UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi All,

A new tenant has recently moved into my nice tidy 3 bed terrace. Seemed pleasant enough. Then I received a text to say that the door had been damaged when moving in a big sideboard. On visiting I noticed that the door and doorframe had been severely, repeatedly and deeply scratched, where furniture had been repeatedly rammed and scraped through the doorway to get it into the slightly restricted hallway. No attempt had been made to dissemble the furniture or to bring it in the back door (better access).

There is white showing through the mahogany UPVC finish, and there are burrs to the edges of the many deep scrapes in the plastic. In just one restricted area of the doorframe there are 16 separate deep scratches. Unfortunately as it's a UPVC door set so I am not sure a repair will be possible.

Not a great start for a new tenant relationship, and I'd be grateful for any advice about how firmly to go in at this stage. They were not at all apologetic: "well, we just couldn't get it through the door".

I have put out a couple of enquiries to the UPVC industry to see if a good repair is likely. I guess it won't be cheap even if a repair is possible. Worst case scenario could involve a new door set - not got a quote yet, but I guess I'd be lucky to get away with £500 plus fitting charge.

My questions are...
Do I go ahead and repair / replace at this early stage? (They've made noises about staying for ages - but right now I feel a sense of grim foreboding that there may be trouble ahead!)
Do I try and get the tenants to pay for repair / replacement now - outside their deposit. I'm concerned that their deposit could be almost used up by this little catastrophe and then what's to stop them really trashing the place?
Or do I just chill, leave it and wait for them to leave and then have a crack at retaining some of the deposit - to be realistic if they ended up staying for 10 years then I guess I'd probably take it on the chin and could repair or replace at that time. Close up the damage is bad, but it's not obvious from the pavement so I'm not going to feel I should sort it out "for the neighbours" (who are all delightful).

The rest of the property looks as if it's being kept nicely for the moment - but we are only a few weeks in to this tenancy.  At the moment I haven't put anything in writing to the tenant - but my "very concerned" email is drafted and almost ready to go.

Thanks in advance for any feedback - and apologies if I've missed a similar posting elsewhere in the forum - I've had a good look and couldn't see a query like this one but I may have missed something!

Quote from: Severnsisters on February 29, 2016, 03:52:40 PMNot a great start for a new tenant relationship, and I'd be grateful for any advice about how firmly to go in at this stage. They were not at all apologetic: "well, we just couldn't get it through the door".

It's this bit that would bother me most. You need to objectively decide whether that's your perception or whether they really are that type.

If they are that type then there is likely to be tears ahead. I would be concerned. But I would not want to act rashly.

Your worry about the deposit being used-up with this, and there being nothing left at the end, is a sound one.

Most things are repairable, though.

Thanks Hippogriff.  I think I might well have an OK lady tenant and a slobbish gent...  I've met him twice and her a few times more.  She's keeping it all looking nice, it was him that commented that the sideboard just needed to be got through the door.  I haven't looked at the damage with her in attendance yet.

One of the neighbours of this house I've got to know well - so I knocked this morning and asked if they saw the "furniture moving in" debacle, the answer "No - but they are so unfriendly, never say hello".  This in spite of my newbies being actively greeted by the neighbour on day one with offers of tea / coffee / any help...

Anyway thanks for the nudge to really think about whether this is just a bad first impression scenario or a portent of doom!  I'll make an appointment to see her and discuss what might be done - and see how apologetic / horrified she is.  She's only texted me about it so far - which she did promptly.