No inventory on our lease, can he keep my deposit?

ACon

Short story is, moved here 12mths ago, changed area, big trek, was meant to be long let.

Landlord told us at the beginning to make it our home, feel free to change things etc. One of these suggestions was cut down any trees. One was annoying my husband so he cut it down.

Wasn't a problem (my landlord turns up regulary to go to "his shed" without warning :mad:) until he decided he wanted to move back in.

We've had endless problems here, with material costs covered by the landlord, not labour, my husband (who is in the building trade) has had to fix the whole back roof due to leaking, laid a new drive and patio as those areas were in disrepair. We've also had severe damp, not resolved, and after discovering the newest furniture to be damaged, my baby's cot, I got onto the landlord again, my landlord got annoyed and asked us to leave. We've relayed new wooden flooring in the damp damaged bedrooms, replastered, mould sprayed, re painted, bought new furniture to replace the damaged stuff (a bed, a cot, a wardrobe, as well as toys, clothing and bedding)

Anyhoo, he kicked off about a few minor things, petty things, and one was this tree. I'm worried we won't see any of our deposit back, but need it to pay back the person I'm borrowing from to get a deposit for new place. Our contract is until Feb, but my childrens health is in jeopardy as he refuses to fix the drainage at the back of the house, and claims its fine (its not, its not flowing, at all) It's cost me so much being here, and with the new place wanting so much up front it's going to cripple us to move. Not to mention the stress and my poor kids having to move schools again.

Theres also things he told us he was leaving us, which meant we got rid of our old stuff, cooker (I wouldnt take his its a Rayburn lol) fridge, freezer, washing machine, tables, furniture etc. I said "please don't leave anything you don't want me to get rid of" incase I fancied a change, or something broke etc.

Theres no inventory, so my question is, will he deduct from deposit for his precious tree, and other minor issues, and also if we took any of the things he left us would it be theft? Can he charge for them also, or even just report me for theft?

BitterAndTwisted

Your contract is until February. This is a bigger problem than you appear to appreciate. How are you going to be able to afford rent on two properties for the next eight months?

Judith_W

If there is no inventory then you can do what damage you like any take whatever with you that you like. He has no comeback to claim anything from your deposit.

ACon

He's asked us to leave, I have this in writing. I assume that means I won't be paying the rent here!

ACon

Our deposit was taken by the letting agent and put into a deposit scheme, so its all legit.

My husband claims he knows someone who took belongings from a house he rented for over a year, with no inventory, and was arrested for theft, as the landlord had proof it was his stuff, ie receipts, descriptions.

ACon

Oh one more thing, he gave us permisson, verbally, to remove a unit in the kitchen, so we could put in a dishwasher, we will be taking our dishwasher with us, leaving a hole. We did keep the old unit, but the damp damaged it so its useless now.
Again I assume he will charge for the hole we leave.

BitterAndTwisted

If there was no inventory then he has no proof of what may be missing or may have been damaged during your tenancy. Dispute any proposed deductions IN WRITING.

Please do not be tempted to take any of the fittings or furniture the landlord left behind in the property as this could expose you to accusations of theft, as you have discovered from that information your husband has disclosed. That could be a completely different scenario but you should not take the risk unless your landlord confirmed IN WRITING than anything supplied was yours to dispose of.

Ninjawombat

Why-oh-why did you spend so much money doing up a property that isn't yours? I understand that you want it to look nice and feel homely but you've just laid a nice new patio and drive for him to enjoy and fixed a roof that was his responsibility, by law, to fix! You have absolutely no comeback on that now.

You do need to tell him that he needs to fix the damp problem asap though. He HAS to do this.

Also, has the landlord asked you to leave straight away? He simply can't do this if your contract expires in Feb.

ACon

By law I know we don't HAVE to leave now, but he wants us to go, and it's easier to just do so. Plus if we move before the end of the summer hols, it's easier for the kids to move at the start of a new school year.

Ninjawombat

Well then, why don't you tell him that as your contract ends in Feb, you legally don't have to move. Suggest that if he wants you to move out now, he should return your full deposit so that you can afford to pay a deposit on a new place. Either that or you stay and he has to fix the damp problems.

I think that's a pretty fair compromise.

RAS

ACon wrote: »

By law I know we don't HAVE to leave now, but he wants us to go, and it's easier to just do so. Plus if we move before the end of the summer hols, it's easier for the kids to move at the start of a new school year.

If you leave any time before February, he can chase you for rent upto the end of the contract, unless you make absolutely sure that the LL gives written agreement that you can end the contract early.

We cannot force you out before then any way.

And you can do nothing about the vast amount of time and money you have wasted doing this place up, so you might as well enjoy it for a while.