Ex-tenant wants to sue me for his heating bills being too high

[snowstorminateacup]

I'm not sure what to make of this . I'm a terrible worrier and this has made me so anxious I would really appreciate your thoughts... Today I received an email from some law students at a "legal aid" clinic run by a local university stating that they are contacting me on behalf of their client, an ex-tenant who moved out of my property earlier this year. They claim I am unlawfully holding his deposit and request that it is released in full immediately. They are also claiming £200 in compensation towards their client's heating bills which were allegedly much higher than they should have been due to the property being cold and damp and not properly maintained by the landlord (me).

The property is an old cottage. It has full gas central heating and an aga, both of which were properly maintained, serviced and fully functional throughout the term of his tenancy. His claim regarding the heating is based on the fact that one (of the two) wood burning stoves in the property is purely decorative and not functional (not up to current safety standards). He claims that it was our responsibility as landlords to fix this stove and the fact that it was unusable meant that his heating bills were too high. The other wood burner in the property is fully functional and has an annual chimney sweep and safety check. The tenant did not report any damp during his 12 month tenancy although we did discover, after he moved out, a roof leak that had caused a lot of cosmetic damage internally.

The deposit is held in a TDS protection scheme. He says I
am holding it "unlawfully" due to the "unfounded" deductions I have proposed (for rent owed, cleaning, damage & missing items).
Unfortunately we failed to reach a private agreement regarding the deposit, despite reducing our claim to 50%. He rejected all negotiations and therefore the next step, as I understand it, is to move to TDS arbitration. He has refused to agree to arbitration or engage with the TDS procedure. I think his alternative is to take me to court and wonder if this email today is his first step towards that?! But I'm just really upset that he says I am unlawfully holding the deposit when I am trying to do everything by the book and it is he who is not engaging with the system or am I missing something???

If anyone has any experience with this sort of thing I'd be really grateful. I need to reply to the law student's email but I want to be really certain that what I say is correct.

Did you not do any inspections in those 12 months?

Suing you for heating costs and the fact that a wood burner didn't work...my arse! Hahahaaa.

You do have inventory check in and out records, though, right?

Why are you holding the deposit?

We usually do an annual inspection and the tenant had not been in there for a year. It has always worked well in the past with previous tenants - they would let us know of any problems in between inspections but otherwise they have peaceful enjoyment of the property.

@Saggyoldsofa

You do have inventory check in and out records, though, right?

Yes

He didnt make any complaints during the tenancy about any of these matters he owes you rent. Reply to the email stating that the tds arbitration is the proper channel for him to air is grievances. It's a try on op dont worry about it.

@Velvian

Why are you holding the deposit?

I'm not holding the deposit. It is in a TDS protection scheme that he has refused to engage with. We have asked to make deductions in respect of owed rent, missing items (that were on the inventory) and cleaning

@Cheesypea

He didnt make any complaints during the tenancy about any of these matters he owes you rent. Reply to the email stating that the tds arbitration is the proper channel for him to air is grievances. It's a try on op dont worry about it.

Thank you. That is what I thought but was doubting myself when received a "legal" letter.

From experience the court will tell them to go back to the TDS before it will hear the case, there is a hierarchy to these things

I'd have thought refusing to engage with the TDS process is not going to look good for him if he does go to court.

Sounds like a chancer.

Agree with PP. Tell them he can jog on with his claim for excess heating (and point out he never raised it with you during his tenancy) and say that if he wants his deposit back he can engage with TDS as is the proper channel.

@lastqueenofscotland

From experience the court will tell them to go back to the TDS before it will hear the case, there is a hierarchy to these things

That is very useful to know thank you. I don't care at this stage if TDS side with him and give him all his money back (although I think rent owed is indisputable and in fact "being nice" we actually let him out of his notice period early, he would have owed much more in rent if we hadn't agreed to that. I just want him to engage with the process so we can put it to bed and stop worrying about it.

Do you have landlord insurance OP? I had a claim from a former tenant for something similar and when I tried to get legal advice the lawyer told me that my insurance would cover claims from third parties. I spoke to my insurance company then their lawyers picked it up and dealt with it.

I would never have realised that insurance would cover this, it's worth checking your policy to see if it covers this.

Thanks ouch. I'm with Direct Line for landlords but I don't think I paid the extra for the legal expenses. I will check though.

It was the landlord liability element of the insurance that covered it for me, it was a standard part of my cover, I never go for the extras.

Is this legal aid clinic a real thing or just some mates writing? I would be largely tempted to ignore it.

I am currently at the opposite side of your battle ATM with a LL who is claiming I damaged items that the property didn't even have!
I was told when I went for advice that a court wouldn't look too favourably on parties who chose to ignore the DPS resolution process ...which your ex tenant is doing. As was my ex LL.
Is he giving you notification of small claims action?
You are totally entitled to withhold money for Unpaid rent and damages.
Try not to worry and give in to his bullying
If you are asking for fair deductions from his deposit stick to your guns. I reckon he may have done this before.
If you get a small claims letter through they are pretty self explanatory and as long as you include all relevant documents and point out that he would not do arbitration.
He is supposed to give you reasonable notice of his small claim (which is approx a week) and I wonder if this is what this is?
Stick to your guns. A judge will be looking at who is playing the game, who is being reasonable. I would take my chances with them and try not to worry too much.
Oh and make sure you document everything!
Good luck

@Byllis

I'd have thought refusing to engage with the TDS process is not going to look good for him if he does go to court.

Sounds like a chancer.

He was all sweetness and light until he found out that we wanted to deduct some of the deposit, then he turned really unpleasant indeed. It came as a bit of a shock really, and especially seeing the state he left the house in.

If you have photos before move in and after vacating, showing the state it was left in, then it's an easy enough thing to sort. Refer tenant's "solicitor" (aka mate doing law at Uni) to the TDS and provide your evidence to the TDS.

The court will not entertain him until he has been through the arbitration process that is why the TDS and others exist. Just start the arbitration process and forget about it.

I assume the property was within the legal epc rating?

Thank you Chick and good luck to you too. I hope the deposit protection scheme are able to sort everything out for you. I've been landlord of this property for 12 years and never deducted anything from a tenant's deposit before so have never had to go through this process.

I will definitely document everything thank you 😊

Does the cottage have a gas meter or equivalent? You can then show that x amount of gas was used during the time, and therefore sufficiently heated.

Just had another thought, isn't the purpose of an EPC to give the tenant an idea of heating costs etc? So he had an idea of what he was signing up for.
According to Shelter you can claim compensation for poor state of repair and out of pocket expenses years after you have left BUT you MUST have reported the problem during your tenancy
Shelter is good for advice, though generally geared towards the tenant.
Surely his claim and your deductions from his deposit for non payment would be two separate cases anyway?
He is trying it on.

@Dontjumptoconclusions

Does the cottage have a gas meter or equivalent? You can then show that x amount of gas was used during the time, and therefore sufficiently heated.

His gas bills went up by £100 per month over the winter months. He claims they would not have gone up so much if he had been able to use the second woodburner (which has not been in use for years, since long before his tenancy)

It's a D on the EPC and being a period cottage with mostly single glazed sash windows, there isn't too much more that can be done to boost it I don't think.