drunk tenant broke communal lift

[DrHamstertoyou]

Or so the maintenance company claim. Our tenant claims the lift broke and damage occurred when they were trying to get out of it. DH and i have been sent a bill for £2k, or rather we have been sent the quote that the lift company have given the maintenance company with a letter telling us we have to pay it. Our tenant admits she was having a noisy party that night and that her friends were using the lift often to go outside to smoke but i have a feeling the maintenance company are using this situation as a chance to get repair work done at our expense.
As a leasehold property we understand our responsibilities towards upkeep and repair of the communal areas, and of course in our tenants contract it is stated that they must behave responsibly and pay for any repairs caused through misuse, but does anyone know where we stand in a situation where the tenant is denying responsibility? She has also said that the lift broke on average once a week before this situation. Any advice gratefully received, even telling us where we might find further advice would be really helpful
Thanks in advance.

[DrHamstertoyou]

Bump

[EldonAve]

I'd tell them to send the bill to the tenant

[ginmakesitallok]

How are they saying your tennant broke it? I always thought the "stop pressing that button or you'll break it" line was just used to stop annoying children??

[DeafLeopard]

I think the onus is on the company to prove that the tenant was responsible for the damage.

If they can then pass the bill to the tenant.

[DrHamstertoyou]

Thank you so much for your replies, sorry i haven't been back i had a chicken pox situation arise! Well our tenant is seeking legal advice and seems to be assuming responsibility for dealing with the management company so i guess we wait and see what she comes up with...

[cumfy]

Were the maintenance company at the party ?

What evidence do they have it was your tenant ?

I would formally ask for all evidence.

[Planetofthedrapes]

As there are on-going break down issues with the lift, I'd ask for a list of all recent repair work carried out on the lift (say last year or so) and information about lift guarentee from manufacturer, installation, schedule of maintainance checks, expected life of the lift, exact nature of the problem with it etc etc, so you have the full picture.

Unless they were all in the lift jumping up and down, or the Incredible Hulk was in there, how can they have caused £2000 worth of damage?

Sorry re spelling errors!