Can I ask my landlord to replace the couch?

Fol20 · 17-04-2019 2:51pm

miamee wrote: »

The effort and thought a landlord might put into choosing a couch for himself would not be the same effort and thought he'd put into choosing one for the tenant - she already has a literal pain in the neck from the current couch landlord has in the property so choosing one that suits her is probably the best idea to avoid another pain in the neck. I used to have a similar uncomfortable two seater yoke in a rental, it looked absolutely fine but sitting in it for any length of time was another story.

Understand where your coming from, and at the end of the day, you look out for number one and your health is most important. In this occasion though, it will make it awkward for the tenant for moving couches in the future to a new home unless they potentially agree to leave it in the current house(if ll agrees). Im a ll btw .

17-04-2019 2:52pm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

You haven't provided evidence at all. You dressed up an opinion and presented it as evidence. Big difference.

Which is effectively what you are doing by saying you spend more than you need to because your tenants are good tenants.

Each LL will have their own view on this, but a LL does not need to spend any more than necessary to replace an item of furniture. If you want to spend more, good on ya.

crkcvnirl · 17-04-2019 2:55pm

Serenesabines wrote: »

I’ve been living in the house for about 8 years. There is one small two seater couch that’s not aged well. I’m actually getting pain in my neck and back from it. I have bought so many pillows and supports to make it work, but it hasn’t helped me much.
It doesn’t have removable pillows, so repairing or upgrading isn’t possible. Is it very cheeky to ask my landlord to replace it?

Yes you can and you should!

Assetbacked · 17-04-2019 2:59pm

We have a very old, bit tattered set of couches in our rental. Upon moving in we brought up the couches with the agent and he was a bit hesitant. However, you would struggle to get them taken away for free let alone get anything for them, they're certainly not in any way designer or a product purchased in the last decade. As such, we intend to just dispose of them and get a nice couch as we don't plan on moving on anytime soon so see it as a worthwhile investment for the place. I'm not telling the agent and do not see it as a big deal as it will be a drastic enhancement to the living room once we get our new couch.

skallywag · 17-04-2019 3:05pm

Assetbacked wrote: »

...I'm not telling the agent and do not see it as a big deal as it will be a drastic enhancement to the living room once we get our new couch...

If making any change to a rental property I would always notify the owner in advance. You are just leaving yourself open for possible trouble in the future otherwise.

Fol20 · 17-04-2019 3:23pm

Assetbacked wrote: »

We have a very old, bit tattered set of couches in our rental. Upon moving in we brought up the couches with the agent and he was a bit hesitant. However, you would struggle to get them taken away for free let alone get anything for them, they're certainly not in any way designer or a product purchased in the last decade. As such, we intend to just dispose of them and get a nice couch as we don't plan on moving on anytime soon so see it as a worthwhile investment for the place. I'm not telling the agent and do not see it as a big deal as it will be a drastic enhancement to the living room once we get our new couch.

If you want to pay for a new couch out of pocket and let the ll keep the couch. You need to tell the ll if you are disposing of their couch. I have never heard of a ll turning down a free new couch especially if the old one is in very bad condition.

If you dont tell the ll and he finds out later, this could sour your relationship. Even though you have good intentions, i as a landlord would wonder what else are you doing without my express permission.

Ray Palmer · 17-04-2019 3:39pm

I can say that as a LL I would go down the route of letting the tenant pick the sofa if they have been there any decent length of time. At 8 years I would certainly let the choose and give them a budget.

Would want it to be in keeping with the property and the right size would be my only restriction. Once walked in to a property to find the tenant had thrown out our sofa a bough a much cheaper and bigger sofa that block a door. They wondered why I was bothered because we would get to keep the sofa. €2k sofa replaced with €800 one! It was only 2 years old

Fol20 · 17-04-2019 3:44pm

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I can say that as a LL I would go down the route of letting the tenant pick the sofa if they have been there any decent length of time. At 8 years I would certainly let the choose and give them a budget.

Would want it to be in keeping with the property and the right size would be my only restriction. Once walked in to a property to find the tenant had thrown out our sofa a bough a much cheaper and bigger sofa that block a door. They wondered why I was bothered because we would get to keep the sofa. €2k sofa replaced with €800 one! It was only 2 years old

I think the worsst situation i came across where the tenant did something themself was attempting to “fix” the electrics themself. One tenant had a light that wasnt working and put a wire into the fusebox and put black tape along with said wire along the ceiling all the way to the room where the light wasnt working. God only knows what they were thinking instead of just a quick call to me.

17-04-2019 3:46pm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

You haven't provided evidence at all. You dressed up an opinion and presented it as evidence. Big difference.

I don't think that you comprehend what "anecdotal evidence" covers

Pawwed Rig · 17-04-2019 4:33pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I don't think that you comprehend what "anecdotal evidence" covers

Anecdotal. Not slightly more.

17-04-2019 6:58pm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Anecdotal. Not slightly more.

Given that the sample size would be quite large and not just personal experience of Ll, it would be slightly more than anecdotal. Not quite enough for a representative sample given I don't know the number of LL in the country and the examples are clustered in Corm/Dublin

Graham · 17-04-2019 9:10pm

Mod Note

I can't help but think we're going slightly off track here folks.

So about that sofa

elperello · 17-04-2019 9:21pm

Just a different suggestion for OP.

If there is space in the room buy yourself a nice recliner chair.
Your back will thank you and it will be easier to transport when you move.

Rumun · 23-04-2019 2:43pm

Went trough a process myself not so long ago.

6 year in the same flat in dublin to save up for my own place deposit.

Same sofa since we moved in, mouldy at the bottom cracked “leather” top in poor shape.

So, one day we decided to call landlord and ask for new one.
He denied.

Then I proposed if we can split the cost with him . 50/50% after 4 days of waiting he agreed but only if we sign on the receipt that we wont clam 100E back if we move out ( this is 200€ikea sofa we are talking about).

So,it is possible but sometimes it just better to buy it yourself and avoid that kind of situations.

Let me also, mention that that particular landlord has a feew appartment blocks in dublin 1, 181 silver benz and huge house in drogheda .So 200€ sofa sounds even more surreal in these circumstances.

good landlord is hard to come by. Problems with 80% of them, if not more.

after years of renting i could write a book about it.

23-04-2019 3:09pm

No it’s not cheeky if you have given the whole gaff what would be normal ordinary wear. I’m a one gaff landlord and have replaced furniture that has not served well for tenants who otherwise have kept the place very well indeed. And to prove they didn’t just want a different style, the tenants indicated they liked the original furniture when it was newer and would quite like similar.

Rumun · 23-04-2019 3:17pm

Fol20 wrote: »

If you want to pay for a new couch out of pocket and let the ll keep the couch. You need to tell the ll if you are disposing of their couch. I have never heard of a ll turning down a free new couch especially if the old one is in very bad condition.

If you dont tell the ll and he finds out later, this could sour your relationship. Even though you have good intentions, i as a landlord would wonder what else are you doing without my express permission.

If someone is paying you 1400E/m for 50 sqm appartment then he has right to expect appartment condition be on point. Furniture and all.

plenty of dodgy landlords and chancers out there. Tons.

“No rent supplement allowed”
“No hap accepted”
“Cash collected every week from your appartment”
“This is not mould”
And a feew more,those can realy “sour “ relationship.

Graham · 23-04-2019 3:23pm

Mod Note

As the OPs question has been well & truly answered and hasn't been back, I think we'll close this one off here.

Thanks for the input folks.

Can I ask my landlord to replace the couch?

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