Simple case of damages or not to villas? - Fri 16th September 2011
Damages
Is the tenant responsible for this damage to two sun loungers, I ask?
On the face of it, yes, as it looks like they were used as a diving platform possibly by children into the pool.
The answer is no after further investigation. What has happened is that the plastic polymer resin has broken down because of sun damage, thus making the sun loungers inflexible and more brittle. The marbling effect, which looks a bit like ingrained dirt, gives an indication that the resin is breaking down.
In such cases we believe tenants should not be charged for something that they break that would have broken anyway.
Should an item break that is perfectly good and fit for purpose, then it is only fair and reasonable to the tenant to apply the ‘Betterment' legal rule. Which means if the life of say the sunlounger is 5 years when new, but is then broken after 2.5 years then the tenant is responsible for 50% of the cost of replacement and not 100%.
Key words not sure what get used, so need to use tool?
Villa damages, sun loungers, damages, fair and reasonable, betterment.
Posted by Bruce Gibson
