Holiday damage deposit, cracked the pan !

[AdeTuono]

KFC said:

You still don't seem able to differentiate between something dying at the end of its life, and something actually being damaged by carelessness or misuse.

Wasn't aware that toilet seats had a life-expectancy. If only the owner had serviced it correctly, it could still be happily opening and closing.

[KFC]

AdeTuono said:

Wasn't aware that toilet seats had a life-expectancy. If only the owner had serviced it correctly, it could still be happily opening and closing.

So everything in your house lasts forever, does it? If something breaks during the normal use of it, then its either hit the end of its life, or it was faulty. Neither of which the renter needs to pay for.

But like already said, and I've seen this myself multiple times, is the renters are dishonest. Nobody phones up and says their kid broke the fridge door or they smashed 2 wine glasses. Its 'the fridge stopped working' or 'why are there only 4 glasses and not 6?' So the general assumption will be they're lying and caused any damage through stupidity, drunkenness, misuse, or all 3.

[toohuge]

We run property management as part of our business services and I can safely say that toilet seats are not common wear and tear items.

AC units leaking, carpets wearing out and fridges failing due to high concentrations of salt in the air yes, but toilet seats..... Not in my experience.

The charges seem reasonable to me, unfortunately the management company will have just called their handy man to buy the seat and fit. There may well be a margin on the parts too as part of the 'service' offered by the management company - although this is a case by case situation.

Chris

[KFC]

But something not being common doesn't mean it couldn't have happened

If you take the op's post at face value then he shouldn't be paying. Though if he'd rented my place I wouldn't believe him and would base the decision on whether to keep his deposit or not on whether he was likely to come stay again (or whether I wanted him to)

[LuS1fer]

Of course toilet seats have a life expectancy - all 3 of mine currently need replacing from being p*ssed on too many times or the hinges corroding. Of course a posh seat should last longer but it can still fail if the hinges come loose for example and the seat moves round.

If the argument is they don't ever need replacing then why do DIY stores stock and sell so many?

I would be entirely on the side of the renter if, for example, the photo showed it was shattered and splintered and this was evidently misuse or someone standing on it but I would at least expect the benefit of the doubt if it was a failure beyond my control.

Funnily enough, I was chatting to the guy we rented out last villa off and his bath had broken following use by a ginormous woman. Seems they don't work in Spain during the summer so he had to pay to get a guy out to replace it before we got there. He spoke to the rental agency about retaining some of the deposit they paid but they wouldn't pay him as he hadn't got any photos of the damage. I think in that situation, the size of the woman merited a deduction.

[Martyn-123]

Hi,

Thanks for the numerous replies all with different opinions, we tried to be straight with the owners of the property and informed them straight away, always believe in being honest rather than trying to hide something, think Karma.

Here's a photo we took and sent to the owners, on reflection we are thinking that we shall have to just take the loss, but just to confirm there was no drunken antics involved or anything else untoward occurring, the seat just cracked under normal use but think we would struggle to prove this.

It was a lovely place but will be really wary next time we rent a holiday accommodation,


Regards,


Martyn.....

[anothernameitist]

I feel for you, it would not be unfair to charge a nominal amount for the break as you were upfront and honest, but its extracting the urine to do what they did.

I always try to rent a place where the owner is local.

This way they can see you and judge you, ie not lay abouts or drunks.

In France my little lad broke a pyrex dish, I went round to the owners, who had a bond for damage and asked them how we could settle this amicably.

Just get another one from the hyper market was their reply, sorted.

Got the full bond back.

[numtumfutunch]

was it a private let?

I posted waaaaay back in the thread and have stopped using direct rentals etc as pretty much each time I have paid a bond and then had hassle getting it all back