to not want to pay the M.O.D £1,557.79, which i dont have anyway...

[pinkdolly]

ok so Dh left the forces in July. We had been living in surplus family housing as we were moved out of our married quarters due to extreme safety issues. It was all a bit of a mess-up really. But there we go.

The only place they could find us at the tme was a massive victorian 4 bed house. Which on the face of it was very nice.

however the 2 years there wee the longest of my life. The landlord really wasnt very good. The bolier needed replacing and broke repeatedly. Rather then installing a new one he just fixed every part under the sun. Which meant for the most part we were left trying to heat this big old house with electric heaters supplied by the landlord. He had said he would refund us the bill for this but never did.

The whole house had been painted with a water based paint, which the letting agent had said was really silly, as we couldnt clean the finger marks off without the paint coming off too (at that point we had one little girl learning to walk and a 5 and 6 tear old).

Anyway when we left my dh spent a week painting and scrubbing. He had a team of about 10 people help with this. But the marks didnt all come off the walls as we couldnt scrub anywhere near as hard as we should have done.

Anyway today i have just had the bill come through for the house.
£1090.31 for repainting#
£359.90 for a new living room carpet- scorched by one of the heaters supplied by the landlord, which we wouldnever have had to use if the boiler was not broken. And a few other bits all adding up to the figure at the top.

Now am i being unreasonable in thinkng we should not have topay all of this amount. my dh worked really hard to sort the house out when we left (i had a very colicky 2 month old so couldnt really help). He made every effort he could to sort it out.
The rental agreement said we would have to pay for anything beyond fair wear and tear. Well what do u expect with a family of young kiddies.

in any case we literally do not have the money. Dh left for a lower paid job and we just about make ends meet as it is.

what do u think we should do?

I think that you need to reiterate the facts very calmly and very clearly in response to the bill.

this should state that fair wear and tear is acceptable and not deductible. This is a negotiation point. The house was unsuitably decorated- the walls could not be cleaned which for a rented house is madness. Reiterate the lack of choice you had in housing and how unsuitable the accommodation actually was. Point out that if the landlord had the house re-decorated with a washable paint then that is not restoring the place to the condition it was- it is betterment, ie he has ended up with a better place than he had before.

I would also point out the fact that when you were housed in suitable accommodation previously there was not a problem- they have always been left clean.

I am still not clear- do i assume that the MOD offered some kind of guarantee and this is why they are chasing you for the money? If so, they probably know that they are in a difficult spot. I would start off on the basis that you owe them nothing- having done what is reasonable- done a thorough clean before leaving. If necessary move to offering a small amount over a long period of time. Seriously- they can only, at worst take legal action- if you have nothing to offer the courts are unlikely to take it. I would also add that they are pretty unlikely to risk the advers publicity ( not that you would want to take that route I know)