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

Kaleidoscope1972

Weve double checked with the LA and they tell us that they do not record the oil in the tank..its for the LL to tell them there is oil in and ask for it to be itemised..this wasnt done.

However..LL has been in touch with the LA and informed them he had an oil delivery made in Sep 2008!!!..we did not move in until May 1st 2009..he cannot recall how much and is having his delivery note sent to him.
LA agrees that we cannot be held accountable for oil he had delivered 8 months prior to us moving in as they know that the house was fully furnished with all LL's personal effects right down to a vintage record collection and the LL's parents who live locally had been putting the heating on..

We also noticed when we moved in that the oil pipe leading to the property had a severe leak, which we reported..LL told us to repair it ourselves.
Unfortunately its prefectly feasible that we have got through such a vast amount of oil as it is a period house with single glazing and a pre historic CH system which does not work efficiently, the radiators are 50 years old and the boiler 20 years old.

LA have advised us that we should make a no predudice offer in writing to have 500 litres delivered to the tank and have told us that they have sought advice from the TDS who tell them that they would probably advise a 50/50 split of the deposit! we dont think that is at all fair, but we feel that it would look better on our part to make the no predudice offer.

clutton_2

doesn't matter how much he had delivered 9 months before you moved in .... presumably most of it will have leaked away via the damaged pipe anyway!!!!

do not make any offer... LA cannot possibly tell you what TDS will say - LA works for the LANDLORD and will not be advising you what is in your best interests.

Can't recall if i said this before, but, you do not have to usd TDS arbitration scheme, you can say no, and then LL has to take you to small claims court .... this could take months and months and small claims courts often do not necessarily award costs to the claimant....

this LL does not have a leg to stand on - and dont trust the LA either....

""We also noticed when we moved in that the oil pipe leading to the property had a severe leak, which we reported..LL told us to repair it ourselves.""

did you repair the pipe ? did you send the bill to the LL ? - if LL did not repair the pipe then you have suffered "consequential loss" of oil seeping into the ground rather than heating your home..

JPS29

Kaleidoscope1972 wrote: »

LA have advised us that we should make a no predudice offer in writing to have 500 litres delivered to the tank and have told us that they have sought advice from the TDS who tell them that they would probably advise a 50/50 split of the deposit! we dont think that is at all fair, but we feel that it would look better on our part to make the no predudice offer.

Have you contacted TDS yourself. Its a bit like estate agents who look after the interests of the seller first and foremost. The LA work for and are paid by your LL. In essence their loyalty/preference, call it what you will IS primarily to him. Can you contact the TDS yourself, funnily I have a sneaky feeling you may be advised different, and tbh considering his attitude of late and what he is putting you through I would only offer the bare minimum delivery (250ltrs?) This will still count as awithout prejudice offer and show willing on your part

JPS29

clutton wrote: »

do not make any offer... LA cannot possibly tell you what TDS will say - LA works for the LANDLORD and will not be advising you what is in your best interests.

Both typing the same thing at the same time:D

Kaleidoscope1972

Clutton..thanks..must admit we were not happy about having to make that offer and we are very aware that LA does not want to have to go to arbitration.
LL's comment when we told him about the damaged pipe was " any repairs costing under £100, you can do yourselves, Im not responsible for them!!", we wrote to him re the damaged pipe and informed him it hadnt been fixed when he came to visit the property he "bodged" it himself and consider it a satisfactory repair..however we noticed that it was still leaking.
On one of the occasions when we had the boiler repaired, the engineer made several notes on the invoice regarding the CH system, he said that the tank had not been properly installed as it did not have the correct isolation tap on it and where it had been installed, it could present a fire risk as it was too close to the garage, so we feel that LL would have to prove various things:
That no one had been in the property using the heating while it was empty.
That there was a certain amount present when we moved in
That there had not in fact been a substantial oil leak while the property was empty.

I fail to see how he can claim that the tank had a certain amount in it just based on what he had delivered 8 months previously.

Kaleidoscope1972

Inthebrownstuff..thanks..unfortunately oil companies have a minimum delivery of 500 litres at a cost of over £200

JPS29

Then I wouldnt offer this at all.

I know its been stated over and over but there is no way of telling how much oil was present when you moved in.

This would be like me renting a property out with a prepay elec meter. I forget to see how much credit/take readings is there when tenancy commences but on end of tenancy expect my tenant to put £200 on it.

Betterment is the word which comes to mind.

You sound like you have your head screwed on, like Clutton mentioned earlier you may want to offer £50 as a goodwill. Personally in your shoes i would be happy for this to go to arbitration. You have been good tenants, bent over backwards to accomodate his return and looked after the property. I can't see you having any problems re your deposit.

Kaleidoscope1972

We feel we have been good tenants, as we speak we are here cleaning the property ready for checkout the house is gleaming and in fact cleaner than it was when we moved in, we have looked after the house as if it were ours and feel that we didnt deserve the treatment we have had from the LL.

I will advise the LA that we will not be making an offer.

Kaleidoscope1972

just spoken the LA..they are saying that it will be detrimental to not make an offer of some description...

chodges84

DO NOT LISTEN TO A WORD THE LA TELL YOU.

I would put money on the fact that they never even spoke to the TDS.

This i a bit of a random thought, but your Landlord does seem like the type - Do you think he pays income tax on his earnings through this property?

A few things tell me that he may not - he's a numpty, he's been in Dubai, he is financially unsound.

If he is going to be a total git about things, you could suggest that you will be forwarding his name to the tax office as you suspect he is not paying tax (or words to that effect). If he is, and you do, it won't matter. If he's not, they will come down hard on him and he will know this and might just play ball.