If your nanny / au pair / other live-in employee ruined the carpet...

[BasilTheRat]

Would you charge him/her? I am not referring to normal wear and tear. I am talking about large spots of a wide variety of sustances. Big pink ones that could be say jello shots or maybe make-up or is it cranberry juice. Tea spilled which was clearly not even attempted to be blotted up. She had a bedroom with an ensuite and whilst the majority of these stains are in the bathroom some of them are in the middle of the bedroom. Some are pink. Some are black. Some are blue. Some are brown. (Is it just me or do I sound like Dr. Seuss)

We got professional cleaners in but there was not much they could do.

Would you accept this as just one of those things? Would you dock the final paycheque? Would at least expect the nanny to apoligise rtather than leave it for you to find once she's left the country?

Incidentally, she was a bloody slob. I Thank goodness her replacement is a tidy person. But, this makes it worse. Poor tidy nanny has to now live with this spotty carpet. Maybe I could spray the carpet in the ensuite with black fabric dye.

I have a contractual end of contract bonus, ot would make a serious dent into that, if the cost was more than that I would probably write if off as one of those things.

If I could ask why were the stains not spotted until after she had left?

You cannot deduct wages if it isn't specifically mentioned in her contract, so unless it stipulates that she will pay for any damage, then you can't do it.

Household insurance? Accidental damage?

The stains were not spotted (pardon the pun) earlier because:
1- I'm not in the habit of going into her room to have a good snoop around the carpets (although I may reconsider this courtesy in future)
2- I don't have x-ray vision to see the carpet through all the clothes and other crap which was always piled up on the floor.

She was generally a pretty good employee. Not great. But pretty good. But I am mighty cross about her blatant disregard for my property. I mean how selfish do you need to be to spill tea and not even try to blot it up?

Our last one has left droplets of wax over a large area of the bedroom carpet (also scratched new furniture, broke a knob off a new desk, broke the toilet seat, hairdryer, and left shower blocked up). We sighed heavily and the reference she asked for was not as enthusiastic as it could have been.
We also didn't find these things until after she had left (and she left 1 day before next arrived so we had a frantic day of cleaning and fixing). Things like the broken knob and blocked shower we wouldn't have been so annoyed by if she had told us when it happened so we could have fixed it in our own time.
Any chance of getting a cheap offcut of carpet to replace the en-suite (or doing a longer term replacement with tiles which should be harder to destroy)?

I would only charge if there was a clause in the contract that she had to keep her room in good order, and if you don't have a clause like that then it would be a good idea to put one in for your next AP.

I think a professional steam clean shouldn't cost too much and would make a big difference. Have you considered tiling the bathroom? I know it's personal preference, and each to their own etc but carpet in bathrooms is grim IMO. If you do tile then I recommend using coloured grout rather than white as any stains won't show as much.

It this really true that if it's not in the contract she/he can't be expected to pay for it. I understand normal wear and tear. But if I went round my office with and axe chopping up company property I think I would be expected to pay for it.

Athene I'm wondering if you have to give some indication of how wear and tear differs from outright violence and misdeed? If I dropped my blackberry in the loo...I suspect they'd give me another. On the other hand, if I lose my laptop, I make a contribution to paying for it, that's in my contract.

what a cheeky ap - and one that obv doesnt appreicate the hard work and expsense that you put into making the room nice

i prob would replace the carpet with cheap carpet from carpetright and then add clause in contract for next ap