Landlord broken window

[denimflame]

Hi,

I have a small broken window pane on my front door. I broke the window myself when I got locked out of my house quickly nipping to put something in my bin and my toddler shut the door on me, the door has a deadbolt. Both doors and windows were all locked and my toddler was inside with candles on etc and I couldn't get in.

I called the landlord before I broke the window in a panic as he had a spare key and asked him if he'd be able to come round and unlock the door and he basically said no and the only other option was to break the window to get the deadbolt off and then get it replaced it should only cost about £20.

So I did just that.

Skip to a couple weeks later and I've had multiple glazers come round to measure the window pane as it's a weird size and has a leaf pattern design and I've been invoiced about £200-300 for a very small window pane. The door isn't even a nice door to pay that sort of price to get it fixed, it has no letterbox on it when we moved in, the doors not fitted properly so wind comes through the sides etc honestly it's better just replacing the sodding door at this point.

But anyway I bought some window pane repair kit and cut it down to size, putty around it and I don't think I did a bad job.

Landlord comes round and he says he's not happy with it it needs to be leaf patterned. He is selling the house and we have to move out and I'm worried that he's going to deduct £200-300 off for the window pane when he originally said it should only cost £20.

I'll attach a photo of the window.

In no way do I think I'm in the right but I tried my best to replace it so it wasn't just a hole in the door...

Unless you have a record of the conversation where the landlord specifically instructed you to break the glass, there is probably not very much you can do to challenge it.
You can replace a whole door for £250 which is probably something the new owners will do anyway.

Unfortunately I don't I was in a panic at the time and called him on the phone 😣 I did think the same that I'm going to fork out to get it fixed for the new owners to just replace the door 🤧

In hindsight it’d of been cheaper to kick the door in and patch up the frame. I do think it’s one of those it is, what it is things. He thought it would be cheaper but still not his fault.

Sorry I think he probably will deduct it. It's just such a mismatch whether you think the door is nice or not.

Well done for fixing it! And I think you did the right thing in the circumstances... getting a lock smith out would have been stressful becuase they would not have been able to come straightaway and would have probably cost £200..

I think you might just have to live with the cost... however.... there might be some mitigation if he tries to replace the door... I think finding an exact match would be challenging... can you ask the glaziers who quoted to quote just for the glass?

The fix does look awful 😢 sorry but I also think he’ll deduct it.

I know you did your best but I wouldn't be happy with that repair if it was my door

If you are moving, you could just leave it and let him use the deposit scheme to deduct for further repairs.

He never protected my deposit so that's also another predicament I'm in 😥😥

Ah well, that's all amazing news then. He has no right to make any deductions at all and you can apply to county court for him to pay you a compensation of up to 3 times the deposit.

I also think that in the circumstances, even if he had said it would be £200 for the window when your rang, doesnt sound like you had a choice given you had to get in in an emergency

Could you find some stick on window film with the same pattern? I would dispute this with the deposit scheme - they probably will at least go halves, if not rule in your favour, since you made a good attempt at the repair, and he can't claim for betterment. Don't discuss it any more with him.

More fool him then because that's definitely to your advantage. You'll get your deposit back.

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

While it might take a court appearance to fix it... the law is on your side..

Exactly. You can stop worrying OP, no deductions at all!

If he never protected your deposit you'll be fine.

You can probably persuade him to return the full deposit instead of taking him to court
https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

Haha what a Fool is he. Upto 3x your deposit back then. So small price to lose £200-£300 of it.

Any chance he hasn’t been following the law in other ways. Gas safety and such.

As PP says, if he didn't protect your deposit that's a different ball-game so look into your rights about that.

In the meantime it might be worth seeing if you can source a replacement door cheaply on Facebook Marketplace and or Freecycle. They do come up.

Agree with @Catza - that is brilliant news about the deposit - his failure to do the right thing with it means he will be forced to pay you compensation!

Read more about this at https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection
&
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/deposits/check-your-landlord-has-protected-your-deposit/
&
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenancy_deposits/what_to_do_about_an_unprotected_tenancy_deposit

(these are the links for England - if you live in another part of the UK look at those instead)

and do call Shelter or the CAB or similar if you need more advice or support with the process.

Thank you for all your replies! I just feel so guilty that the window is broken and he's not happy about the re fix. But on the other hand I know he hasn't protected my deposit and he won't feel guilty about that just will feel like a fool. He doesn't know that I know he hasn't protected my deposit but I've called all the schemes and they have no record on file of us and he never gave me certification to say it's protected 😳

I just don't know how to go about it all.

Also to mention that he took more than 5 weeks rent for a deposit.

Yes, don't put any more effort into faffing around with the door (film and door replacements were good ideas if you were liable... but suddenly you're not).

Redirect your energy into legal efforts over the deposit. Or as a PP said, say you won't take it further if he returns the whole deposit – in a timely manner, too.

Oh well, if that's the case, you're in a strong position - you might have to go through small claims to get it back, but he's the one in trouble here.

Also remember that you're not necessarily responsible for the full cost of replacing the pane, renters aren't a new for old insurance policy. If that's a 60 year old door (which it looks like - in fact, it looks very much like the door in my old house, which was original from the 30s), then there's a strong argument that you're not responsible for any cost here, as the whole door is due replacement anyway (especially given the new energy efficiency requirements coming in)

As an example, some old tenants burned a hole in my kitchen worktop. As the kitchen was 5 years old, I was only entitled to claim 50% of the replacement cost from them, as the kitchen was considered half-used.

When they ruined the upstairs carpet, I wasn't entitled to anything, as the carpet was 10 years old and therefore already at end of life.

Yes this is brilliant!!!!!! www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

Read the link I've included and follow what to do on there. His mistake in not protecting your deposit will cost you a LOT. Forget about the door for the time being.

you absolutely can not replace the whole door for £250