Taken to court by ex landlord for decoration etc of property after 10 yr tenancy

[AgnesR]

Hi
Would love any advice or support or pointers towards help
I am so upset because my ex landlord is taking me to court for £7500 for a load of repairs, new carpets, worktops etc, plus loss of rental income after my 10 year tenancy.(Rent was £750!)
I always paid on time, asked very little of them
All the carpets were old and thin when I moved in
There was of course wear and tear after a family lived somewhere for 10 years
but it was totally clean, totally emptied (of course), and we did lots of painting over scuffs. Several people helped and I honestly thought we left it in a (more than) fair state for them to do the necessary work after a 10 year tenancy (to good, polite tenants!)
I am already under so much stress with severely disabled child, my own health issues, finances etc and this is the last straw!
Thank you

Your ex LL is an absolute scumbag. I reckon he's paid the court fee in hopes you will agree to just settle.

Wear and tear is to be expected during a tenancy especially one of ten years! I'd be surprised if any court took him very seriously. But from what you said about him this is probably a tactic he has used before and been successful with. Contact shelter and fight him.

@anges
when did you give notice?
what was your notice period?
when did you leave ?
do you owe any rent?
have you communicated to tenancy deposit scheme that you agreed to deductions?
does landlord have a forwarding address for you ?
are you in employment or on benefits ?

You and Yours on Radio 4 just did a whole thing about housing - I would tell them too. I had a landlord years ago who were famed for trying to get as much deposit money and more off people as they could - it was a nice little earner for them - and they would threaten to sue and all kinds of stuff. I laughed at them, and pointed out that they were legally responsible for complete redecoration between tenants (it was the law where I was living) and had not done that, so I would be happy to discuss that in court with photo documentation I had taken when I moved in. they dropped it. I would bet that your LL will be open to offers - court filing fees are not very high and I bet they make enough in this little scam to make it worthwhile.

Did you take photos of the property before you moved out to show its current state? Go to court and argue your case, as previous posters have advised get advice from shelter and also Citizens Advice Bureau in preparation. Greedy LL taking piss. Good luck 🤞

I just got my deposit back after 6 months of going through the process and adjudication. My former landlord was claiming £2k. he claimed for new garden equipment - literally a load of stuff he wanted from Amazon. This wasn’t for me to replace broken or worn out equipment. It was simply his shopping list for all the things he wanted for the house which he wanted me to pay for. He even went so far as to turn up at my parents house putting pictures of what he wanted through the door. Anyway he got £300 for cleaning and got not a penny more! I battled it out for 6 months. Didn’t care about the money it was all about his greed. This guy owns millions of pounds of property!

If you look on mydeposits and others, you can see examples of this very thing having gone to tribunal. Even if you paint another colour, it doesn't matter if they haven't done decoration in 6 years, as they'd have to paint anyway. I went to a tribunal myself over a decorative issue, and they couldn't charge me anything for marks on the wall because they hadn't decorated in over 6 years and it therefore was being done anyway.

I am sorry you are experiencing this. I would recommend you post on the Buying, Selling and Renting forum on MSE.

I did everything above board. Gave notice, paid until the final date. Owed them nothing.

I let the deposit go as they were being intimidating and I had heard they fought people over them, and I had enough else going on that it was worth it to my time and health to let it go.

I didn’t agree deductions. I just didn’t contact mydeposits as their Google reviews are terrible and I didn’t have time to fight over it

I am a full time carer. I do have a guarantor who is now a pensioner.

I will be looking through to see what if anything I can concede - such as servicing of their alarm system and a new battery (I never once used this, but it was in my contract to pay this on leaving).
£180…

However I felt they could have the deposit for that and a new lightbulb and whatever other petty things they wanted to claim for!

i don't understand why you let them keep your deposit. Are you going to fight to get that back now?

This your deposit should have been put in a scheme. Ask for it back it is free.

they have not got a leg to stand on in court. Represent yourself. Don’t stress.

Not that it should be relevant but I had a good professional job when I took the tenancy before child’s health deteriorated

Thanks again for the support. I am going to try not to stress and stop thinking about it now and for the weekend as my kids need my attention back to them.

I hugely appreciate all the advice though and will be reading it all again after a little break to clear my head.

Honestly - landlord here
they are taking the piss.
i didn't update carpets etc in the house my tenants moved in for ten years so by the end I charged them a third below the market rate as compensation and of course I gave them the deposit back!!!!!
my last tenants were really upset as the inspection report found them at fault and said they owed me three hundred to take out of the deposit scheme. The tenants pointed out they had been excellent tenants and I let it go.

Definitely challenge this. My landlord tried to keep £1k of my deposit for “redecoration”. I got £800 back after taking the to the tenancy deposit scheme appeal. I think I should have got all of it back, but I forgot to take photos just before handover. It’s easy to find letters and advice online.

Don’t roll over, presumably they bully people and get their way!!

Also my neighbour rents out his house. He owns forty properties. He is AlWays trying it on with his tenants and with me over party wall. He just has various attack dogs he pays to send out threatening letters. I ignored him.

