd have look to see if I could repair the frame, both agreed it was a bit of a badly made bit of furniture to start with, make a fix on it and always sat down VERY gently in that corner!

[MadduckUK]

id have had it in bits quicker than you could say "the blinds stopped working"

Dunelm Mill for blinds by the way.

[htid]

I don't really get to say which one he buys tbh. He said "it was an expensive one" so I don't know how much that means but I don't want to be paying half of £200 if he wants to splash on out some luxury thing!

[MadduckUK]

did it seem an expensive one?

[Golden Dragoon]

Reminds me of when I was 18 and viewed a "luxury fully furnished" flat in my area, fully furnished isn't what I would describe a small table, 1 chair, a set of draws, a mattress on the floor and a 14" tv