Landlord carrying out work before giving quote?

mustrum_ridcully

OP have a read of this: http://www.arla.co.uk/information/deposit-protection/betterment-and-apportionment/

In a nutshell the LL can only ever charge you a % of the replacement cost, where the % depends on how old the item is, its expected lifespan and how long you lived in the property. Also the LL shouldn't be in a better position financially or materially as a result of the replacement.

You could ask your LL for details of how they calculated the apportionment for the replacement sink.

Piggywig75

mumstrum_ thank you for your reply (and everyone else) I did ask for the photo as she was adamant that she had one but none was emailed through. The mad thing is, that we were happy to cover the cost but she closed down all communication and went ahead and got it replaced. I'm growing concerned at her lack of response to any of my letters or emails, yet I know she has received them as she has used my email address to send me the cost of the sink. Now is the time I can lodge a dispute as 10 days have passed but I feel sure that she will not allow the process to begin.
The fact that she is was still pressing us to "get the trees cut down" even though it's not in our agreement indicates that she will bill us for it. She told me at the end of last week that her bill and final statement had been posted, but they still haven't arrived. I realize that we have had a bank holiday, however I posted back a DVD to blockbuster late on Friday and it arrived there this morning...
Has anyone else had a landlord that refused to use the protected deposit dispute service, and what was your outcome?

sarahevie

As a landlord I rejected the dispute process, as (at the time) I was mightily annoyed that my tenants had left £6000 worth of damage (partial amount of this I agree was betterment) and a lot of my Landlord friends had had issues with the arbitrators of protection schemes siding with the tenants. In all honesty they were introduced for tenants, to stop landlords 'stealing' deposits.

What happened was the DPS said that they couldn't give either party any of the deposit until they were issued with the court order telling them how it was to be split.

After a year, I kept meaning to go to court but life got in the way, I got a letter from the deposit protection service to tell me they were returning the full deposit to the tenants.