I will look into claiming deposit back too minus their new alarm battery etc!

That I appreciate, and glad it went your way - but this has nothing to do with a deposit scheme tribunal, this is a claim via the courts for alleged damage / cost of remediation.
It will be up to the parties involved, the OP and the landlord to convince the magistrate as to the merits in law and precedents applicable to their case (which is where the solicitor comes in handy). The outcomes of some deposit tribunals and cost calculators used by them may, or indeed, may not be deemed appropriate to the case.
The law seems clear, that a tenant should have permission to re-decorate. Also of course depends on any particular stipulations in the tenancy agreement.

Happily OP has confirmed that they didn't re-decorate and the landlord was happy with their touching up - so long as they have a record of that exchange I can't see that can go any further TBH.

My gut feeling is the LL is chancing their arm and will withdraw prior to court, rather than looking a right Peter Rachman / Rupert Rigsby wannabee in a public courtroom

Agnes go into my deposits now and register a dispute. All you need is your deposit number.

https://disputes.mydeposits.co.uk/tenants/Login.aspx

They won't have a leg to stand on OP.

No damage to the property just normal wear and tear .

They will be laughed out of Court I reckon.

If they don’t engage in the deposit scheme it will be held against them as it’s wasting the courts time. In the same way it will be held against you if you don’t engage in the process. You really need to register the dispute to kick start the process. You’re not helping yourself. It only takes a couple of minutes to enter your certificate number and press dispute !

I don't want to worry you @AgnesR as I have no knowledge of the legality of the rules landlords make. My only knowledge is from when I was a private tenant myself for a few years.

In my contract it said you couldn't put as much as a hook in the wall to hang a picture up, and definitely no decorating etc, without the landlords permission first. So we nearly always checked before we made any adaptions or full changes.

However, our landlord's agents made, permitted by law, thorough check ups every six months, to ensure that we weren't abusing or neglecting the property in any way. If your landlord/agent did the same, then they would have noticed the new carpets, counters, etc, and in my opinion, they should have said something at the very first landlord/agent check-up that took place after you had made the changes. I can't see how any court would agree to the landlord's request now, after he has not brought up the changes in so many years. It is obviously just an attempted crafty way, on behalf of the landlord, to try and get you to fund the repairs of normal wear and tear that any property would have after 10 years.

So please try not to worry about this OP as I can't see the Court letting your landlord get away with being such a cheeky bugger. 🎄🎄🎄

Thank you but I didn’t change anything in the house. I would never do that without permission.

Okay I will dispute the deposit straight away. I just couldn’t face a battle at the time, but clearly that was an error.

I have never been in a position like this, always had full deposits and nice references prior!

I know it’s hard to find the brain space to deal with shit like this when dealing with a disabled child and fighting for SEN provision but please don’t let these shitbags get away with keeping your deposit! That’s your money which you will likely find a purpose for in the run up to Christmas especially.

Contact the deposit scheme and dispute everything. You haven’t responded so haven’t agreed with what they’ve tried to charge you for. Just say you are late responding due to personal issues. Take no notice of the reviews. The deposit company still need to administer the process the same as any other company.

They can fuck off about lightbulbs. Are all the lightbulbs listed in the inventory?, doubtful! The blind as 10+ years old is worth nothing but they can try for £10 max after 10 years of use. They’d need a receipt if they try to claim it’s a really expensive one which it’s unlikely they’d have if they have a big property portfolio. The splits in the joins of the worktops are due to aging and normal use, carpet and walls are fair wear and tear.

They’re trying to charge you for what they spent on maintenance after you left, that they should have done while you were living there!

Just set aside 10 minute blocks over the next week or so (set an alarm on your phone to prompt you at time when kids are quiet) to dispute the deposit and make a defence to the court claim-you have 14 days to respond? Make it clear absolutely no maintenance had been done on the property throughout the 10 year tenancy.

Write out short and concise responses to all charges in a notepad and then keep coming back to it until done and transfer onto paperwork.

Likely case will be withdrawn if you submit a defence anyway. If it’s not, you’ll need to turn up at hearing (hopefully a remote one!) but it’s not scary. It’s a civil dispute not a criminal one and worse case scenario, there’s no way landlord will get an order for full amount with that length of tenancy so still worth turning up.

You should note in the defence paperwork that the landlord refused your request for a service dog for your disabled child and you believe this is a vexatious claim to recoup costs of improving the standard of the property so it could let at a higher rate which it has been. Most judges don’t like this kind of landlord so hopefully they’ll get their arses handed to them on a plate.

Sounds to me like the landlord has decided to upgrade the property and fancies getting the OP to pay for it thinking she's not going to fight it and trying it on.

Counter sue for emotional distress.

He’s trying it on to get you to foot the bill for renovations no court on this earth will side with them 10 years his responsibility fight it all the way and see if you can get legal aid and fight for your deposit. He prob very well versed in bullying people in this way.