LL wants us to put £1000 of CH oil in tank before move out

Kaleidoscope1972

I have posted extensively about our LL over the last few months.

To cut a long story short...we moved into this property in May after selling our own home, the LL used this house as his private residence but was abroad.

We were left for 4 weeks in October due to boiler failure and LL's failure to really do much about it until we threatened to move out.
We have also had problems with repairs being done as the house needs modernising and windows leaked etc and the back door actually fell out of its frame! My husband had to repair this.
He also informed us he was returning to the UK in May and would not be renewing our tenancy..this was a stressful situation as I am due to give birth in April...

LL then unexpectedly turned up on our doorstep in November and said he and his family had come back to the UK and were living with his parents, indicating that our early move out from the property was desirable.....
This suited us as the boiler had broken again twice and various other things had gone wrong..such as the water tank leaking into my little girls bedroom etc..
Fortunately we were able to secure a house owned by the company my husband works for and signed the tenacy agreement last week, with us agreeing to move out tomorrow.

In the meantime the LL proceeded to start harrassing us, calling round without warning to check on his property in his shed, he even insisted we move our own belongings from the garage so that they could store theirs...we refused..
He then had all his mail redirected to this house and had parcels delivered here which we felt wasnt acceptable, calling round without warning to collect them.
He then tried to persuade us to move out before christmas bearing in mind our tenancy agreement was until May so we were not actually obliged to move until the.

Today we have spoken regarding our move out tomorrow..we informed him that there was little oil in the tank so he would probably need to order more soon..at which point he became very hostile..insisting that he arranged to have the oil tank filled to the top before we moved in..one this cant be true as when we moved in, thre was only a tiny bit of oil in the tank and secondly if it were, this would mean he had in fact put about £1000 worth of oil in the tank.
We pointed out that we felt his request was very unreasonable as apart from anything we actually had no heating for a month due to boiler failure, with no rebate on the rent, secondly, we have had 2 oil deliveries since Oct ourselves which had their been £1000 worth of oil in the tank we wouldnt have needed as this amount would last about 5 months in Winter and we only started using the heating in Sep.

I offered to have the minimum amount delivered which is 500 litres, enough to last about 6 weeks at a cost to us of £200, his answer was that we were to do this and he would inspect the tank and if it wasnt filled to the top (the tank takes 2500 litres at a cost of about £1000) he would deduct the cost to fill it to the top from our deposit:mad:

We notice our inventory does not say anything about there being oil in the tank and feel he is pulling a fast one...so would appreciate any advice thanks.
we are very upset as not so long ago he was telling the letting agent what wonderful tenants we were:mad:

olly300

If there is no proof of how much oil is in the tank then fill it up to the level you received it in.

One thing to be aware of is when you move out you are likely to fight for your deposit back regardless of how you treat this landlord. I recommend that you attend any check out inspection.

This landlord seems to be one of those who doesn't recognise that renting out a house is a business with laws and rules.

Lavendyr

Kaleidoscope1972 wrote: »

We notice our inventory does not say anything about there being oil in the tank and feel he is pulling a fast one...so would appreciate any advice thanks. we are very upset as not so long ago he was telling the letting agent what wonderful tenants we were:mad:

What a nightmare landlord, you have my sympathies. It's amateurs like this that give the profession a bad name (I am a tenant, incidentally, and have experienced both poor and excellent landlords - from your post, yours is up there with the worst of them).

If there is nothing in the inventory about the amount of oil in the tank when you moved in, he can pretty much take a hike. There is nothing he can do to prove that the tank was full when you moved into the property, therefore he is in no position to demand anything at all. A courteous thing to do would be to fill it to the level it was at when you took on the property, but if it's not mentioned at all in the inventory, I wouldn't imagine you would even have to do that much.

Is your deposit protected under one of the schemes? Your landlord was required to do this. You should have received documentation within 14 days of commencing the tenancy to inform you where your deposit has been held or how it has been protected. In fact, if he has failed to protect your deposit correctly (and I'm assuming you are in England or Wales here), you could sue him for 3x the value of the deposit for failing to do so.

If you do not do as he has demanded, he can pursue a dispute through the deposit scheme in which your deposit should have been lodged. I would feel they are very unlikely to uphold any dispute on his part without a signed inventory stating that the tank was full on commencement of the tenancy. Alternatively he could try the small claims court against you, but I would have thought the response from them would be the same - no proof, no claim.

It's a shame that you offered to give him anything, to be honest - you were under no obligation to do so. Did you make the offer in writing or verbally?

