landlords eh

[chicadelmonton]

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?

@chicadelmonton - what did DPS say?

I should think the time delay means you are in the clear

thanks for checking in @justkeep, I spoke to DPS this morning and put in a dispute.

No word from my former LL today, presumably still looking for that pesky email

@Twoforthree, I hope so! I sincerely hope to win this battle...

www.arredare.co.uk/epages/BT2847.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT2847/Products/Agave

This is the lamp he said I broke. One of the plastic arms is missing, it's probably in our basement somewhere because it kept falling off and would have been shoved in a drawer. He says it's 300 quid (more even than the whole new cost) because it will have to be 'fitted'.

I think we can think of somewhere better to put it though, can't we

How do you break a light? Did you break it?

Regardless of if you broke it or it just failed. He can’t even charge the full price of a new one let alone more than it costs to replace.

Fair wear and tear has to be taken into account he can’t get betterment. Fancy lights with dangly bits no doubt fail faster in a tenant property than a big standard light.

The plastic chunks fall off and so one is missing. I probably have it somewhere in the basement. Also, I tried to change the bulb and it was sort of stuck in. But that can be fixed I think.

They love those acrylic lights. There was a chandelier style one in teh hall that had big chunks that fell off, my son stepped on one and ended up in A&E to have tape stitches.

I'm guessing they bought that when they still lived there and to my knowledge it has been rented out for at least five years. I know from past experience there is a different sliding scale for expensive items but still, he's charging me more than it costs new now!

Now I want to buy lamps from that website!

He really is a dick though. I thought he was nice but now I think of it, my lovely, lovely neighbours, an elderly couple actually said to me he looked down his nose at them.

This is what he writes about the lighting:

the light is a Luceplan Agave pendant with a current discounted price in the region of £270. As per the PTI this was in working order. Given aging we applied a discount for a new light, plus fitting charge. This does not therefore constitute betterment.

WTF?

Why are you engaging with him?

Deal with DPS and only DPS. Tell them you dispute all deductions based on the fact he didn’t bring them up for 8 weeks and has no proof of who has been in and out of the house since you left.

Leave this to the DPS. As he has no photos from when you moved out though a formal inventory it would be all on him to prove you damaged things. Which he can’t.

I was in the same situation with a £4.5k deposit which included a claim from the landlord for £1k for wallpaper. We took it to tribunal through DPS and they awarded us back almost all the money, apart from £12 towards a mirror she had priced at £150.

Do NOT make an offer “of goodwill”. Take it to tribunal, they always side on the side of tenants and the landlord can’t prove shit.

Great advice. I haven't engaged with him any more today, it's with the DPS now and I am disputing all but 800 which i can't do anything about because I put that in an email to him at the outset.

TBH we didn't do any gardening so they might screw us on that.

Yes, it is betterment, as he has already had 5+ years use. One of the other brands on that site offers a 5 year extended warranty so that suggests 5 years is a reasonable lifespan. Although I would argue you didn't damage it at all so aren't responsible for replacement as pieces falling off without being touched are a design flaw or wear and tear. I would have a look for online reviews to see if anyone has written about it easily falling apart.

I would raise the issue of your son's injury. The chandelier was clearly dangerous if pieces fell off it.

You have slightly shot yourself in the foot by losing the missing piece though of the second lamp. He would have no claim if you had kept it. He might have a claim for that lamp because you have lost a piece of it.

@chicadelmonton

Great advice. I haven't engaged with him any more today, it's with the DPS now and I am disputing all but 800 which i can't do anything about because I put that in an email to him at the outset.

TBH we didn't do any gardening so they might screw us on that.

Dispute it all and let DPS decide any amounts

He may use your emails, but they won’t necessarily agree

Another vote to dispute the full amount. Worst case, they side with him and they’ll give him a proportion of the full amount. This way, you’re giving him a huge chunk before you’ve even gone to dispute.

Email the letting agent to tell them you’re disputing the full amount so to pass that over. Do NOT LET HIM INTIMIDATE YOU!!!

Definitely dispute the full amount, whatever you agreed.

I'm assuming you agreed to take responsibility for paying for the light fittings and that is part of the £800 you agreed from what you have said in earlier posts?

Your son didn't break the chandelier if he trod on a piece that fell off the light. It wouldn't have happened if the light wasn't already falling apart. It's not your responsibility. Just explain to the TDS that you agreed to pay because you didn't realise it wasn't your responsibility.

How bad was the garden? Usually you can't ask tenants to do anything more than weed and mow the lawn, minor hedge trimming.

Really intrigued to know where you lived with a 6k deposit and the most expensive light fittings I've ever seen haha! Really hope you get it sorted, like others said, don't let him intimidate you!

You don't have to accept a £800 deduction just because you put it in an email.

You were unaware of your true legal position at that time. He can only deduct what is fair. That can be decided by the deposit company, that's their job. Not yours. £800 could be way too much.

OP mentioned London @ParkingFeud so possibly somewhere surprisingly small for all that money! The deposit was that much on the student let one of my DC rented in a not especially upmarket part of West London. Just a bog standard small Victorian terrace with a tiny garden that had been made even tinier by the kitchen extension.

@MadeForThis, you're absolutely right.

I've spoken with the deposit people this morning and changed the claim to the full amount. She also said if they haven't done a proper inventory dated within days of our moving out date, then they're in a very weak position. I've email all parties to say the previous offer is withdrawn and full amount with the DPS and all further communication will come from them.

Good luck 🤞

Good for you

Good luck

£50 per hour for gardening is laughable.

I garden for a living and charge £15 per hour. Regularly on gardening threads on here people say they are paying a good deal less.

My mentor has a master of horticulture and does get £50 per hour, for consultations. With an MHort and 20 years in the business.

£50 my arse.

Totally unreasonable two months later! Even if some of these things are real issues, they needed to be addressed when you moved out. He returned your deposit sooo.... that's that.

@Lemonlemon88 He didn't return our deposit, unfortunately, the payment turned out to be a pro-rated rent return.

But he has now admitted that he didn't have a check-out inventory carried out because he was quarantining and apparently unaware that this actually a service companies can provide for a small fee!

His photos are not dated. Also, he is saying he took them 3 weeks ago, but only sent them to me now, which is confusing.

It's incredible that numbnuts keeps carping on to me about the cleaning defects even though I have stated very clearly that they are not my problem at this stage because I notified him on the guarantee covering the cleaning and completion of the cleaning.

I have sent his photos of the dirty floor to the cleaning company though, because I paid an absolute fortune for that professional clean and would expect them to use the products necessary to get out ingrained dirt in his weird tiles. They may in fact come out to rectify it free of charge anyway.

The gardening is insane @Lunariagal, (he quoted 50 an hour for cleaning too!). He also says we should have maintained the box hedging in front of the house, like I'm supposed to be into topiary in my space time