Urgent advise shared accommodation rights

brian_723

Hi would appreciate if someone could advise on a situation that has come up in the shared building that I live in .Something has been damaged and I am only aware of this because I got email today sent to about all 10 tenants, will post that later .


I have a room is shared building that currently I am not staying at very often as my mother has taken ill so I am staying about ten miles away at hers helping her until she is well again but I do stay at my place when my brother is about to help look after my mother as well although this is not realy the point.The last time I was over was last Saturday .Getting to the point now basically I got what I take as a threatening email aimed but aimed at all the tenants in the building .I am going to copy onto here but change names to protect identities .


here is the email .

Dear Tenants of ??????

It has been reported that the extractor fan within your kitchen has been extremely damaged and is now off of the wall which now will interfere with the fire alarms when you cook.

Joe blogs found the damaged extractor fan today and wish for the individual who created this damage to come forward asap. The cost to replace the extractor fan is yet to be confirmed.

Please identify yourself urgently. Failure to do so, will result in costly deductions made from all tenants deposit.

I look forward to hearing from you.

If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.


Kind Regards

mary blogs



That is the end of the email .So basically there I think about 10 separate rooms each with our own keys to our rooms and there is shared kitchen for us all the use .This is where the damage is suppose to have taken place .I have not seen it myself as I probably wont be there again until the weekend .the deposit for my room is £150 not a lot of money but this is a principal here as why should I pay for someone else's damage or alleged damage as I have not inspected it myself, but I doubt that they would make this up . How am i jointly responsible for this damage ? If i make dmage yes I would be totally responsible or if I damage my room I would also be .I was not too happy about this email and would like to know my rights because although my £150 deposit is not a lot of money I am not prepared to give it up unlawfully .

It seems like they are happy to take everyone's money without the risk of being a Landlord .This does not seem right and I am not prepared to loose one single penny of my deposit as I am a considerate and respectful tenant .The email is from the letting agent by the way .

Does anyone know what rights I have if any ?

They are quick enough to send this email but not so quick having the facilities like washer drier working or even the heating working to my likeing,not a problem as i do not pay bills so can just use my electric fire .I am very disappointed as this has put me off renting all together .

any advise much appreciated .

what happens if an other tenant burn the building down have I got to pay for that aswell .

Thnaks

V_Chic_Chick

I'd suggest emailing the LL back and telling them that you were not in the house at the time (ideally get another tenant to corroborate that, and offer proof such as train tickets) and were therefore not responsible. They may accept this, and simply deduct it from the others, should no one else own up.

If you have any idea who did this, then dob them in. Otherwise, apply peer pressure to try and find out.

Unfortunately, if there's something in your contract about being jointly and severally liable (almost certainly there will be) then you can legally be held liable for the costs.

brian_723

Thanks for your reply

I do not know any of the tenants so as I keep to myself .Most os us are strangers to each other and I have not been there much to know people yet .I usually have a train ticket but at the minute where my mum is it is next to my work .The last time I left was Sunday morning and I bought a one way train ticket as I knew I would not be back for a week .


If they can legally do this they can keep my full deposit and I will just leave 150 pound of mess for them to clean up . I wont take this lying down .I have emailed them letting them know I wont pay.the main door is an electric key fob so that must show who enters the building also .They have cleaner come once a week loads of people have access . I wont take this I just wont as I am sick of the little people being walked over and I have far too much stress to deal with things like this right now but thnaks very much for taking the time to reply to me .

Fire_Fox

Woah calm down, if you make more damage you will end up with more charges and the landlord can take you to court for money on top of your damage deposit! The letter really is not that bad, sorry but you are overreacting which is understandable if you are under stress. What does your check in inventory cover? Wat does it say in your tenancy agreement about the communal areas? What have you said in the e-mail?

AFAIK the landlord can insure the communal areas against accidental damage. I doubt there is any record of who enters and exits on the entry system unless it is a very sophisticated one. The landlord has the repairing obligations not the agent, if you have an issue with the speed of repairs contact the landlord directly.

tbs624

brian_723 - even though you have separate contracts for your individual rooms it is likely you will all have a liability for damage that occurs in the shared areas of the house. That applies whether or not you were physically present at the time of the damage.

LL cannot however use Ts deposit for betterment. Are the tenancy deposits scheme registered, as required by law if the property is let under Assured Shorthold Tenancies? Have you been given the "prescribed information" relevant to the scheme? Was an inventory completed and signed by both the LL and the individual tenants?

Although it is understandable that you feel upset it is best not to bang off angry emails in response to this sort of issue.

Is there a communal noticeboard where you could leave a request for occupants to get together to discuss how the the damage may have occurred and the LA's letter?

brian_723

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Woah calm down, if you make more damage you will end up with more charges and the landlord can take you to court for money on top of your damage deposit! The letter really is not that bad, sorry but you are overreacting which is understandable if you are under stress. What does your check in inventory cover? Wat does it say in your tenancy agreement about the communal areas? What have you said in the e-mail?

