Landlord won't replace sofa. What should I do?

[Whatsthatspookynoise]

We moved into a nice apartment. We looked at it twice and it was great. We had seen the sofa in the picture (definitely a very old photo I now know) and when we viewed it, the sofas had covers and blankets all over.

It's a long, curved beige leather sofa. It's hideous anyway, but it's a sofa, I wasn't complaining! When I saw it, it was ripped to shreds and I was a bit upset, but again I didn't complain. It was only when we tried to sit, it would separate. The end chair isn't even attached as it's broken. So these chairs clip together to make a sofa, but they don't anymore and I'm constantly falling down the gaps. The landlord just ignores emails about it and so does the letting agents. I would replace the sofa, but I'm not happy being charged to have it removed or to have it stored somewhere.

I'm not sure how I should go about it. Like I said I wasn't complaining about it being ugly, just that it's very broken all over. I already get mad anxiety because I don't want the landlord to think I just want a nice new sofa paid for by him.

Is it part of the inventory? Is it let as furnished?

I'd call the agent and ask them to arrange for it to be removed, that way they can't ignore you. If they agree to you disposing of it, the council will offer a low cost or free service.

Does it have "fire safe fabric" tags? (Sometimes these are under the cushions)? If not you can tell them they legally have to provide furniture that complies with fire safety regulations. If they refuse tell them you'll report them.
We had to do this once and they replaced them.

How was the condition reported on the check-in inventory? Good suggestion about checking for fire safety labels. Sometimes these are on the underside of the sofa carcase.

I would also phone the letting agents if emails are being ignored. Record date, time, and name of person you spoke to and follow up with an email confirming the conversation. Sometimes that helps to focus a letting agent's mind on the matter!

Is the letting agent ARLA registered?

Thank you everyone. I can't seem to find the tag. The sofa is so heavy I can barely slide it on the wooden floor to even check the whole thing. The apartment was furnished and I don't know if it matters, but it's quite expensive rent so I assumed the furniture would be in at least okay condition. I'm not sure if it's Arla registered. It's one of those posh ones, so I'm assuming they are covered by everything. I will have to call and talk to them again. They just constantly say the landlord will get back to us, but he doesn't!

If the landlord is letting it to you via an agency, it's the agency's job to act as go between and sort out any problems you may have as the tenant, to make sure the house is legal in terms of H&S etc. They'd have to get the landlord's approval before spending any money, but they shouldn't be expecting him to call you direct.
We pay an agent to manage our rented house for us for exactly that reason - we don't have to speak directly to our tenant, so any issues (we haven't had any yet), don't become personal.
Ask the landlord to confirm they've checked the sofa as being fire safe, as you can't find any tags on it.

If the lack of communication from the landlord to the agency or you continues then you may need to up the ante to get their brains in gear. If it were me I'd consider asking the letting agent to visit to confirm by sight of fire regs labels that the sofa is legal.

Have you had a chance to see how the inventory at check-in described the condition of the sofa?

If the sofa is too heavy to check underneath let them do the hefting!

Possibly you will be better to grin and bear it, rather than waste more emotional capital fighting a system. Photographs will show the state of it, to explain why you had to get rid of it, it the unlikely case that when you leave, they ask where their lovely sofa went and why.
You also have the email trail showing how you attempted to resolve it in the conventional manner, but were ignored.
Furniture of a good standard is often available on freecycle or similar sites, so a round trip with a hired van can dump the old one at the council tip and pick up the new one. Normally, you will be entitled as a resident to ask your local council for a permit to the tip for single items, or sometimes, councils actually pick up, by appointment.
The drawback is, they can be pretty awkward, insisting you leave it on the pavement/don't leave it on the pavement, leave it out at the appointed time/don't give you an appointed time
So, council dump, with resident permit in hand, is best, though that too needs the required heavy lifting assistants, and the little problem is the dump will be open at certain times, sometimes with a line of waiting cars and vans meaning it takes hours, and you have had to coordinate with the people who are giving you their sofa.
There's always such a gap between theory and actuality!
P.S. The top ten best things in the world has to include casters. Never ever have heavy furniture without also investing a few pounds in lovely chunky casters. Usually they have a click lock, to stop them skidding when they are not meant to, but once you free the lock, a fingertip push will move the thing across the room. Joy.

We had a similar situation when we moved into our place. Sofas were filthy and agent was ignoring our complaints. Eventually after two weeks of no action I tracked down the email address of the agency owner’s son who deals with complaints, sent a very direct email listing the dates I had left a message with no response, and that I wanted the issue resolved soon as we had nowhere to sit and had two large sofas and a large armchair making approx 50% of the living space unusable.

They’re responded pretty quick after that.