The math is pretty simple: office chair wheels + parquet floor = trouble with the landlord. Anyone who has ever had to explain one or two scratches in the valuable wooden floor when handing over an apartment knows the horrible feeling: the brief moment in which the desk chair rolled off the mat and left a deep scratch has a real long-term effect. Firstly, you can look at it as a potentially serious reminder for the rest of the tenancy. And secondly, it will leave at least as deep an impression on your wallet... Really? An expert gives a partial all-clear: The tenant does not automatically have to be liable for such damage.
- Who is liable if the office chair rolls grooves into the floor?
- Tenancy law: What is meant by “intended use”?
- Change of venue: Different rules apply to commercial areas
- Important: The right wheels for the respective floor
Who is liable if the office chair rolls grooves into the floor?
It is part of a property manager's daily bread to act as an intermediary between landlord and tenant when handing over rental property. “Soil pollution is an issue every time we inspect an apartment,” confirms Silvia Wiedenmann. The team leader in the “Property Management” department at “Anders Wohnen – Immobilien & Hausverwaltung” in Weilheim accepts apartments on a regular basis. “It’s not necessarily always about signs of wear and tear specifically from office chairs, but rather from furniture in general.” However, she can confirm that the combination of real wood parquet and office chair is not necessarily a peace-making one. It doesn't take a particularly trained eye to see at first glance in an empty apartment where the desk and the corresponding chair were. “The traces of Office chair wheels You can immediately see this not only on parquet floors, but also on laminate, plastic floors or carpets.”
No special knowledge of physics is required to identify the cause of the problem: Five double castors sit at the end of a turnstile on an average office chair and transfer the weight of the chair and the person sitting on it to the floor. Even though most hard plastic wheels are covered with a soft rubber to prevent damage to floors, the laws of science apply elsewhere. Since the chair and its crew can easily weigh 50 to 150 kilograms, two relatively thin plastic discs remain a very poor basis for adequate weight distribution despite all the precautions. In short: the softer the surface and the heavier the weight, the deeper the chair sinks. Wooden parquet is most susceptible to this, closely followed by laminate and carpet. The consequence of this admittedly impractical rule: If, for example, you push yourself backwards to roll the short distance from your desk backwards to the wall shelf, a wooden floor will soon look like a mini railway track landscape. The crux of the matter: The damage is irreversible because dented wood fibers can no longer be dented and the parquet has to be sanded down to the level of the deepest furrow, which results in a lot of material loss.
Tenancy law: What is meant by “intended use”
The case law decides who pays the damage on a case-by-case basis. There is no clear answer to this question. According to Silvia Wiedenmann, the magic word is “intended use”. The real estate specialist has a practical example to explain: "If there is a desk in an apartment, let's say on a wall in the living room, where someone sits every now and then, the floor will of course show some signs of wear after ten years of renting." The signs of the times are also visible elsewhere, for example in the entrance area: “It will be unavoidable that every now and then a chip stone will drag across the parquet and leave a scratch.” Even in the kitchen, a pot or a glass could fall down and leave impressions on the floor. Traces of furniture that have stood in one place for a long time or have been moved a few times can also appear. “With such normal signs of wear and tear, no landlord will seriously consider making the tenant pay for the parquet.”
It looks different if someone sets up a home office and spends eight hours a day rolling around on an office chair in front of their desk for ten years. “There are scratches in the parquet that no longer have anything to do with normal signs of wear and tear,” says Silvia Wiedenmann. The reality now lies between these two extreme examples: "Unfortunately, the floors are always the most disputed. Landlords generally accuse their tenants of damaging their property - tenants cite 'normal wear and tear'." Ideally, the truth should be found in a comparison - a popular compromise is if part of the deposit is withheld and used by the landlord to finance part of the renovation work. “Although you basically have to say that even the most beautiful parquet has a ‘lifespan’ that lasts ten or a maximum of 20 years.” After such a long period of time, the landlord usually has to have the parquet sanded down - but he also had regular income for a long time. Thankfully, the property manager has found that in the vast majority of disputes, the opposing parties meet halfway. “We rarely get sued,” she says.
Change of venue: Different rules apply to commercial areas
Commercial leasing is a completely different construction site. According to the expert, a completely different case law applies here. “First of all, I have to say that commercial spaces – be it a shop or an office – are rarely covered with real wood parquet.” The majority of landlords rely on easy-care laminate or plastic flooring. The “lifespan” of such floors is assumed to be a maximum of ten years, meaning that the material can be handed over worn out after a few years of rental. “If I, as a landlord, want to put wooden parquet in my commercial premises, then I clearly have to assume that it will be subject to much greater wear and tear, for example from customer traffic, than in a private apartment.” In her experience, the legislature is clearly strengthening the rights of tenants here.
The expert also has a practical tip for landlords: “If you want a floor that is as robust as possible and that you don’t have to worry about for a long time, you should use vinyl floors.” This trend has become visible in recent years. “The material is very durable and has a lifespan that we have never experienced before.” The material is also available in many different designs: tile look, wood look or in various smooth colors.
In order to avoid stress during the home inspection, you can of course also be careful on the other side. Not all office chairs available from specialist retailers have castors. Especially in the “living office chairs” segment, which is aimed primarily at home office operators and is based on living room furnishings in terms of style, there are also office chairs, armchairs and work stools with fixed legs. Sebastian from “ Bürostuhl24 ” has some advice for anyone who is interested in an ergonomically adjustable and swivel desk chair with wheels.
Important: The right wheels for the respective floor
The best way to avoid trouble with your landlord is still to not cause any damage in the first place. Specialist retailers are well aware of the problem and therefore offer various solutions. “Almost all office chairs come from the factory with hard plastic wheels so that they run well on carpet,” explains Sebastian Schmurlack. If you want to place your office chair on parquet or laminate, you should choose the right ones Replacement castors for hard floors order at the same time. "The castors can be easily replaced on almost all swivel chairs. You just have to look carefully beforehand to see which casters are included: two pin sizes have been established: 10 and 11 millimeters." The small difference makes it almost impossible to see with the naked eye which mount is installed in the respective office chair. “It’s worth measuring carefully,” says Sebastian. The set of rollers is priced between 15 and 25 euros. “In return, you not only get safety, but also added value: the chair runs much nicer on parquet, laminate or tiled floors.”
However, it is important for the expert to note that 100% safety is never guaranteed: “Where there are mechanical forces, something can always happen.” Accordingly, he also recommends a sensible one mat to put under the chair. There are huge differences in quality here: “I would strongly recommend a base made of polycarbonate and stay away from products made of PVC.” The background: On the one hand, polycarbonate is a much harder material than PVC and lies flatter on the floor due to its greater weight: “This means that less dust can get under it, which, when you roll around in the office chair on the mat, acts on the surface like sandpaper,” says Sebastian. No matter what plastic is under the workstation: “Lifting it up regularly and cleaning underneath it doesn’t do any harm.”