AFAIK the landlord can insure the communal areas against accidental damage. I doubt there is any record of who enters and exits on the entry system unless it is a very sophisticated one. The landlord has the repairing obligations not the agent, if you have an issue with the speed of repairs contact the landlord directly.

I know I am stressed got my own problems as well .there was no ineventry taken out at the time .I will check my tenancy agreement also .I have not got it with me right now .

It concerns me that i rent a room so that i can save up responsible to but a house and then one of 9 strangers in the same building can cause damage and I may end up losing all my saving .

thanks for your reply

If renting is this bad i might just buy now instead .

brian_723

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Woah calm down, if you make more damage you will end up with more charges and the landlord can take you to court for money on top of your damage deposit! The letter really is not that bad, sorry but you are overreacting which is understandable if you are under stress. What does your check in inventory cover? Wat does it say in your tenancy agreement about the communal areas? What have you said in the e-mail?

AFAIK the landlord can insure the communal areas against accidental damage. I doubt there is any record of who enters and exits on the entry system unless it is a very sophisticated one. The landlord has the repairing obligations not the agent, if you have an issue with the speed of repairs contact the landlord directly.

they did say my depsout si protected and i would get protected by one of these schemes .It too streeful as I have my own medical problems right now and the doctor said avoid strees .I am not doing agood job am I .

So how does it work becuase I can afford to loose £150 of my deposit but i should not have to and then if someone does more damage when will it end .

Fire_Fox

brian_723 wrote: »

they did say my depsout si protected and i would get protected by one of these schemes .It too streeful as I have my own medical problems right now and the doctor said avoid strees .I am not doing agood job am I .

So how does it work becuase I can afford to loose £150 of my deposit but i should not have to and then if someone does more damage when will it end .

They claim your deposit is protected or you know it is because you received the registration details and prescribed information at the start of the tenancy?
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/tenancy_deposits/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

No inventory is good for you, let them crack on and prove the state of your room or the rest of the house at the start of your tenancy if they don't have that. Again what have you said in your e-mail? We need to know what is in your tenancy agreement about the communal areas once you have access to that.

tbs624

Sorry to read that you have medical problems. Check online with each of the three schemes - DPS, mydeposits, and TDS. You go onto their websites and put in your tenancy info as prompted. Don't just take the LAs sayso. Meaning to scheme register the deposits and them actually getting on to it are two different things.

I posted on here just last week about a recent legal case in which a T has been awarded a payout of 3 x the tenancy deposit amount because although the LL had registered the deposit he had not given the T the full prescribed information.

Check - you may have some hefty bargaining power.

Most respond posters *will* understand your anger about potentially getting charged for damage caused by another - really- it's one of the unpleasant sides of shared housing.

brian_723

Fire_Fox wrote: »

They claim your deposit is protected or you know it is because you received the registration details and prescribed information at the start of the tenancy?
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/tenancy_deposits/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

No inventory is good for you, let them crack on and prove the state of your room or the rest of the house at the start of your tenancy if they don't have that. Again what have you said in your e-mail? We need to know what is in your tenancy agreement about the communal areas once you have access to that.

Thanks I will get my tenancy as soon as I am back over probably the weekend .I will pm you my email please understand it was hastily written in my lunch break at work .I will pm you it exactly how i typed ,bad spelling as well .

I also folowed it by a phone call and the person just said it may not come to that .I made the point that is far as i was concerned it would not .But i think they choose to ignore that .

anyway thanks and i will pm you my e email .

brian_723

tbs624 wrote: »

Sorry to read that you have medical problems. Check online with each of the three schemes - DPS, mydeposits, and TDS. You go onto their websites and put in your tenancy info as prompted. Don't just take the LAs sayso. Meaning to scheme register the deposits and them actually getting on to it are two different things.

I posted on here just last week about a recent legal case in which a T has been awarded a payout of 3 x the tenancy deposit amount because although the LL had registered the deposit he had not given the T the full prescribed information.

Check - you may have some hefty bargaining power.

Most respond posters *will* understand your anger about potentially getting charged for damage caused by another - really- it's one of the unpleasant sides of shared housing.

Thanks for all that information .One thing it will teach me is to be more if ever I enter into this type of thing again .it was all quite rushed at the time . the one thing I do know is i can terminate my tenancy within a months notice and they must give me 6 .

I do remember thinking it odd at the time that I never did an infantry .I am not saying the land lord or letting agent is suspect in anyway ,certainly not on an internet forum ,as I do not wish to be sued. What I will say is most of the people staying in the house are foreign and are probably not fully aware of their rights . Nor am I far that matter, but I am quick to want to find out .