Advice needed on replacing interior door

In the apartment I rent an interior door panel was damaged. The door is a hollow core, 6-panel door with a slightly textured finish.


I've been trying to either fix the existing door or replace the door, but I haven't had much success so far. Here is what I have tried:


First, I cut a rectangular chunk out of the door panel with an x-acto knife and attempted to repair the damaged piece. However, this looked ugly. Here’s an image of the door panel with the damaged region cut out. image of the damage


After this, I tried to buy a replacement "pre-hung" door. I purchased a door at Home Depot that was unpainted but seemed to be the same dimensions. Here is a link: 30 in. x 80 in. Textured 6-Panel Hollow Core Primed Composite Single Prehung Interior Door-07481 - The Home Depot

I hand-chisled mortises into the pre-hung door, installed the hinges from the damaged door, and hung the door in the existing frame. Here is an image of the mortises I chisled:
image of chisled mortises


After hanging the door, I found out that the new door was slightly too wide to fit into the frame! The door won’t close, and it hits the frame when swinging. Laying the two doors down on the ground, I measured the width difference between them. Here is an image:
image of size difference

It looks the replacement door is just about 1/4 inch too wide.
I’m unsure what to do next. Please help! I have a few questions:

1 - Should it be possible for me to hang this new "pre-hung" door in an existing door frame? I want to avoid doing anything drastic like removing the door frame since this is a rental apartment. Can I cut the replacement door and make it 1/4” inch narrower?

2 - Is there some other type of door I should be installing?

3 - If I was to pay someone to help me with this, how much would you think this could cost? Where could I find someone to help?


Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

Yes, you can cut the door down 1/4 inch. It is very common to need to do this. If you look closely you will probably notice that the old door is actually tapered a bit (a little wider on one side than the other) to provide clearance when opening/closing, but this is not that important on an interior door.

 

And you will want to cut the 1/4" off the hinge side then remortise.

 

Something looks odd to me with those mortises, they look way to deep.
Should only need to be deep enough so the hinge sits flush with the stile.
To deep or to shallow and it throws off the whole door.
Not likely you have a table saw so your going to need a ciruler saw with a plywood blade.
When I do it I use the edge guide that came with the saw, apply strips of painters tape to the sole plate on the saw so it does not mar the MDF, add another strip on the door for less tare out.
Scoring the cut line with a utility blade also helps.

 

Please check in with the landlord on this. In one of our units, we would likely know if you had not bought the same door we use nor had it finished by the same company and we would then simply charge you for a new door despite all your effort and expense to replace it yourself.