I've just moved house. Before I moved, the kitchen at the rented house I was in was in a terrible state - the work tops were all made of wood which were rotted before I moved in but which got even worse while I was there - the units were all made of wood. The wood surfaces had got to the point where no treatment would make it any better and it just got worse and worse.
In the 3 years that I was there, the landlady never did any inspections at all but texted me occasionally to ask how things were and I mentioned about the work tops and the sink and that it was impossible to clean etc and she said it would be best to replace them when I moved out.
When I gave notice, she came to look at the house and noted that the work tops needed replacing but that she should have done it before I moved in and that it was not my fault. She arranged to have this done and new work tops were put in, again all made of wood.
She is now trying to say that the wooden cutlery draw, which was directly below the sink top, which was rotted right through is mouldy because I put wet cutely in there when, in fact I was never able to use it at all because it was mouldy and dirty in the beginning. There seems to be a threat of keeping our deposit to pay for a new, custom made cutlery draw.
Two weeks before I gave notice, my disabled daughters social worker, who is doing a care assessment for her at the moment looked at the kitchen and said that it was not suitable for us to live in because the kitchen was in disrepair and she wrote this in a report and said that we needed to move out ASAP. She advised us to go on the councils housing list which we did, and we were put on the highest priority band because of the state of the kitchen.
What would you do at this point? I really feel that she is just too tight to pay for the repairs the house needs and is trying to get money off us that she should be paying. Every year the 20 year old boiler went wrong and she said she was going to put a new one in but never did!