unintentional damage caused by myself as tenant do I have to pay?

iloveme_2

Hi,
I was wondering if someone could help me with advice. On monday whilst putting some pictures up I accidently put a nail through the electric wires for the lighting in the house and tripped the house. At the time I did not know it was my fault that the whole house tripped and we couldnt get the lights back on so spent the eve in the dark as landlord would not get electrician, until the next day when the landlord got the electrician around and he asked me if I had changed any bulbs or done anything different and I said all i had done was put some pics up. I accept responsibility and it was an innocent stupid mistake but in the eyes of the law do I have to pay for the damage and the electrician? I simply can't afford it but I am the type of person who likes to do right thing. My landlord has been the most awful landlord in the planet but thtas a different story.
thanks for reading this.

Debt_Free_Chick

Sorry, but you do - unless you have tenant's insurance that covers accidental damage.

"Fault" or "blame" has nothing to do with intention. If something you did caused damage - even if unintentional/accidental - then it's still your action that caused the damage.

You really need savings and/or insurance for this kind of thing.

All you can do is to be honest with the LL and negotiate payment by instalments.

MoneySavingSpender

Get several quotes for the work and forward the cheapest to the LL, he should get it fixed, how he claims the damage is down to him.

How has he been a "awful landlord"?

iloveme_2

thanks for your advice,when i moved in there was a list of problems and 6 months later things still need fixing. he bought a secondhand cooker which turned out to be a lpg cooker which is not for suitable for residential use and had to put up with it for 3 weeks and he did buy a new one which sat in my back room for 2 weeks awaiting installation. bathtub was cracked by previous tenant,he bought a bath tub which then sat in my living room for over 2 months waiting for installation. i have a 3 year old btw. kitchen unit doors had been ripped off by previous tenant still waiting for that to be repaired. front door was kicked in by previous tenant and has bottom lock missing at the bottom so does not shut properly im still waiting for that to be fixed. old cooker still in my garden and not been removed.window in the back room leaks so when it rains it rains indoors.kitchen has a leak in the roof.there all things which could of been sorted asap. whilst all this he has recieved full rent.im looking for somewhere else to live now but dont want him to know just yet.

Debt_Free_Chick

iloveme wrote: »

thanks for your advice,when i moved in there was a list of problems and 6 months later things still need fixing. he bought a secondhand cooker which turned out to be a lpg cooker which is not for suitable for residential use and had to put up with it for 3 weeks and he did buy a new one which sat in my back room for 2 weeks awaiting installation. bathtub was cracked by previous tenant,he bought a bath tub which then sat in my living room for over 2 months waiting for installation. i have a 3 year old btw. kitchen unit doors had been ripped off by previous tenant still waiting for that to be repaired. front door was kicked in by previous tenant and has bottom lock missing at the bottom so does not shut properly im still waiting for that to be fixed. old cooker still in my garden and not been removed.window in the back room leaks so when it rains it rains indoors.kitchen has a leak in the roof.there all things which could of been sorted asap. whilst all this he has recieved full rent.im looking for somewhere else to live now but dont want him to know just yet.

But none of these have anything to do with the damage. These are separate issues - they should be pursued separately and not "muddled in" with the damage issue.

First off, you need to establish the cost of rectifying the damage. Then - and only then - can you negotiate to offset some of the cost of your issues against the cost of repairing the electrics.

As for the unsuitable things, when you moved in (cracked bath etc), you still need to look to the inventory. This is a very sticky area as it could be claimed that you rented a property with a cracked bath. And a certain amount of time to rectify this would be allowed for, if the Courts were asked to rule.

Again - if the property was rented without doors to the kitchen units, then this is not necessarily an issue that would merit any financial compensationl. After all, the doors really fulfill no purpose so the property is still habitable even without doors to the units.

I really think you should keep the two things separate. But more importantly, we need to know how the inventory described the defective items, when you moved in.

Incisor

iloveme wrote: »

thanks for your advice,when i moved in there was a list of problems and 6 months later things still need fixing. he bought a secondhand cooker which turned out to be a lpg cooker which is not for suitable for residential use and had to put up with it for 3 weeks and he did buy a new one which sat in my back room for 2 weeks awaiting installation. bathtub was cracked by previous tenant,he bought a bath tub which then sat in my living room for over 2 months waiting for installation. i have a 3 year old btw. kitchen unit doors had been ripped off by previous tenant still waiting for that to be repaired. front door was kicked in by previous tenant and has bottom lock missing at the bottom so does not shut properly im still waiting for that to be fixed. old cooker still in my garden and not been removed.window in the back room leaks so when it rains it rains indoors.kitchen has a leak in the roof.there all things which could of been sorted asap. whilst all this he has recieved full rent.im looking for somewhere else to live now but dont want him to know just yet.

Then carry on paying your rent on time. But in this case, I do think you have a counterclaim against him which should more than cover the damage. You are liable for the damage, and I am not suggesting otherwise, but if LL pursues you for this damage, you have grounds for a counterclaim

iloveme_2

thanks, I wasnt going to bring those issues in as I have sought advice from the council and they said as he has started to do the work all be it slowly he is doing it and i cannot stop paying him rent until he has done the work as i will be in breach of contract. I will take on your advice and get quotes and ll said he will pay for it and I will pay him back in installments.