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Can landlord counterclaim for redecoration costs in court if he returned deposit?
FTB123_2
Posts: 17 Forumite
This is a big mess but I'll try and keep it simple:
- Landlord illegally moved a new tenant in to our flat without telling us in the last month of our assured shorthold tenancy
- He lied about this and said they weren't living there or paying rent yet, so he couldn't pay us back the rent we had paid to live in the property for the remainder of our tenancy
- We have documents to prove that he was taking two rents from two sets of tenants at once, which we are advised is illegal, and that they were living there and paying rent
- He refuses to refund our rent, and when threatened with court action said that he had to redecorate due to damp in the flat, and that he should be chasing us for money rather than vice-versa
- He has already given us our deposit back in full, so if we take him to court can he counterclaim with the damp issue, and if so, would this get him anywhere as surely the return of the deposit is indication that he was satisfied with the condition of the property?
-Notes on the damp in question: The property was a new conversion, and had tenants in it 6 months before us. In this period, the bathroom was covered with damp already, so much so that we requested the walls be painted before we moved in because they were black. The damp was thus pre-existing when we moved in and was merely painted over. We reported the worsening mould during our tenancy but were just told to keep the bathroom window constantly open, which we did. The roof also leaked multiple times in more than one place, which made the damp worse. The landlord didn't seem to care about the damp conditions we had to live in for the 2.5 years we were there. Since the 'redecoration', the new tenant has been in the property for around 2 months and already the bathroom is riddled with damp. All 3 other flats in the building likewise have terrible damp problems.
If anyone has any advice I would be very keen to hear it, especially regarding how this might play out in court
- Landlord illegally moved a new tenant in to our flat without telling us in the last month of our assured shorthold tenancy
- He lied about this and said they weren't living there or paying rent yet, so he couldn't pay us back the rent we had paid to live in the property for the remainder of our tenancy
- We have documents to prove that he was taking two rents from two sets of tenants at once, which we are advised is illegal, and that they were living there and paying rent
- He refuses to refund our rent, and when threatened with court action said that he had to redecorate due to damp in the flat, and that he should be chasing us for money rather than vice-versa
- He has already given us our deposit back in full, so if we take him to court can he counterclaim with the damp issue, and if so, would this get him anywhere as surely the return of the deposit is indication that he was satisfied with the condition of the property?
-Notes on the damp in question: The property was a new conversion, and had tenants in it 6 months before us. In this period, the bathroom was covered with damp already, so much so that we requested the walls be painted before we moved in because they were black. The damp was thus pre-existing when we moved in and was merely painted over. We reported the worsening mould during our tenancy but were just told to keep the bathroom window constantly open, which we did. The roof also leaked multiple times in more than one place, which made the damp worse. The landlord didn't seem to care about the damp conditions we had to live in for the 2.5 years we were there. Since the 'redecoration', the new tenant has been in the property for around 2 months and already the bathroom is riddled with damp. All 3 other flats in the building likewise have terrible damp problems.
If anyone has any advice I would be very keen to hear it, especially regarding how this might play out in court
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