Crack in the bath - landlord to pay?

[blankiesandunicorns]

We moved into a privately rented property in May last year.
Bit if background - it's not in a bad state, but ideally some areas needed updating but landlord wasn't prepared to do so and we accepted that.

We have a shower screen on our bath/shower, which is clearly very old. This morning I opened it up to turn shower on and the plastic hinge snapped and it fell off into the bath and has left a crack in the bath, about an inch long. But we can't use the bath now.

Are we responsible for replacing the bath (which would involve replacing a very old bath with a brand new one) or is this the responsibility of the landlord?

Any advice welcome please. TIA

No you aren’t responsible. The failure of the landlord’s hinges on the landlord’s shower screen have damaged the landlord’s bath. Totally not your fault. I suspect you weren’t even in the room when it happened?

If you did decide to pay, you’d only be responsible for paying for whatever use was left in the bath. Eg if a bath lasts 20 years and it was 19yo old when it was damaged, you’d only pay for the remaining 1 year, which would be 1/20 the cost of a replacement bath.

Landlord is responsible unless he can prove you mistreated/neglected the shower door or knew the hinge was unstable and didn't report it.

I have already informed the landlord and explained that it fell off when I opened it to turn shower on, but this is something which it should do without falling off. He's coming to look tomorrow. I'm hoping he doesn't take it out of the deposit

Thank you for your replies, especially as it's what I wanted to hear

Take photographs just in case he does try it on with the deposit.

No way are you responsible for a new bath