[Tenant, US, CA] - Chip in enamel-coated sink& security deposit

[Alex Wong]

Trying to get thoughts. I'm a tenant, I chipped a probably 30-year old enamel-coated cast-iron sink in the kitchen. Landlord is unwilling to accept just a single-spot repair (diy kit $15, professional $75-150) and claims only a full reglazing/refinishing ($350-$900) is the only thing that will bring it back to what it was before I moved in. I technically agree with that as single-spot repair isn't 100% and there will be discoloration. But you should expect a little wear and tear between each tenant. And also reglazing/refinishing is doing more than just repair and is improving the sink.

Landlord argues that they wouldn't have hired anyone to do work on the sink had I not damaged it. And thus, I should be fully responsible for all of the reglazing.

I'm arguing that because reglazing is not only fixing my damage but also improving an old sink and adding life to it, they should also pay for it and we can do maybe 50/50 (completely arbitrary number) if they won't just do a single-spot repair.

Who is right in this situation?

I know in CA tenant law, that certain things have life spans. A sink is maybe 20-25 years so this sink is considered fully deprecated. Pretty sure a judge in small-claims court would side with me and I wouldn't have to pay anything for that. Of course, going to court is a hassle in itself. I think we're (landlord and I) both reasonable people but just have different views on this.

Also something that doesn't sit right with me is that they won't accept the single-spot repair even though it gets 90% of the job done. The apartment itself isn't in 100% shape and there are plenty of minor damages everywhere that has been there before I moved in and that they don't plan to take care of. It seems they are being overly strict on this.