Renting

[autienotnaughty]

I rented a house for a year. During that time we accidentally cracked some paving slabs on the front of the house driving the car onto the drive. We informed the landlord and he said not to worry as it was the builders fault for not laying them properly (it was a new build) a few months later we left the property. We had a walk through and landlord had no issues. We request the deposit through scheme and landlord informs us they are deducting £250 for paving slabs. We are annoyed but accept it. 5 months later I am walking past the property and the slabs are still cracked . Can I complain that they took £250 and didn't do the work. (A new family are living there)

I don't think you can because you acknowledged you broke the paving slabs. The new family have chosen to move into the property with the broken paving slabs. They won't be charged for breaking them. Whether the LL chooses to have the paving slabs replaced is up to them. You still devalued his property by breaking the slabs.

Think you got off lightly tbh

Well he could have had the building company fix it for free as the house is still covered (and may do that) or we could have replaced them for about £70 if he had told us it was an issue which he didn't. But instead he took £250 and kept it with no intention of fixing the problem.

Builders on a new build estate take ages to replace and fix things so it may just be on the do to list.

I don't think so, since you have accepted it.

Too late now, but it would have been better to challenge this through the scheme, especially given that your landlord had previously agreed it was badly built and not your fault (on which basis, he should not have turned around and charged you for it).

I think you could email the tenancy deposit scheme you were with, but you should have kept a written response from the LL when they said nothing to worry about. Also, this is a structural issue and as LL said, down to a poorly done job. This doesn't sound like it was your fault at all but they want you to pay for it. You should have disputed it with the tenancy deposit scheme at the time with pics and written evidence to say the LL admits its not your fault. Personally I would try to get my money back.

Yup. he stole from you. most LL's in the UK are like this.

Surely you knew it was an issue to break someone's paving slabs @autienotnaughty ?

Obviously you did, or you wouldn't have bothered mentioning it. If it was that easy to fix for £70 you should have fixed it yourself.

No you can't complain, he doesn't actually have to repair the damage even though you paid for it. I expect he is waiting for the developer to sort foc.

There isn’t anything you can do sadly. I’ve found this common practice.
LL taking a lot of money for cleaning off previous tenants and I’ve moved in and it’s filthy as just one example.