To find this unfair? Letter from landord

[Strawberrylacesx03]

Hello,

It has not been a great thing to have on a Friday and I feel disheartened by it.

Our landlords have sent a letter basically complaining about the house we are renting.

There list of issues are as follows:

• Mold in bedrooms, claiming they did not have mold before. We have struggled with mold the whole time we have lived here. We were told by an electrician who updated the extractor fan in the bathroom and the plumber that it was because the bathroom is in the middle of the house with no window. I have never completely been able to erase the bathroom mold and we do get it in the corner of the bedrooms. The landlord has disputed this and said they 'know' it is because we do not open the windows (this is not true, they are always open).
• Scuffs on the paintwork on the stair banister - I acknowledge this happened when we first moved in as furniture was being transferred in and out of the property.
• Stains on the front room carpet - this is due to a pipe bursting around a year ago that they are fully aware of. The room was soaked and I did what I could, it has left behind some ugly black marks in areas.
• They instilled a wooden sink cabinet - this has splintered at the top. I am unsure what I can do about this? I am not sure how you would prevent water going over it, the bathroom is tiny it is directly attached to the bath/shower. The plumber also advised them that everything in the bathroom was old and needed renovating as did the sink in the kitchen but they refused and said they did not have that kind of money.
• The wrap they used in the kitchen on the cupboards and drawers was very cheap and ill done - it began peeling away within a year of us being here. They have complained that I have tried to cover it up with new wrap (it looked horrible).

I just feel like a lot of this stuff I do not want to take blame for as I feel it could bite me further down the line if I take on the acceptance?

It has just left me feeling a little out of sorts, I have two young children and am now thinking we are going to potentially have problems with the landlord.

We have not been problem tenants in any way either, rent always on time, quiet and respectful to the neighbours etc. these complaints have come rather out of nowhere.

If you like to do favours beyond your legal duties that's fine. But the point is, the landlord is the owner of the asset and is responsible for maintenance.

Would you touch up the paint in the supermarket if your trolley scuffed it? That would perhaps be the 'decent thing to do' too.

Landlord/tenant is a business arrangement. I have better things to do with my time than take on the other parties' responsibilities.

I really felt like I was being told off. "appalling" "deeply disappointed" "way way beyond wear and tear" "not unreasonable to expect our house to be in the inventory condition" "Back up to standard"

I took a moment and went through it all and if they did evict me I do have family I can stay with. However, it really was not a nice thing to receive out of the blue.

yes, deposit protected

The heating will not be the cause. Of course the outdoor temp is much colder. This is standard for all houses in the winter months.

Do you have a contact? I'd be telling him off for going in to your house without asking you. That should be against the terms of the contract.

And I'd push back against all the rest, apart from the paint scuffs.

Sounds like he might be thinking about selling? You might need to have a look around to see what else is available.

Sounds like they are looking for excuses to get you out. I had a similar situation when renting a few years back, mould in the place and being told to do stuff in a certain way. After being harassed I shot back a letter to the agency quoting my right to “ quite enjoyment of the property” which is a legal right as a tenant, after more disagreements they tried after I moved out to withhold my deposit, which I wrote a furious letter to the tpc and got it all back. Bastards. Just push back, landlords these days seem to expect their tenants to tip toe around and sit on the end of seats. To me it sounds like you are juyst using the place, and also that the6 should be making it liveable ,

The mould is the tenants' responsibility when down to lack of heating and ventilation

I do. Every morning without fail sun , rain , snow. Lift blinds ,open windows in each room. Make a cuppa, shower, drink cuppa. Close upstairs windows except bathroom. That's open 24 7
Today once wind died down i opened them again from 11 until 2.30 ish. All by about 6 inches. Was lovely and fresh. Then put heating on for dcs getting home .

I used to work in a Lettings Agency, so here’s my advice… firstly, do you have any photos at all of the property when you first moved in? This can shut down the whole conversation as it’s proof that you did not do the damage / shoddy workmanship that wasn’t going to last. If you ever rent again in the future this needs to be the first thing you do on the first day you move in.

Next have a refresh of your tenancy agreement - doesn’t hurt and may have a few things which stand out to you that you can use back in your response to the landlord.

Something else to include in your response is if you’ve ever asked for maintenance as this is proof you do care about the property and have pointed out the issues before the landlord brought them up.

You can easily include in your response that you need the landlord to make good of the mould, and you are considering reporting the mould issue to the council directly so they can investigate - which will totally put off the landlord from being on your back as the council are a nightmare for landlords (mould and health and safety issues are what they care about, and you need to first give the landlord a chance to put these things right - not at your expense).

Finally, anything which you can put right yourself (ie scuff marks) make sure you do so before you leave the property or the landlord will hire someone else to do so possibly at your expense (from your deposit) and it may be a lot more costly than what you can do it for.

