I've been thinking about what to do for the similarly failing asbetos-bearing vinyl tiles in my apt's kitchen & bath. Right now I'm leaning towards fitting sheet vinyl "rugs" (from remnants) in both spaces. Not sure how big your room is, but maybe you could find a room-sized vinyl or carpet remant for it?

Ugh, I understand this problem all too well. My apartment has rather small (10.5' x 8') bedrooms and the cheap doors make the rooms look even smaller! I used artwork to cover up the splotchy spackling on the wall covered in paint with two different finishes, but the doors are killing me.

You didn't say how large the peeling area is, but here are a couple ideas:

1. A small piece of furniture, like a nightstand or cabinet. You can find some really cute pieces on Craigslist to add character that completely offsets an eyesore. If you found a piece with higher, Queen Anne-style legs, you could pair this with a basket underneath to fully cover the floor. A basket alone might look odd, but under a cabinet I think it would work.

2. An interesting lamp, planter, or sculpture/statue. This has limited surface area ability.

3. If you're not a fan of used furniture, a nice low storage ottoman in faux leather would work.

Another option: if you're willing to take the time to repair a couple of them, ask the landlord to offset the cost of materials and to provide you with them if you put in the labor.

Check out your city's building codes to see what qualifies as a state of disrepair to see what your rights are. Since you've already signed a sublet agreement, it would be difficult to get them to agree to much now, but I know I usually scope out any repairs that need to be done and make sure they are factored into any agreement.

Additionally, I would photograph the state of the floors and date them so that way, at the end of your agreement, they don't try to take it out of your deposit as damages. Landlords can be shady like that, at least in New York.

My goodness, vinyl parquet! Now I've seen everything.

I'm a pretty hand DIYer, so normally when I find something awful, I try to find a modern product that looks as close as possible to the old one and repair it in such a way that the repair really isn't noticeable. But where will you ever find 80's vinyl dark faux wood parquet?

I think if I were in your situation, I'd try to pry up one of the thin pieces near the edge of the wall and take it too a few hardware and flooring stores to see if you could find a match. If there's no parquet tiles that would fit, even finding a faux wood that looks similar would work, since you could cut it to size yourself and replace any of the squares that are peeling now. (Make sure you clean and sand like crazy first, and use very good glue, so the replacements don't pop off in a month.)

At the very last ditch attempt to save it, I'd just cut out the squares that are really ugly and replace them with a non-offensive color, and do it in several places so it looks like an intentional design choice.

I'm agreeing with gorfram, perhaps you could find a neutral remnant of vinyl and tack it down on the edges-- if you decide to go the painted canvas route around the perimeter -- use double sided tape to prevent them from sliding around.. however they could be challenging to clean easily.
Also, depending on the square footage, you might consider checking out Flor's website and outlet section -- I've noticed some of their outlet tiles can be had for as little as $3.99 per tile.
hmmm... wish I had more...

I had a similar issue in my kitchen and used Chilewich tiles. They aren't available to the general public but you can get them on Ebay from 3rd parties. Did a horrendous kitchen floor for less than $200. Try this http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=chilewich+tiles&_sacat=See-All-Categories

hmm 2 years is a long time to live with that ugly.

I prob would look to find vinyl in a similar enough pattern and just repair it. I get not wanting to invest money...but for sake of sanity a little bit of money always goes a long way.

can you gently pull up some of the vinyl tiles from an inconspicuous place and take it down in the most visual areas? (like pull them up from under your bed or couch etc)

i agree with vintagehoney.

if you really think about it...2 years...its quite a while to be unhappy with your home. even if you dont own it.

this is a tough one - is it every where in the space? i can't guess what your budget may be but one option i tend to lean toward is finding a very inexpensive sisal + just cover up the faux wood floor completely. they can do sisal wall to wall but since you don't own the place you could just have them do a border at the wall to have clean edges so it's removeable. then you could layer your pretty rugs over it. + since you aren't installing it you could take it with you when you leave + have the rug store rework it to fit your new space.

Just yesterday I noticed that Lowe's (and probably Home Depot) sells thin solid color carpet floor tiles that can be special ordered. They are more affordable than the Flor brand. As Betsy said, check Flor's clearance tiles.

A carpet tile border would be my instinct, particularly since you can take them with you to the next place.

Put a rug down.

Sisal or other natural fiber rugs might work well.

Yes ... rob tiles from elsewhere if possible, to fill in at the bad spots. After that, rugs are your best resource. Even a cheap rug is a practical investment.

I would get a few tiles in black or dark brown, place them over the damaged area and then use a utility knife to mark where the damaged tile is to be cut out. Then lift the new tiles out of the way and cut a neat chunk out of the old stuff and replace it with the newer tiles. If you can manage to find self-adhesive tile, so much the better.

With a little camouflage, it will not be too noticeable and the flooring should be more or less level.

Working with your suggestion, I'd do painted canvases around the edge of the room, and hot glue them down on both sides, maybe tack the one side into the molding. Of course, Flor tiles will be a much more attractive option...

What about Modularity Tiles? They say that they have temporary, semi-permanent and permanent installation...

http://www.modularitytiles.com/easy_to_install.php

Jenny,
That is a safety hazard. Someone could hurt themselves. Your landlord would be held legally responsible if that happened.

First, I'd ask the landlord if there were any left-overs that could be used to repair them.

Otherwise, I'm totally sure you can find some similar wood grain vinyl stick-on tiles or planks. I would just look for the closest thing and fill in. Check out Home Depot, Lowe's etc.

Or, take some existing tiles from a closet or something to repair this, and fill in the closet or wherever with something similar.

Find a source of tiles of the same thickness. Get a contrasting color or colors that go with both your pretty rugs and the dark brown itself. Try for a faded mix or vintage or genteel shabby, i.e. make it look intentional. Peel up the bad tiles and clean off the old glue. Glue down your new tiles in the spaces.

Most important is getting the thickness right so that flooring is smooth. You'll only be replacing some of the tiles. You won't be spending a lot, even if the replacements are a little pricey.

Alternatively, you could remove all the bad tiles, clean off the glue, buy a floor enamel in the same brown and paint several coats. From your pix it looks like the issue is mostly at the edges so you might wish to remove all the tiles at the edges.

Dulcibella has something. AND if you live in a building with an accessible basment, I'm going to guess there MIGHT be some down there. God knows how many places i've lived where there are.

I saw this earlier and didn't reply as I really didn't have any ideas, well I was just flicking through my photo viewer and saw a pic of something that may work, Googled it and apparently it was here on AT even!
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/marsha-javier-ht/item/255039

In addition to the ideas above, especially covering with rugs or furniture, I'd add this idea for areas that are visible but don't receive heavy wear:

* take one up that's in good condition
* color-photo-reproduce it onto paper that matches fairly closely the gloss of the 'tile'
* find a 'tile' that's of the same thickness
* laminate your color-photo to it using a glue (think decoupage for technique & glue)
* install those in the missing areas

I did this with a friend's rental and, while it's not a heavy wearing 'tile' (if faux parquet laminate can be considered heavy wearing tile, LOL, your landlord's absolutely nutterbutter!), it's a close enough visual reference that the floor will look complete again.