please help- landlord problems.

[therenter]

We live in rented accommodation- have been here for 18 months with our four children. Our landlords live away and come down every 6 months to inspect the property.

We didn't know it when we moved in but our landlord is totally ocd over his house. He did most of the work himself and I understand that it is his "baby". We also found out after we moved in that he had made things very difficult for the previous tenants when they left and when he lived here himself he had made our neighbours lives very stressful by complaining about every little thing they did.
Anyway I am getting to the point...sorry.
Myself and my dh have been finding these inspections more and more stressful. Think scrubbing the skirting boards with a toothbrush/deep cleaning the whole house. Only for our landlord to tell us how dissatisfied he is with the condition of the house.
We have 4 young children and inevitably they cause more wear and tear then when he lived here with his one teenage daughter. However he will not let us rectify anything. For instance we asked for paint colours so we could patch up marks on the walls were the children have put their fingers (I have cleaned these but find the paint comes off aswell), he won't provide them.
We have just received a very snotty letter after his recent visit. My very slight 7 year old leant on the shed door and it collapsed the day before his visit, the whole frame was rotten all the way through and the glass panel was left hanging like a guillotine it's lucky she wasn't seriously hurt. We have never had the keys to this shed as it is his store so we had no idea of the condition. He is asking us to fully replce this door using a qualified carpenter. I feel this is unreasonable considering the condition of the door.

Also while he was here he found that one of the supporting beams from under the balcony is cracked and needs replacing- he is also saying we are responsible for this although we have no idea how it happened.

Furthermore I found out a little while ago that he did not protect our deposit- I questioned him about this and he said it is because he took two months rent in advance instead. I have researched this and I don't believe he can do this. It firmly states in our tenancy that our one months rent will be returned if the property is in good order when we leave. I firmly believe he will intend to keep this. I know they are having serious money troubles and doubt they can afford to return it.

We haven't actually been given notice to leave or given our notice of intent to leave but we can not go through the stress of another inspection again given his unreasonable standards and demands so we are looking for a way out. Although I doubt we will even get a good reference out of him.

please can anyone advise on anything in my post. Sorry it has been a long one. There is more but it would have made a long post even more tiresome to read. Thankyou

In your shoes, I'd be looking for another place, and giving a month's notice asap. If he doesn't return your deposit, you can go to the Small Claims Court, where he may be ordered to return up to 3 times the amount, because he hasn't protected it. However it would probably be less stressful to not pay the last month's rent; after all, you paid 2 months up front, according to him.

You are absolutely not responsible in any way for the collapsing shed (glad your dd wasn't injured) or the balcony problems.

I would repost this in legal - there's lots of people that have given great advice in there.

Not an expert but from what I understand (from other posts in legal!) if he hasn't protected your deposit then he has to give you up to x3 of the deposit back, regardless of condition. I'd keep quiet on that front and then read up on it so you can claim it from him.

I'd also turn the tables on him and say that you expect him to fix those things as they are things that should be covered by normal wear and tear and that he is very lucky that you are not suing him for large amounts after your dd had the accident with the shed door, which could have led to a horrendous accident. Make sure you have good photos that show how badly rotten the wood is and how the glass was left hanging dangerously. And say that he should have fixed them earlier not left them to rot or get structurally unsafe (for the strut maybe?)

Do you have a legal helpline on your insurance that could help?

refuse his inspections! your right to peace and quiet enjoyment of your home trumps anything in your contract about inspections. he has no legal right to enter your house unless there is a gas or water emergency. if he comes in using a key without your permission it's trespassing. stop letting him in.

i doubt you are responsible for the shed as it is his private store and was locked. what does the contents inventory say about the shed?

i would look for a new place too. i wouldn't withhold rent as he can take you to court for non payment. visit the DPS site for advice about a non protected deposit.

Thanku- we r gutted really. We have bent over backwards to try and please them and also to help them. Our property has an annexe that origionally formed part of our tenancy but on them struggling financially and suggesting they may need to rent it out separately we found a tennant for them very quickly. We have even on occassion paid our rent early to them to help them out. I'm not saying we have been model tenants- our children are probably a bit nosier then they should be and one of them broke the cat flap when we moved in but we did replace this.
I just know we wont get a decent reference from them and that may hinder us trying to get another property :-(

That should be noisier not nosier.

I think we do have legal actually will have to check with my cover tho. The shed is not mentioned at all on our tenancy. Yes I did think about the dangerous situation my daughter had been put in.

Another thing he mentioned in his letter is that our garage was too full and it is a fire hazzard so he wants it clearing immediately. However we are not allowed to put things in the loft and have no other form of storage can he reasonably ask us yo remove our things from the garage?

i have never given previous LLs for references, didn't stop us moving 9 times in 11yrs.
they usually only care if you pass the credit reference.

stop kow-towing to this man! he sounds like a right bully and you sound like prisoners in your own home.

your LL is wrong wrong wrong about the 2 months deposit, as he will find to his detriment when you eventually move.

The fact that your landlord has not protected his desposit means that you can sue him for three times the amount of his desposit. Even if you do damage he can not have betterment. He needs to have produced an inventory that that has been made by an independent company to show the state that the property was in.

Your landlord also has a duty of care towards his tenants. He would have been liable if your daugther had been seriously hurt by the head accident.

I suggest that you give him notice and sue the pants off him for three times the desposit.

"It firmly states in our tenancy that our one months rent will be returned if the property is in good order when we leave. I firmly believe he will intend to keep this. I know they are having serious money troubles and doubt they can afford to return it. "

He can always sell the rental property or even his own home or his car. Lack of money is bullshit. Trust me landlords aren't poor. Leave the decision whether to show mercy to the judge.

OP Your LL sounds like and arse. When we do inspections it is purely to see that no major damage has been caused or anything is faulty/broken/leaking that hasn't been reported. NOT to check that the tenants have been cleaning. We all have different standards, as long as the place is too our standard when it is handed back I really don't care that the tenants have been dusting the top on the kitchen cupboards or not.

The LL must protect your deposit, that is the LAW.

As for the garage, you pay to rent it, as long as nothing illegal is happening in there, tell him to get stuffed. Maybe clear it out, put a mattress on the floor, some handcuffs and chains hanging from the ceiling in time for his next visit

One piece of advise I give anyone thinking of renting out their home is that they must detach themselves from it or they will find being a LL a very stressful situation.

You are not responsible for the maintenance of his property.
Clean it how you would normally clean not to his ridiculous obsessive standards.
Houses aren't "babies" they are a home for people to live in.
btw glad your dc was ok that could've been nasty.

Didn't want to read and leave.

I'm a landlord myself and I can only say that your one is completely unreasonable and isn't following the rules.

I would personally find somewhere else to live. Contact him and ask that for proof of deposit protection. G&t yourself an inventory done (it will cost you but not hundreds). Keep all correspondence from him and use him if he hasn't protected your deposit.

It's arseholes like him that give good landlords a really bad rep.

Good luck.

I'm also a landlord. Bloody hell.

the game to get round the deposit won't work. He has your deposit and must protect it. There's another thread running about how to sue for 3 x the deposit in these circumstances, you may have to do that.

if the garage is included in the letting, then how full you stuff it is up to you as long as it doesn't contain anything excluded in the lease.

the balcony is structural and his problem.

you do not have to allow inspections or any access unless there is an emergency. I normally like to hear that landlords are visiting (shows they care about the property) but you have an amateur here, who also needs to detach from what was previously his home.

my basic advice is 'give notice and leave'.