Broken door lock - maintenance issue but being deducted from deposit?

silvercar

The tax treatment is irrelevant to your claim. Broadly, any maintenance expense she has had is a deduction against the rental profit, so any costs in repairing the lock would reduce her tax bill. Whether it is allowable or not shouldn't be a deciding factor in whether she accepts its wear and tear or not.

G_M

The tax question is a red herring, as is the 3 years tenancy. Totally irrelevant and unconnected to the question of liability for the door handle.

Quite simply, if you broke it or were responsible in any way then it can be deducted from the deposit.

If not and it is wear and tear, and/or broke due to age, poor quality then it is NOT your responsibility and can NOT be deducted.

Either you and the LL need to reach agreement on liability (or agree a compromise), or you'll need to get a decision on the basis of arguement/fact from the deposit-holder as arbitrator or from a judge in a small claims court.

My advice would be to save everyone a lot of time/hastle by offering to compromise (eg £50), but make sure you state clearly that by offering this you do NOT accept liability/resposibility. If you put any offer in writing, include the words "without prejudice". Otherwise if your offer is refused and it ends up in court the LL might use your offer to show you admitted responsibility.

prudryden

RobertoMoir wrote: »

I'd ask to see the quote she's basing that on - most repair jobs like that where you hire someone in cost numbers like "£20.16" or "£94.78" or "£100.32". A flat £100 sounds like a nice round number she's made up to me.

Probably a handy man - he spends £30.16 on a handle, spends a couple of hours and says gimme me a hundred quid Gov and signs a Staples receipt book for you.

silvercar

EagerLearner wrote: »

Hi P - ah, so what does that mean for us? In the 3 years she has only had to replace an old shower, nothing else has gone wrong.

It doesn't mean anything. She is a landlord to make money presumeably. She pays tax on the profit she makes. Profit is the rent less expenses including interest on any borrowing to buy the property. You say that she has had little in the way of maintenance, but she would have had mortgage interest, landlord insurance, possibly agent fees, gas inspections and servicing....

EagerLearner

Hi everyone and thanks for the advice.
I should clarify she has estimated the £100 and will come back to us as is getting a quote.
Should we ask her for 3 quotes? Tempted though to just leave that for her to decide really.

I appreciate there are costs to running the property like mortgage and insurances, however we are private tenants, so no agency fees etc, just her and us really. The boiler was inspected once and shower replaced once.

We did not overuse the handle in anyway, just normal use, I guess that's why we're miffed plus we had her word she'd sort it ages ago. Our fault for not pressing her on it but she had some personal issues so we were patient.

We gave her almost 6 weeks notice rather than 4 to be considerate and have spent £130 getting it whiter than white to avoid qualms, but we will wait to see what she comes back with. She obviously can hold us to ransom now, DPS dispute would only drag on, so we'll have to take the hit as she knows it's not worth us taking further...

Hopefully we will hear early next week at some point and just get it over with. It really is minor compared to our previous deposit saga with Evil Landlady who really took the biscuit...

Now we have our own home I'll be glad to see the end of renting...
:T
Thanks for your comments so far and have a great new years!

prudryden

I think what Eager has wanted to express is (1) She has paid £23,400 in rent and during this time only one claim for maintenance (the shower) let's say £500. (2) The LL hasn't had to endure a void period for 3 years. I would say that is above the average.
(3) Why is this LL now being so ridiculous as to claim £100 for something the LL probably can't prove anyway and especially after earning £23,400?
I would still contest the £100. The rest of the deposit is returned while waiting for the decision (unless of course the LL decides to find something else wrong).

G_M

The boiler was inspected once

If it's a gas boiler then she's clearly been breaking the law. Gas installations must be inspected & certificated every year. This might be indicative of her attitude as a LL!

If/when she comes back with a quote, ask her to provide evidence that you were responsible.

leveller2911

As a qualified Carpenter & Joiner with 25yrs experience I can say its nearly always the outside handle that goes first more down to corrosion due to the weather than from over use.Even Brass handles have steel inner springs that goes for stainless steel handles too.The handle may be stainless steel but the springs inside more often than not aren't...

OP your landlady is being a b1tch don't stand for it.

clutton_2

leveller - this is a double glazed, presumably plastic door - they do cost a bit more to repair than wooden ones....

how much rent has been paid is irrelevant

what is relevant is that OP notified LL several months ago of the damage and LL has not made any attempt to replace it, so, LL should have minimised the cost by an earlier repair....

but can OP prove she so reported ?

!0% wear and tear allowance is only claimable on furnished properties...

CGT tax is paid on the sale of the property - the owner pays (currently) 18% tax on the gain made between purchase and sale - less the annual tax free allowance of £10k (?) and other capital replacement costs

EagerLearner

Thanks guys, it really is something I wish we were not dealing with but there you go.
In my e-mail to her yesterday I reminded her that we reported the issue some time ago and she had not had the time to get it repaired yet.

Yes boiler has only been inspected once, MrEL even had to bleed the radiators before we left, as we were so freezing and did not want to trouble her due to the issues she has had lately.

We have been as clear as we can that we feel it is age/standard use, she has been clear she feels we need to pay for the lot.

Plus a fridge shelf (that collapsed due to a known manufacturer fault, we told her about it ages ago and sent her the link to the site showing others have experienced the same fault). The replacement shelf is around £40 from what I recall. She wants £25 so we're not going to make an issue. However, we have had to manage since then with the shelf balanced on two empty tins...

I imagine Leveller that you're pretty busy but you have inspired me to maybe talk to a local specialist and see if they can back upo that it is wear and tear... Clutton is right this is a double glazed door.

If anyone has any other ideas do let me know....