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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to take revenge on this evil landlord?

70 replies

BabbleBitch · 02/07/2012 17:32

My sister has moved house at the end of last month after 7 years of renting from said landlord. She paid a deposit bond of £500 up front along with her first month's rent £500 on moving in. She and landlord got along well and she had no major problems with him during her tenancy.

At the beginning of June she gave him her notice that she was moving and he said he would be very sorry to lose her as she had been his best tenant.

As she gave her notice she told him that her friend wanted to rent the house after she had moved out and was ready to move in almost as soon as it was empty. He was very happy about this.

He increased the rent for her friend by £50 a month, fair enough as he had not increased the rent for seven years and everyone was happy.

She moved out on Saturday and met landlord at the house on Sunday as her friend was starting to redecorate it. Her friend intends to move in 2 weeks time.

After my sister asked the landlord for her deposit back he said that it was non-returnable as he would have to remove the laminate floors she had put in and the fireplaces she had put in as her friend didn't want them so he would have to pay to have them removed.

She was really pissed off and stressed out at being £500 out of pocket. I told her she should have witheld the final month's rent in hindsight.

She went down to her bank today to inform of a change of address and to cancel her standing order for the rent (yes she had forgotten to cancel it last month!)

It left her account today and is winging it's way to landlord so she informed him of this and asked him to return the money once he receives it. He said that she owed him that money for June as she paid rent one month in arrears(not true - paperwork to prove!)

She is now a grand out of pocket, skint and unable to pay her new rent! AArrgghh!

She wants to take legal action to get her money back. I think she has no chance. I have seen too many landlords get away with this!

She still has the keys - WIBU to get squatters in the house until he is out of pocket - I know someone who did this for several months before getting moved on - that'll show him!

OP posts:

SaraBellumHertz · 03/07/2012 05:11

If your sister didn't sign a new agreement then there is no requirement for the deposit to be held in a scheme. There are a number of additional exceptions also so assuming the LL is breaking the law is a big step.

Losing the deposit to return a property to the original state is fairly standard.

If your sister does as you say have the paperwork presumably the overpayment can be rectified fairly easily?

sleepybump · 03/07/2012 05:19

Since when did small claims cost anything? It was free for me... Advise her to go to CAB and get help to get the ball rolling (they'll tell her if she has no case). And get her to check with new tennant if these items are actually being removed, because if they are not she may have a case for return of her deposit too.

ZeldaUpNorth · 03/07/2012 06:58

If she still has the keys, go in, remove flooring, fireplaces and cooker (if she can prove she bought it). Then ask for deposit back :) tell him money sent today is new tenents 1st rent and get money from friend for your sis.

izzyizin · 03/07/2012 07:11

Filing a claim in the small claims or any Court in England/Wales requires payment of a Court fee, sleepy. If you know of a Court where claims can be filed free of charge, do please reveal the relevant details...

vincettenoir · 03/07/2012 07:11

What an arsehole! Not sure about the small claims court. If he gets legal representation and she loses she could end up losing even more. The best revenge would be for her friend not to move on. If she knows that her ll has ripped her off a grand surely that would be major turn off.

amanspointofview · 03/07/2012 09:03

@ izzyizin:

?Much as it irks me to say that a man's point of view can be more reliable than that of many women, it so happens that amanspointofview is correct.?

I just spat my green/lemon tea all over the keyboard. Very funny.

@ iheartdusty:

??has returned it to him in the condition it was in when he last let it to her?

Correct in Contract Law and a very valid point.

@ izzyizin:

?Filing a claim in the small claims or any Court in England/Wales requires payment of a Court fee, sleepy. If you know of a Court where claims can be filed free of charge, do please reveal the relevant details...?

Court fees are waived if you are on low income and in receipt of some form of benefits. ?access to justice? doctrine springs to mind. I confess, however, not looking at that for a few years so would suggest a trip down to the local CC for verification on the new rules.

HipHopOpotomus · 03/07/2012 21:28

Well I was (briefly) an excellent landlord. And I've always been excellent tenant but I've NEVER had a nice landlord.

I dread the thought of ever having to rent privately again.

HipHopOpotomus · 03/07/2012 21:30

I take it back. unexpected has proven me wrong re landlords

amanspointofview · 03/07/2012 22:13

?To take revenge on this evil landlord??

I think the question is wrongly phrased. It should be along the lines of:

Should I seek restitution from the Courts by the powers conferred on me in common law and enacted in statue as is my right so as to make sure the little Fucker does not mess with any more tenants? I answer in the affirmative.