Also, make sure you take photos of everywhere before you leave! Can’t turn around and add more to the list then. Also you may be able to claw back some of your deposit if you can show the house was good before you left. All the best x

🤣🤣🤣🤣 I hope you're not a renter!!! I definitely wouldn't want someone like you in one of my properties. Renters are living in someone else's house and need to remember that. I think it's just about being a decent human being. A lot of people who are renting can't afford to buy their own property and need to respect the house they're currently staying in belongs to someone else. If you know you have damaged something, then you fix it 💯 😜

I have my bedroom and bathroom windows open all day every day, whatever the weather.

Your landlord has both reasonable and unreasonable points.

It is your responsibility to pre ent mould, even in a property that has a bathroom in the middle of the house. I have no idea why they build houses like that in the first place because bathrooms need windows, but even without them it’s still possible to prevent mould. Keep the door open, ventilate, and when the walls are wet after a shower, use a squeegee to remove most of the water.

You should expect to fix chips on woodwork like bannisters if you’ve damaged them while moving furniture and you probably should have asked for permission to replace the film in the kitchen even if it was a bit crap in the first place. But having a wooden, untreated cabinet under a sink in a bathroom that has no windows is ridiculous.

Thanks for responses - I genuinely do try to prevent the mold as my child has a health condition but the squeegee idea is a good one. The electrician said the ceiling was so wet when he replaced the extractor fan.

This is another thing - I told them the extractor fan was broken and it took them 8 months to fix it.

They have also put a big crumbling hole in one of the bedroom walls when they put a blind up last year so I just feel to present me with a list of how much 'damage' is ludicrous.

I do really want to reiterate - anything we have done would 100 percent be sorted before we left, so any paint chips etc.

Also I haven't rewrapped the drawers in the kitchen - I just put some stickers from b and q over the top because they looked so bad, all peeling and exposing the wood underneath. I can easily take them off.

I think the one that has bothered me the most is the window comment - they said they didn't need to replace the windows, they did it 'for us when the old ones had a few years left in them' when that is just not true - the old ones didn't shut or lock, also I didn't demand new windows, I asked if the locks could be fixed. I also don't buy that anyway - no one spends money to replace whole windows if they don't need to, especially when you complain to everyone that you have no money.

I will make sure now I photograph everything and keep everything in writing as sadly it looks like this is what I will be dealing with.

nothing like keeping the peasants in their place right

Hang on - they let themselves into the house and looked round when you weren't there? This is not legal. Please get some advice from Shelter. Some of the posters on this thread have posted incorrect advice. Make sure you have copies of correspondence, photos, etc about all of this. Is your deposit properly protected? Your landlords sound like unprofessional arseholes.

I don't know whether to go back and ask them when this inspection took place?

Yes my deposit is protected

I'd ask them what date they visited, they should have given you notice and they can't just let themselves in to look around.

Is there a letting agent? Your landlords sound pretty unprofessional, seek advice from Shelter, document everything for the DPS when it comes to getting your deposit back and start looking to move on. No doubt your landlords want you out and will use tactics like this to make you feel stressed and disrupt your quality of life.

I am a landlord and this is completely unacceptable. General wear and tear is part of any tenancy. I have spent thousands ensuring my properties aren’t damp and if there are any issues then maintenance is sent out the same day. This is the minimum your landlord should be doing. Rents are so expensive now and many private landlords have been forced out of the market which means the prices keep going up because a lot of the remains ones have no scruples and know they can get someone new in at the drop of a hat. If they can’t afford to put new kitchens and bathrooms in they can’t afford to be a landlord. It’s so unfair I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this

Thank you - I am genuinely not trying to make my landlords life harder, I pay rent on time, have never had any kind of complaints, have always contacted them as soon as anything has broken.

I hate to say it in this way but the reality is the house and a lot of things in it are quite old and worn, we have been blamed for any of these things breaking, despite it being out of our control (like the windows).

It's worrying as I am now concerned what else we will have levelled at us.

Anyone who owns a house will know you have to keep spending on maintenance but some landlords struggle to understand this and just want the money to keep h in without paying out. I can see why they’re frustrated that they have to spend so much money but it’s their problem.
Fight this. Accept the small things such as the banister paint damage. Good luck.

After a year of living in my own home I wouldn't expect to have to repaint, de-mould and replace all kitchen cupboards and sideboards because they have been peeled and cracked! How on earth is that "normal"?

A large ebac in a Jubilee bathroom on 24/7 is a start, a window vac is a good idea and never dry clothes indoors, all the wet will just evaporate and condense on the coldest spots (the corners of the room). Some old houses need gutting but seem to be rented out instead - not nice for tenants piddling take by landlords

Worst case scenario they DO evict, evictions are taking up to a year at the moment