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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

landlords eh

135 replies

chicadelmonton · 14/05/2021 09:21

We rented a house for two years and moved out in January. As a family we've moved out of several houses before (in London, so £££) and I thought I'd got it down to a tee. I paid for the full expensive clean (was nearly 800 quid, including carpets, ovens, windows etc.). This was guaranteed, so any problems would be rectified by the company. Before moving out we allowed viewings (they were selling), which I don't normally do but they had been very good to us as LL. These viewings continued after we left and are still ongoing now as it's not sold. I had several conversations with the LL about the state of the property and offered to get an odd job man in instead of paying for the inventory (cost is about the same) but he said no they preferred to do an inventory. All fine with me. At the end of the tenancy the ll returned out deposit in full, without question. Great, I thought, and fair too, as we had paid all our rent on time and allowed unlimited viewings. Now, two months later, he has sent me a list of damages totalling 2k (including cleaning faults) and asked for my thoughts. AIBU that he has taken away my right of redress through the deposit protection scheme? I'm aware I could do nothing but it might fester on and if he really wanted to he could take us to small claims. There are some silly things on the list like two broken light fittings for 300 quid each and gardening at 50 per hour.

I would have paid reasonable deductions from the deposit, but why repay the deposit and then do this?

OP posts:
LadyWhistledownsQuill · 14/05/2021 09:27

Hahaha the landlord is a fucking chancer. He should have gone through the deposit scheme for this sort of thing.

HelloOldSport · 14/05/2021 09:29

Fuck that - that's what the deposit scheme is for. Personally, i'd just block his number and forget about it.

FuckyouCovid21 · 14/05/2021 09:32

Yeah nah, who's to say firstly that there is any damage and secondly, that it was caused by you. Surely he can't now do this after paying your deposit back in full and you having left 4 or so months ago?!

VanceRefridgeration · 14/05/2021 09:34

Surely him retuning the deposit in full after you left is his confirmation that the house is in a fit state?

If it's laying empty and hasn't sold then of course extra cleaning and gardening will be needed but that's not on you

coldswimmer88 · 14/05/2021 09:35

My thoughts would be "jog the fuck on". He has no basis for pursuing you and likely knows it.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 14/05/2021 09:36

I seem to be saying this quite a lot this week: I am an inventory clerk and would offer these observations

  • yes, He has removed your right of redress
  • did you see the check out report? What date was on it?
  • 2 months after returning your deposit in full is taking the proverbial. No court would see that as in any way reasonable. His moment was when your money was with the depoist scheme. He made his choice, can't have 2 bites at that cherry.
  • he seems to be charging you full price for those light fittngs - that is betterment, at best, as they were not brand new when you moved out.
  • gardening is another he won't get anywhere with. If you left it as it was (no missing or additional decking etc) tidy and weed free then he hasn't got a leg to stand on, no matter how many plants have died in the interim!

Tell him he is being unreasonable and you won't be bullied into paying anything you do not owe him.

InpatientGardener · 14/05/2021 09:37

Pfffff really! What a fucker. If the inventory has been completed on check out and he was satisfied to give you your deposit back then he can do one. Stuff like this makes my blood boil.

JustcameoutGC · 14/05/2021 09:39

Your answer should be either

A) Hhahah haaa. God loves a trier, thanks for giving me a giggle.
B) I think nothing of your list, the time to address this was when my deposit was still being held by the deposit agency. Goodbye.
C) FOTTFSOFATFOSM

InpatientGardener · 14/05/2021 09:41

Ask him why he thinks you ought to pay for the upkeep and improvement of a property you neither own nor live in.

JustLyra · 14/05/2021 09:46

Just reply that any deductions should have been done through the deposit scheme.

If he goes to small claims then use the return of your deposit from the scheme as your evidence that there was no issues.

LL’s like this make my blood boil. This is why there is a deposit scheme

AppleKatie · 14/05/2021 09:47

Yeah no.

He doesn’t get to demand money from you this far down the track. I would simply ignore him I think.

If he comes back to you I would ask him to cease and desist and remind him when your contract ended and that he has already returned your deposit. I would also tell him that any further communication would be seen as harassment.