Kaleidoscope1972

Thanks both...the minimum oil delivery is 500 litres so we would be putting more than was in the tank when we moved in anyway.
The suggestion that we put that much oil in was made over the phone.
Our tenancy was manged by a LA and the deposit was protected although we had to fight for the certificate.
Weve always had a sneaky suspicion that the LL would try to hang onto our deposit as he come back to the UK in debt and without a job..he was in Dubai.. so we insisted on being present at check out..however the LA have been very unaccomodating telling us we have no right to be present

G_M

You should certainly pay for energy you used. If there was oil in the tank when you moved in, you should replace it.

Having said that, it sounds like your word against his regarding how much oil there was. Both of you were negligent in not recording the oil level at the start. I would always ensure gas/elecric meter readings were taken at start and end of a tenancy - oil is no different.

However, in this instance, the LL will have little chance of enforcing a payment for the oil since he has no evidence to support his claim.

asharon

how much is your deposit ?

Lavendyr

Kaleidoscope1972 wrote: »

Thanks both...the minimum oil delivery is 500 litres so we would be putting more than was in the tank when we moved in anyway.

You sound like nice tenants in offering this much.

Kaleidoscope1972 wrote: »

Our tenancy was manged by a LA and the deposit was protected although we had to fight for the certificate.

Well, that's something at least, as you've got a bit more protection than if the LL had the money sitting in his bank account (or had already spent it!).

Kaleidoscope1972 wrote: »

we insisted on being present at check out..however the LA have been very unaccomodating telling us we have no right to be present

Absolutely untrue, as I'm sure you're aware - you have every right to be present at check-out and given the situation you absolutely MUST attend the check-out and make sure you agree with everything the check-out clerk writes down. Make sure also that they are using the same version of the inventory that you have (presumably a signed copy) and that nothing has been amended from your original.

Best of luck!

Kaleidoscope1972

G_M wrote: »

You should certainly pay for energy you used. If there was oil in the tank when you moved in, you should replace it.

Having said that, it sounds like your word against his regarding how much oil there was. Both of you were negligent in not recording the oil level at the start. I would always ensure gas/elecric meter readings were taken at start and end of a tenancy - oil is no different.

However, in this instance, the LL will have little chance of enforcing a payment for the oil since he has no evidence to support his claim.

When we moved in, we very naive as it was the first time we have rented a property, we assumed the tank would be empty as the house it self had stood empty for several months, it was only after the summer that we needed to use the oil CH and LL informed us that the tank had oil in, my husband checked the level but said there was little oil in there so we ordered more..however just a couple of days later the boiler broke down.
Naturally I agree that had the oil been itemised and we were instructed that there was a certain amount in the tank, we would have ensured the same amount had been left.
Our new house has had 500 litres of oil delivered by the LA and we agree to replace that in move out, which is why we suggested to the LL that we put 500 in this tank. There is no way that there was £1000 worth of oil in the tank when we moved in..but wish Id known that should be checked too so we could have itemised it when we moved in

DVardysShadow

Kaleidoscope1972 wrote: »

..however the LA have been very unaccomodating telling us we have no right to be present

OK, your deposit is protected, which means that you are into arbitration to get it back. So, for your checkout, you should chill a bit - if you are excluded and want to be there, it actually works to your favour, in that you can dispute each and every item against you.

What you need to do now is write to the agent, noting date and details of communication refusing you the right to attend check out and insist that you want to do check out at a mutually agreed time. Keep a copy.

Then if you get invited to checkout, attend. If you don't get invited, then do your own checkout and invite the agent, keep a copy of the invite and of the checkout you did if they don't turn up. Send them a copy of course.

Kaleidoscope1972

asharon wrote: »

how much is your deposit ?

interestingly...its £1000

Fire_Fox

Are you dealing with the landlord and letting agency in writing by recorded delivery? If not you MUST start, even if this is to confirm agreements made verbally (appreciate Christmas post). It's very easy for a letting agent to refuse to allow you to attend checkout when you are communicating verbally, I suspect they will be reluctant to do the same in writing. It sounds very much like you are going to need a paper trail to dispute any money withheld from your damage deposit.

I would use the opportunity to politely note how many times the landlord has turned up without prior notification, breaching your right to quiet enjoyment, and ask him to refrain from doing so for the remainder of the tenancy. I would word this in such a way as to note you find this particularly stressful in your current condition. As much as anything this is a reminder to him that you know more about the legislation than he does ... a warning if you like. It appears from your posts that YOU are the ones breaking the contract, do you have it in writing this is by mutual agreement?