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Comments
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Hi,
Im currently a student and have move out of a property which was a lodger agreement. The landlord was another student who's father had bought her the house. The problem I face is this:
The landlord is greedy and has shown signs of this from the beginning of when we moved in. Throughout the stay of the property we felt like we were stepping on eggshells as there were comments passed around of small damages being taken out of our account, such as wall scratches etc. Anyways, when it came to my last months rent I asked my landlord to take my deposit as my last months rent. He refused at first, until I showed him the contract and then he had to agree. After agreeing he stated that there will then definitely be extra charges to pay. He knew he was going to take money from out deposit before we even moved out.
He sent me an email a few weeks later with an invoice for bills going over the amount we paid, and for shower repairs (which his daughter broke) along with a £300 invoice for a new mattress.
I had only left a tiny stain, the size of my little finger on the mattress which I NEVER thought he was going to even make an issue of. He decided to buy a whole new mattress and is now forcing me to pay. The contract of the lodger agreement is also set up in his favor and makes it seem I'm liable for any kind of damage. Hes not reasoning with me and is threatening to take me to court, I feel like he needs to realise that everyone else cannot pay for what ever decisions he decides to make.
In regards to the shower I offered to pay for the shower repairs myself but instead the landlords dad refused and ended up calling someone else in to fix it. It was actually broken by the landlord and her friends which she invited over, however the landlords dad has decided that the cost of repair will be split amongst everyone instead of taking responsibility for his daughter. He refused my offer to fix it ourselves ( even though i didnt need to as it wasnt my fault). I didnt even get a chance to sort out the mattress myself before he started demanding a total of £386. It feels like he is just doing things his own way and forcing everyone else to pay for it.
I personally feel like this is unreasonable however I dont know what I can actually do as this agreement is favored torwards the landlord and the mattress is part of the inventory.
Dont worry too much about the red ink. Some seem to be failed teachers. Have an honest fair think and then make a fair offer. Send a cheque and then let him know if he is not happy you will let a judge decide.
Or you could pay it, put the whole thing behind you and move on in life.0 -
Dont worry too much about the red ink. Some seems to be failed teachers. Have an honest fair think and then make a fair offer. Send a cheque and then let him know if he is not happy you will let a judge decide.
Or you could pay it, put the whole thing behind you and move on in life.
DONT send a cheque, that may be consider part payment and doesn't stop any claim0 -
Dont let people get you all scared. You can always have your day in court. It wont cost you much more and a bit of time and you make him work for it too!!0
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Dont let people get you all scared. You can always have your day in court. It wont cost you much more other than a bit of time and you make him work for it too!!
yeah , i dont have a problem with paying him but I just dont feel comfortable paying the whole amount because I personally believe he could of gone around this in a much cheaper way. I will send him an offer and explain why and if he wants to take me to court over a £150 or a bit more then I will go there. Plus it will be his daughter going and standing there, not him.0 -
Yep send one and write paid in full!
Send it by recovered delivery. It will help if you go to court.
No don't do that, it's already been held by the courts that paid in full means nothing and any such payment can be considered part payment.
Only do so once a settlement has been agreed in writing.Dont let people get you all scared. You can always have your day in court. It wont cost you much more and a bit of time and you make him work for it too!!
Most people are telling the OP to simply ignore. You are the only one saying pay....0 -
yeah , i dont have a problem with paying him but I just dont feel comfortable paying the whole amount because I personally believe he could of gone around this in a much cheaper way. I will send him an offer and explain why and if he wants to take me to court over a £150 or a bit more then I will go there. Plus it will be his daughter going and standing there, not him.
or both, but not him alone.0 -
yeah , i dont have a problem with paying him but I just dont feel comfortable paying the whole amount because I personally believe he could of gone around this in a much cheaper way. I will send him an offer and explain why and if he wants to take me to court over a £150 or a bit more then I will go there. Plus it will be his daughter going and standing there, not him.
Yep I reckon that is spot on. Get something signed to say that is the end of the situation.
I only say pay something because you sound like you feel partly responsible and that is the right thing to do in this situation. You leave with a clean conscience.0 -
Your contract is with her but he could claim, if she agrees, that he is acting as her agent, so I agree that disputing this is pointless when it is clear she'll do as daddy say.
I think you should. If he is clever and just playing dumb, he will know that he won't get the full cost of the mattress, so he might be prepared to negotiate if he feels you are making a realistic offer.Do you think I should email him to offer to pay the bills and part of the cost of the mattress?
It sounds like the bills is black and white assuming he can evidence it properly. In terms of the mattress, it very much depend whether it was new when you moved in, the quality of it, and how bad the stain is. You are saying it would cost £30 to clean it, how do you know that? Did you get someone to come and do a quote? If so, why didn't you pay for the cleaning?0 -
Hi Sajaan_12,
This is the part of contract you are asking about ( i think ! )
29. The Deposit is to be held in an account by the Landlord for the Term as security against the Lodger's failure to pay Rent and other sums due under the Agreement or non-performance of the obligations within this Agreement. The Deposit will be returned to the Lodger at the end of the Term less any outstanding Rent or other sums or reasonable deductions properly made by the Landlord to cover any reasonable costs incurred with cleaning the Room or in connection with damage to the Property or items on the Inventory (fair wear and tear excepted).
That clause says the LL has the right to use the deposit if you breach the agreement and fail to pay rent. It does not mean that he has to. It definitely does NOT mean that you have the right to not pay rent nor ask the LL to use the deposit to cover this unpaid rent. So the LL didn't have to accept the deposit in lieu of last month's rent.Also are you saying that he is fully right to charge me for a new mattress , I mean if I do take this to court will I have no leg to stand on at all?
I said he has the right to charge for the cheapest cost of remedying the damage. If it is possible to clean and remove the stain, then the cost of cleaning. If it is not possible to clean, he is entitled to the loss of use of the mattress for its remaining useful life. e.g. if a new mattress is £200 and was 3 years old when you moved out and has an expected 10 year life, then the LL expected to get another 7 years use which they have lost due to the damage, so has lost £200 x 7 / 10 = £140 ie less than the cost of a new mattress.
You 'legs' to stand on are
- that it was possible to clean and __ is the cost of cleaning
- the depreciated value of the mattress (check the actual cost of a comparable mattress, its useful life and how old the one you had was when you moved out)0
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