How Often Should Things Be Replaced In A Rental?

Nobody sets out a schedule for this in law. What exists instead is a set of expected lifespans that deposit adjudicators use every day, and once you know them, a lot of end-of-tenancy arguments become winnable.

The principle underneath is simple. Things wear out. A landlord is not entitled to a brand new item at your expense because the old one reached the end of its life while you happened to be living there.

The short version

• Décor is generally treated as having about a five year life.
• Betterment is the key word. You can't be charged the full cost of a new item to replace an old one.
• Fair wear and tear can never be deducted for, at all.
• Ask how old it was. That single question defeats a lot of deposit claims.

Typical lifespans

Not legal limits, and not a right to demand replacement. These are the working assumptions adjudicators and surveyors use, and they're what a deduction gets measured against.

Item	Typical expected life
Interior décor and paintwork	Around 5 years
Carpets	5 to 10 years, depending on quality and traffic
Vinyl and laminate flooring	10 to 15 years
Mattresses	7 to 10 years
Sofas and upholstered furniture	Around 10 years
Curtains and blinds	5 to 10 years
Washing machines, fridges, dishwashers	8 to 10 years
Cookers and ovens	10 to 15 years
Boilers	12 to 15 years
Kitchen units	15 to 20 years
Bathroom suites	15 to 20 years
Double glazing units	20 years or more

Faster in a busy shared house, slower in a quiet one-bedroom. The figures are a starting point, not a formula.

Why this matters at check-out

This is where the numbers earn their keep.

Say the hall carpet is stained and the landlord wants £600 for a new one. If that carpet was already eight years old, it was at or near the end of its life anyway, and charging you for a brand new carpet would leave the landlord better off than before you arrived. That's betterment, and adjudicators don't allow it.

A proportionate deduction reflects the remaining life the item had. On an eight-year-old carpet with a ten-year expected life, most of the value had already gone.

So when a deduction is proposed, ask three questions in writing:

1. How old is the item?
2. What did it originally cost, and can I see evidence?
3. How has the deduction been adjusted for age and remaining life?

The burden of proof is on the landlord throughout. If they can't answer, the claim is weak. Getting your deposit back and your deposit rights.

Wear and tear versus damage

The distinction everything turns on.

Fair wear and tear is deterioration from normal use over time. Carpet worn thin along the hallway. Paint marked where furniture stood. A mattress that's softened. Scuffs on skirting boards. Limescale on taps in a hard water area. None of it is chargeable.

Damage is something beyond that, caused by an act or a failure to act. A cigarette burn. A wine stain. A cracked basin. Mould that grew because a window was never opened. Chargeable, but still subject to the age adjustment above.

Longer tenancies get more latitude, sensibly. Four years of living somewhere leaves more legitimate wear than six months.

Which of these can you insist on?

Different question, and the answer varies by item.

You can insist: anything covered by section 11, meaning the structure and exterior and the installations for heating, hot water, water, gas, electricity and sanitation. A boiler at the end of its life that keeps failing is a repair issue, and repeated breakdowns are a repair issue even if it hasn't failed permanently.

You can insist on the basis of fitness: anything making the property unfit to live in, including damp, excess cold and serious hazards. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act you can take a landlord to court directly.

You can't insist: on redecoration on a schedule, a new kitchen because the old one's dated, or replacement of appliances unless the tenancy agreement makes them the landlord's responsibility. Section 11 doesn't cover appliances, so it comes down to what your agreement says. What your landlord must fix.

How to ask for a replacement

Age alone rarely moves a landlord. Consequences do.

Instead of "the fridge is old", try what's actually true: it's failing to hold temperature and food is spoiling. Instead of "the windows are ancient", say the seals have failed, the units have misted, and the room can't be kept warm. Instead of "the carpet's tatty", say the underlay has gone and it's now a trip hazard on the stairs.

In writing, with photographs, and with a specific ask. Where an item is genuinely at end of life, saying so helps: repeated repair callouts on a fifteen-year-old boiler cost more than a replacement, and that argument lands with landlords in a way that aesthetics never will.

Don't replace it yourself

Buying a new appliance and deducting the cost from your rent creates arrears, and arrears are a ground for possession regardless of why they arose.

There's a narrow legal route called repair and deduct with strict steps that must be followed exactly, and it needs advice first. Withholding rent.

If you do want to improve something yourself, get written permission first, and agree in writing whether it stays or comes with you.

Keep the evidence

All of this depends on being able to show the state of things at the start.

Photograph every room and every landlord-supplied item on day one, close up, including existing wear. Annotate the inventory and return it inside the deadline. Photograph the boiler's data plate and any service sticker, since the manufacture date is exactly the sort of fact that settles a dispute two years later.

Then repeat the same photographs at check-out. Documenting the condition.

The honest summary

Roughly five years for décor, five to ten for carpets, eight to ten for white goods, twelve to fifteen for a boiler. Not rules, but the yardsticks that get used in practice.

When a deduction lands, ask how old the item was and how the figure was adjusted for it. Betterment isn't allowed, fair wear and tear isn't chargeable, and the burden of proof sits with the landlord.

And when the tenancy ends, review your landlord. Whether someone maintains a property properly or charges tenants for their own deferred maintenance is exactly what the next person needs to know.

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This guide covers England and reflects the position at August 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. The lifespans given are industry conventions used in deposit adjudication, not legal requirements. General information rather than legal advice. Sources: GOV.UK, deposit protection schemes, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11.