To think this was shoddy workmanship, and that we shouldn't be charged?

[OutDamnedWind]

We are moving out of our flat and so will be sorting out the deposit with our LL.

A while back, my mum was stopping with us and had, unbeknownst to me, put the chain on the door. I come along and open it without really looking, and the whole thing pings off the door frame, taking a chunky splinter of wood with it.

Obviously chunk of wood is still missing from the frame. Door still works fine, obviously. There's no obvious way to fix it.

To me, the chain is meant to be a security thing - if I managed to pull it off that easily, it clearly wasn't fit for purpose. There's also a hole just above it where an old lock was presumably taken out, so wasn't exactly pristine in the first place.

DP is convinced LL will take it out of our deposit, but AIBU to think he shouldn't?

No chain really stands a chance on a wooden frame, so it's not really much to do with shoddy workmanship. You can argue that case, but chances are it'll just piss him off and he'll definitely charge you. Explain what happened, he might well say don't worry about it. Bit if he doesn't, then fair enough. You caused damage, whether you meant to or not. It's exactly what security deposits are there to cover.

I suppose so. Just a pain given how easily it pinged off. Hoping the fact that there's more substantial damage elsewhere which wasn't caused by us and which he's been promising to fix for the past two years means he might overlook it...

Eurgh. I hate renting.

Your deposit should be in a protection scheme so the landlord can't just hold back money. He has to raise a dispute. If it isn't in a scheme then that's illegal, presuming you're in the uk.

It is in a scheme. I've never had any problems with deposits before, but never had any damage so not sure what to expect when there is, if that makes sense.

This is entirely preemptive, we've no idea if he'll mention it or not! I should probably be sensible and point it out and explain though, shouldn't I?

Yes - you should tell him. Otherwise it looks like you're hoping he won't notice, or trying to cover it up.