Please help re flat deposit

EagerLearner

barnaby-bear wrote:

Now I see it as a positive experience at the start of the thread she was a dippy airhead (no offense)

Uhm - well, I am blonde but...

barnaby-bear wrote:

As a result of this experience she seems confident, competant able to construct professional letters, follow complex legal documents and research issues...

Uhm, I could already construct professional letters, follow complex legal docs and research... as it happens I'm a Personal Assistant :rotfl:

barnaby-bear wrote:

*I sound like a patronising w&*ker*

Not my words

EagerLearner

prudryden wrote:

Have we broken 600 post yet??

Anyway, at the risk of being condemmed to the streets under the Embankment tube station, I would like to offer a few more comments which I hope will be constructive.

Landlord has "estimated over £800 in costs" but, as yet, hasn't claimed for that. That means she is willing to settle for the deposit.

Stained carpets: You already stated "additional stains" after you moved in. What kind of stains? Wine? Chocolate?
Landlord has offered to split the cost of replacing. You said "she wanted to replace the carpets months ago and they were old and had years of wear and tear." She will deny she said that and even if she doesn't, it doesn't mean she was going to. Old with wear and tear. (Irrelevant if still acceptable)
£200 seems reasonable depending on size of room and, understanding, that it isn't just a matter of buying the carpet - but removing the old carpet,and laying the new one.

Cleaning: £75 The contract probably read professionally cleaned. This is a common problem. From experience, there is quite a difference between how a professional company cleans and the layman no matter what we think.
e.g. they will not leave one grease spot in the oven nor one speck of lime scale in the washingmachine/dishwasher. Depending on what had to be "re-cleaned" - £75 is probably reasonable.

Radiator Grill: I can offer no comment on this. If the grill can be replaced, £300 seems a lot, but I don't know prices for storage heaters or their parts.

BLIND: If they are stained and not nice to present to new viewers. Then they have to be replaced, if unable to get the stains off. £45 -reasonable for larger sized window with installation.

WINDOW CLEANING: £35 - Depends on number of windows. You or your checkout agent should have been present at the time of inspection. If you were not given a date and time of the inspection and invited to be there -then the letting agent has something to answer to.

PENCIL MARK: Not sure what that means and what damage that constitutes. £10.

PAINTING: Most scruffs, unless the paint is oil based/washable and can be wiped off, will only make the walls worst if you try to scrub them off. The whole room will generally have to be repainted. £150- At that price, sounds like the landlord is only charging for one room and not the entire flat.

You may not be on a winner here - but, you should be given a complete breakdown. You should be prepared that if it goes to court, she will counterclaim for the full damage estimate of "over £800".

If she wins and gets a judgment for the full amount plus costs, you have to pay. If you don't, it could affect your credit rating etc.

The main problem, as I see it, is in not having two separate checkin/checkout Professional Inventory Agents.

Should I go down to the Embankment now? Anyway, just an impartial reading and may have missed some posts which explain other things.

Errr - way past that stage now P as court judgement has been filed against her - thanks anyway :T I don't blame ya for not wading through all this What a loooooong thread!

Edna_Bucket_2

EagerLearner wrote:

Errr - way past that stage now P as court judgement has been filed against her - thanks anyway :T I don't blame ya for not wading through all this What a loooooong thread!

And on that point once again of the Court judgement - doesn't that fact place it all (i.e her name) in the public domain?

If you want to PM me her name and last known address(es) in confidence I'll certainly have a dig around for you.

tomstickland

There's no way I could tolerate you giving up now. This woman has not dissapeared - she still rents houses to people and is contact with the letting agents.

clutton_2

Just had a thought - can you apply to have her made bankrupt ? when a company refuses to pay its bills, a "winding up order" can be obtained via the courts.

BobProperty

clutton wrote:

Just had a thought - can you apply to have her made bankrupt ? when a company refuses to pay its bills, a "winding up order" can be obtained via the courts.

Good point, the minimum is or was about £750 IIRC. You need to front the court fee and the reciever's initial fee which is about £430, again IIRC. That will get a result, you can't ignore a bankruptcy hearing. (well actually you can, but the day after the judge makes the order don't expect to be able to use any bank account in the country)

liz545

Hi EL, just want to echo what others have said. Don't give up just yet; I'd speak to your MP and tell them that the EA etc are refusing to give you contact details for the LL, even though you have a judgement against her. I would also go to ARLA; they act as an ombudsman for letting agents and as the LL are refusing to cooperate in the face of a court order I think they have a responsibility to know. Since you have the judgement now, is there anything to stop you going to the local press? My thoughts are with you - this is a horrible ordeal and I can't believe the lengths this woman will go to to avoid paying you what she owes.

prudryden

EagerLearner wrote:

Errr - way past that stage now P as court judgement has been filed against her - thanks anyway :T I don't blame ya for not wading through all this What a loooooong thread!

Ahhh! Found it - page 25 I think. Well done. I think I'm caught up now.
As a multiple landlord myself, all I can say is she deserves it. Now to locate her.

I have very good relationships with all my tenants. I even get invited over to their place for a bottle of wine, and , of course, vice versa. Any problems, always gets settled with a little give and take. Everyone wins that way.

clutton_2

EL - forgive me if what i now say is a breach of your confidentiality - but EL and I (and no doubt many others) have PM'd today and i now know that this woman uses a variety of different names, all terribly similar to each other. This is a classic criminal strategy. This can be construed as as attempt at deception. Anyone can change their names, simply by saying, "i am now elsie bloggs" or whatever, or by using a deed poll to publicly change their name.

BUT, name-changing is not legal if the reason for changing names is to deceive or defraud others.

Does the court know that this woman has a number of names ? if not, please tell them asap.

anyone else got any ideas on this ?

clutton_2

chin up ............. sleep on it

more ways than one to skin a cat ....... as they say