Tiredmumno1 · 14/05/2021 09:51

@JustcameoutGC

Your answer should be either

A) Hhahah haaa. God loves a trier, thanks for giving me a giggle.
B) I think nothing of your list, the time to address this was when my deposit was still being held by the deposit agency. Goodbye.
C) FOTTFSOFATFOSM

You've got to go with C.

NoSquirrels · 14/05/2021 09:53

He’s asked for your thoughts?

I’d say “LL, my thoughts are I’m surprised to get this communication. You’ll remember that I offered to pay for a handyman to fix anything outstanding but you refused, and you repaid the full deposit subsequently, signalling that you were satisfied with the state of the property. So I’m unsure why we’re having this correspondence or what you think I should do about it. With best wishes, ....”

Cheeky feck.

Original poster
chicadelmonton · 14/05/2021 09:54

It's so bizarre. He was a great landlord, replaced items immediately without talk of repairs, didn't interfere, which is why I allowed viewings which I would never normally do.

OP posts:
NoSquirrels · 14/05/2021 09:56

If the house hasn’t sold yet, I’d bet he’s trying to recoup some lost revenue. You obviously can’t ignore him because if it went to small claims you need to look like the most reasonable party. So keep all communication prompt, to the point a d as succinct as possible. Admit no liability to anything. And resupply any contract cleaning details.

AnyFucker · 14/05/2021 10:03

Tell him to bog off

Return of the deposit in full is the end of the matter. He won’t take you to court, they will laugh him out of the place.

nellly · 14/05/2021 10:08

I would play dumb "ooops think you've sent this to the wrong person. We moved out in jan, has a professional clean the place and got our deposit back months ago, this must be for your current tenant, all the best "

InpatientGardener · 14/05/2021 10:22

Sounds like he's trying to spruce it up because its not selling and is trying to avoid paying for it himself Hmm

Original poster
chicadelmonton · 14/05/2021 11:29

@nosquirrels I like your wording. That one day's work would have taken out most of his list.

@InpatientGardener, I agree. I think it hasn't sold and he's going to let it out again and needs the work done.

Interesting point above that 300 quid for lamps is betterment, I will point that out.

OP posts:
murbblurb · 14/05/2021 11:41

Evil bastard landlord here. Let him take you to court , they need a good laugh.

Just ignore.

sst1234 · 14/05/2021 11:57

Just ignore. The worst thing you can do in these situations is engage with the other side.

SherryPalmer · 14/05/2021 12:03

Don’t say anything about any of the detail in his list - you don’t want to inadvertently give him something useful he could use in court. Just a simple, “this matter was closed when you returned our deposit in full” and ignore.

2bazookas · 14/05/2021 12:08

Just reply, in writing, keep a copy:

" Our tenancy ended on . We left the property clean and in good order, and handed back the keys on . Our deposit of (££) was returned in full on .

We are not responsible for any subsequent  damage or deterioration to the property after  our tenancy ended."
NailsNeedDoing · 14/05/2021 12:08

The landlord is taking the piss. Respond saying that you accept no liability for these things considering that when you moved out months ago an inventory was done and your deposit was retuned.

Just for the sake of your landlords general knowledge, someone probably needs to tell him that it’s pretty normal for gardens to grow and require work in May when they haven’t been touched since January.

WillWonderer · 14/05/2021 12:09

Ignore him and/or tell him to fuck off.
I was in a somewhat similar situation to you except (unfortunately for us) our deposit was still in the scheme. Our landlord quoted us £12,000 of damage - nothing mentioned at the check out inspection and none of it true. He forged our signatures on a document saying we'd accepted responsibility for the damage so the DPS gave him our deposit in full. This was despite him having no pictures of before or after the tenancy or any proof the work had been done. We had photos at the start of the tenancy, photos at the end, a statement from the nextdoor neighbour that no work had happened on the property, statement from our previous landlord that we hadn't caused any damage when living there and a statement from one of the tradesmen whose quotes were provided saying that he had provided a quote to the landlord but the landlord had never followed up or used them (yet was telling DPS he had).
You're lucky you got the deposit back because now you can just completely ignore the landlord.