Moving out of rental issues

sexki11en

Hi Guys,

After some advice if I can. We moved out of a rental recently and are getting calls and emails from the landlords. To date they are wanting over £600 from us broken down as follows:
£100 - Hall, stairs & landing re decorated as cats scratched paper - fair enough

£500 turf relaid in garden (77sqm) We had a 15ft pool there last summer, which caused the grass to die under it (15ft, NOT 77 sqm)

Now they are citing professional cleaners for almost 2 days!

To clarify, there was no tennancy agreement, no deposit and the place was filthy and not cleaned when we moved in (it had been empty for a year)

These people were friends/bosses until recently (I know! Lesson learned) so how do we deal with this? I'm happy to pay for the hall stairs landing and 15ft of the garden - what I am not happy to pay for is re landscaping of the whole garden and professional cleaners when that wasn't done before we moved in.

It may also be worth mentioning that it was cash in hand for the whole 3 years.

TIA

SK x

LittleMrsThrifty

If there was no tenancy agreement or deposit, how are they (legally) going to get the money from you?

mancitychick

As far as I am aware there only option to get the money off you, would be to take you to the small claims court. Then it would be your word against theirs, especially as you had no tenancy agreement and more importantly no inventory detailing the condition of the property when you moved in.

You could always offer them what you think is a fair amount to fix the damage you caused, but put it in writing and tell them it is a goodwill gesture only.

00ec25

oh dear - please will people note you DID have a tenancy agreement, however it was not in writing
basic contract law applies - the LL gave you the keys, you took possession and paid rent to the LL - "consideration" was therefore exchanged and a tenancy was established as defined under statute law
on that basis you or the LL can sue each other, but as nothing was in writing it is indeed your word against theirs

the fact there was no inventory to prove the condition at the start of your possession works in your favour but does not stop the LL taking you to court

did the tenancy commence after April 2007? If yes then the LL is required by law to register your deposit with one the deposit protection schemes. failure to do so has serious consequences for the LL and makes it easier for you to refute any deductiuons they claim from your deposit - but again this could only be finally settled in court

gingerwhinger

00ec25 wrote: »

oh dear -

did the tenancy commence after April 2007? If yes then the LL is required by law to register your deposit with one the deposit protection schemes. failure to do so has serious consequences for the LL and makes it easier for you to refute any deductiuons they claim from your deposit - but again this could only be finally settled in court

Oh dear - there was no deposit...

BitterAndTwisted

No inventory, no deposit, so no payment. Just send them a cheque for the wallpaper damage which you do agree to and tell them unless they have documentary proof of the condition of the property at the start of your tenancy, its contents and the garden you'll not be corresponding further about their spurious claim.

G_M

Oh and just ask if HMRC know about the income they've been receiving for 3 years.........

sexki11en

Thanks for the advice guys. You've pretty much confirmed what I thought after hours trawling on here. I guess we're going to have to bite the bullet and argue this one. I hate conflict but it seems it's our only option unless we want to be taken to the cleaners (pardon the pun)

Unfortunately, we left a beautiful solid pine, 8 seater dining table, worth about £800 there (with their permission) until we can move it (it won't fit in our new place so friends were going to long term loan it once they move into their property this weekend). I doubt we'll see that again and as we have no receipt, we have no proof it's actually ours.

I really didn't see this coming, we had such a good relationship before this but now it seems they're using us to refurb their house so they can sell it (the only reason we moved out)

SK x