Dispute with landlord

salamancajerri

You mentioned you found the room through and agency? Well what happens at some housing agences(I only have experience with student ones) is that they keep the deposit with a 3rd party association so the land lord hopefully wont have acess to these funds. What you could do is maybe get an invoice for the work, and take it to your agency and explain the situation. Then hopefulyl when your tenancy ends you can hopefully put your point forward and get more of your deposit back. Who knows it worth a try

salamancajerri

I have another idea, but it could be controverisal. You could purchase the door with your own money, get your friend to fit it before the trademan comes to fit the door. This will only work if the trademan hasnt slapshed out on the door from the suppliers already cos you still get the bill for it.

If your friend does a good job then hopefully the landlord will have nothing to complain about and youv'e saved yourself a few bucks.

Worse case scenario is your friend does a botch job and your landlord gets angry and you have to pay his trademan. But im sure most carpenter can hang a door properly!!

Food For thought

embob74

I like the PP's idea if you can fit the door before the LL gets around to getting his tradesman to do it. As stated there is the risk of having to pay for another door if the LL has got one and there is the risk of angering your LL further which might make him want to serve notice on you.
The agency have no say really - the LL is who you have a contract with.
If you do fit a door get dated proof in case the LL thinks he can buy a door at a later date and charge you. Keep the proof/receipt for when you leave and the deposit is disputed.
The advice on here is to do everything in writing. It is hard to prove receipt of an e-mail.
Send the cheaper door quote to the LL by post. To be extra certain post 2 copies from different post offices and obtain proof of posting.
If a deposit dispute occurs you have proof he received the cheaper quote (it is highly unlikely 2 postings went missing).

GraceC

Hi Roxie,

A very similar incident happened in my old flat. We were waiting for the LL to fix the damaged door for a long time so I asked one of my friends who is a carpenter to do the job. The LL did not think they did it well enough and so got the LLs brother to do the job again. We ended up paying twice :-(

But if you can source the door cheaper, that is worth a try.

salamancajerri

I guess there would be no harm in you buying the door yourself, and maybe getting his tradesman to fit it. I guess it'll save you a bit on the door, but I bet the majority of your savings would come from using your own FREE tradesman.

Your first step should be either to contact your landlord or his trademan direct(if you know who it is) to see if the door has, or when will it be purchased. If he hasnt then say youve already purchased the door. Get your friend to fit the door, if it looks up to standard then leave it there. If it doesnt look great you can take it down without showing it to your landlord and he can get his trademan to do it without knowing any better:)

salamancajerri

Remember this is all a bit risky, if you think itll annoy your lanlord too much and risk your tenancy then id just play it straight. Depends if your a gambler or not

Wywth

roxiejarrigan wrote: »

Hi,

I'm not sure if I've posted this thread in the right section but its the most relevant I could find.

I rent a room from an agency but do have a landlord(owner of the property) who is pretty hands on and pops over now and again. Unfortunately during a gathering I had with a lot of friends someone damaged my bedroom door without my knowing and I haven't found out who it was. I've come to terms that Ill have to fork out for the damage. Luckily one of my best friends is a carpenter and could fit a new door free of charge no problem, and has got me a quote for the new door. Unfortunately my land lord came over the other day and saw the damaged door whilst paying a visit to see another tenant in the house. I told him about the replacement I had arranged but he was having none of it. He said he would only use people who he trusts and no "cowboy" friend of mine. He got a price for the job and it is so much more than if i got my friend to do it for me. Also, the price of the door he is buying is more expensive than the one my carpenter found although its the same one, just different supplier. This money is going to be coming out of my deposit ive been told. It doesnt seem fair to me as Ive found a cheaper alternative myself. Do I have any cause to complain? I respect that its his property but that dosnt mean I have to pay for the most expensive options does it? Your thoughts would be appreciated

Get your mate to fix it for you on the cheap, and if it does turn out to be a cowboy job, then you'll have to pay the Landlord for getting it done again, to the required standard ... and may involve extra damage a cowboy typically causes.

Of course, if your mate does the repair to the required standard in the first place, then the Landlord will have no claim.

Bufger

erm I wouldnt go against the landlords decision, not if you want to continue living there hastle free. He has stated what his position is so your sensible options are:

Suggest the cheaper alternative but accept his own trusted tradesman to do the job.

Pay up as requested

roxiejarrigan

I have now had the new door installed by my carpenter, everything looks as good as new. Lanlord is coming over tomorrow so fingers crossed he wont go to mad!! Thanks for all the advise guys Ill let you know how it all pans out

blackshirtuk

Just a thought
If you return the property, at the end of your tenancy, in the same condition as at the start of the tenancy the landlord has no complaints.

If he didn't know about the door and your friend fixed it, would he have ever known, provided it was a similar standard?

I think that getting it fixed yourself will stand you in good stead if there is a dispute about the deposit, Make sure you keep any reciepts for the door etc, and take dated photos of the new door and hopefully you have pictures from when you moved in.

hope all work out for you, and let us know what the landlord said!