Furniture won't fit through new door

[Laurasplog]

Bit of an odd one: I have a flat which was advertised and rented as fully furnished, however the tenants chose to bring some of their own furniture too.

Whilst they were tenants, they complained about the front door, which was sticking, so we replaced it (at a cost of about £1000) with a UPVC door.

The tenants are now leaving the property and are saying that their sofa won't dismantle and won't fit through the new door, which is slightly smaller than the old one. They have asked me to pay to have the door removed and refitted.

Any advice? My thought is that because we advertised the flat as fully furnished, it shouldn't be our issue if they've chosen to bring furniture that doesn't fit, however I do take their point that the door is a different size than it was when they moved in!

I have given them permission to employ their own contractor to do the work (on condition that the door is refitted appropriately), do I need to do more?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[mind the gap]

I think they should go halves with you. You have already spent £1k on a new door at their request., for crying out loud.

Or offer to buy their sofa off them so it stays in the house and nobody has to pay for the door to be dismantled.

[Laurasplog]

Thanks for your reply. We don't really want their sofa (though in other ways that would be the perfect solution), as the flat is already fully furnished and we think it makes the place look crowded.

I just resent paying another day's work for a workman to go round and take the door off, when we literally only had it installed two months ago. I wondered if there was any legal advice, but suspect it's such a rare situation that it's probably not worth making a law for!

[monmon1]

Hi
Sorry if you've already thought about this but most new modern UPVC doors just lift off the pins when opened, have they tried this?

[Laurasplog]

Didn't know that - will mention it to them and see if it does. Thank you.

If not, back to square one!

[jjlandlord]

I wouldn't agree to pay anything and any damage to the door is on them.
Note that if the sofa doesn't fit through the door the issue is likely that the door frame is too narrow so that they are asking you to completely dismantle that.

Is it really not possible for them to dismantle the sofa? Or e.g. to go through a window?

[Berlingogirl]

I agree with jj. It might be easier to remove a pane of glass.

[Laurasplog]

I would normally agree with you, but it's a fourth floor flat, with only tiny windows facing the exit side of the building. So unfortunately it's the door or nothing.

My gut feel was that I shouldn't pay for it, as the door was installed in good faith after the tenants complained about the old one.

I just wanted to check here to get an opinion, as technically the door is a different one to the one that was there when they signed the tenancy agreement.

[MisterB]

I know its a pain (as opposed to a pane of course) BUT if you do have to have the door and frame removed and reinstalled, so long as it was done properly there shouldn't be too much problem. it does seem strange to me that the furniture wont fit through a standard door opening, if that's how it went in in the first place (even though the door and frame were subsequently replaced) - I doubt I would do anything on the basis that they made no comment when you had the door fitted, they decided to place their own furniture in the property even though you had provided furniture for them. you have already given them permission to engage a contractor, let them get on with it, I would also be looking very carefully at any damage done to wall coverings etc after they have moved !!

[Ericthelobster]

it does seem strange to me that the furniture wont fit through a standard door opening, if that's how it went in in the first place (even though the door and frame were subsequently replaced) - I doubt I would do anything on the basis that they made no comment when you had the door fitted

Not really - uPVC door frames are pretty wide compared with conventional timber ones

[PaulF]

Can they remove the legs (of the sofa that is!)?

[Berlingogirl]

I can't get my double oven out of my front door which is upvc so it'll have to go out through the conservatory! My back door is wider than the front. And upvc door frames do take up more room than wooden ones. I wouldn't pay for the Ts furniture to be removed. I'd tell them they could get a professional in to remove and reinstate the new door, at their expense.

[Berlingogirl]

I've now got Bernard Cribbins singing 'Right said Fred' stuck in head. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Ericthelobster]

In my Mum's house there's a baby grand piano belonging to my late father, which has been there for almost 60 years. They built an extension and had substantial alterations done in the sixties. They knew full well at the time that the building plans would mean that it would not be possible to extricate the treasured piano from the house, and as they never had plans to move, it just stayed put, bundled up in cushions and dustsheets, and my father subsequently played it daily for the rest of his life.

However, with my mother now in her 80s, unfortunately the results of that particular decision a likely to bite me very hard on the backside in the not-to-distant future. I suspect that sadly the solution will ultimately involve a sledgehammer, with financial considerations deciding whether it gets applied to an outside wall of the house, or the piano

[dazwalsh]

have you been able to check yourself if the sofa will fit?

Some people have zero common sense when it comes to getting the furniture to the correct angle to fit through the door, its a possibility that they are going about it the wrong way.

As suggested above, open the door to 90' and lift the door upwards and it should just slide up and off its hinges. sometimes the hinges are a bit more advanced and it may not be possible but this should give you a few more inches to play with.

Darren