BabbleBitch keep us informed as you have probably gathered I have a bee in my bonnet with LL?s who extract the urine.

John1964 · 11/01/2018 18:09

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

specialsubject · 11/01/2018 18:11

...and five years ago. I know it is best served cold but that's a bit much.

Oh, and I'm reporting you for spam.

Glumglowworm · 11/01/2018 18:23

The first step would be to reply and confirm rent was not paid in arrears and she has proof of all payments being made in advance. It may be a genuine mistake.

A ll once did this to my friend, in a houseshare, he said 2 of us were up to date but third girl had missed a payment somewhere so hers had changed to arrears. It was a genuine mistake, he told us when she’d apparently missed, she showed she hadn’t, he checked and realised we were right and that was that.

So it may be a genuine mistake, especially as she paid an extra month he could’ve assumed that was right... but from what you’ve posted the LL is the type to do this deliberately.

I’m that case if she can prove the payments she can take him to small claims court for the extra month.

The deposit should be in a protection scheme (I’m sure this was the case 7 years ago as I moved in 2009 and that deposit was definitely protected, I remember doing the process to get it back at the end). If she shows she has permission for the changes and it wasn’t conditional on them being removed at the end of tenancy than he can’t withhold her deposit for that.

But again if he’s a dodgy ll he’s likely to come up with some damage or something she’s supposedly caused instead.

Your friend is very stupid not to have cancelled her standing order btw!

Glumglowworm · 11/01/2018 18:23

Oh FFS!

wowfudge · 11/01/2018 18:33

She should ask her bank to recall the payment sent in error. She should also send a copy of the tenancy agreement which proves when the rent is paid to the landlord and request that her money is refunded forthwith or she will take legal action.

AngelsSins · 11/01/2018 19:10

A lot of misinformation on this thread, and Aman is not completely right.

I'm ARLA qualified OP and landlords like this really piss me off. Feel free to IM me your details and I will help you.

If the landlord renewed the tenancy agreement each year, the deposit should have been in a scheme, and you could possibly get 3x as much back, as someone else mentioned on here. Even if it wasn't in a scheme because he let the tenancy go to rolling, there is still potential that it should have been in a scheme. It's not as simple as it being 7 years ago.

If he agreed to the flooring and fire at the time and didn't stipulate that she must remove it before moving out, then he cannot claim money for it now.

Some people have said the property must be returned in the state it was let, again, this is not true. Everything has a "shelf life", which is normally 5 or 10 years. So for example, walls have a life of 10 years, so if you lived somewhere 12 years and a wall was damaged, you would not necessarily be responsible for paying to have it repaired.

Regarding the rent, he doesn't have a leg to stand on. I would strongly suggest that if she can afford it, your sister contact a solicitor, or I will help her as much as I can and she should take him to a small claims court.

specialsubject · 11/01/2018 19:19

Landlord is/was a crook but ZOMBIE thread!!!! FIVE YEARS !!!!

19lottie82 · 11/01/2018 19:21

Just goes to prove there is no such thing
as a NICE private landlord

Bollocks.

When I rented I had a lovely LL.

Now I have a flat that I rent out and I let it out at a very fair price and didn’t put the rent up for 3 years.

Once the shower was broken and needed to be replaced, which took a week. The bath was still functional, but I have my tenants £50 so they could have a night in the pub on me, to apologise for the hassle.

When they moved out, the place was in condition but the bathroom and kitchen were gross. They had obviously tried to clean but there was basically 3 years of built in grime. I could have deducted from their deposit for a deep clean very easily (based on the photographic inventory from when they moved in which showed the whole place as spotless) but I didn’t. I refunded it in full and spent 6 hours of my own time cleaning.

19lottie82 · 11/01/2018 19:22

Sorry that should have said the place was in good condition

Stefoscope · 11/01/2018 22:51

Was the deposit protected? The landlord was legally required to put the deposit in a scheme. www.depositprotection.com/legislation . If he didn't notify her of where the deposit is held then he's not got a leg to stand on. Speak to Shelter and they will write to him and get the deposit back for her. Also if he didn't take an inventory at the start of the tenancy, it will be difficult for him to prove the flooring and fireplace changes.

Hauntedlobster · 11/01/2018 23:24

Don’t mention the keys - I remember a poster recently being charged for an extra month for holding onto keys aftervthevtensncy had ended.

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