Student House Problem

koee

Hi, I'm just looking for some help regarding a house/room I currently rent with three other girls at university.

The house is through a student rental agency in the area, they're probably the largest firm in this city but also one of the most notorious for attempting to keep your deposit.

The contract was for a year and started last July (runs out June 30th), although my housemate (lets call her housemate A) moved in during July the rest of us didn't move in until September. Apparently when housemate A moved in the agency gave her a checklist (is that what it's called?) for the house, and she included all the faults with the house, though no checklists were provided for any of the rooms.

Faults with the house included:
Living:
Eight holes in the ceiling
Stains to the carpet
Half broken fireplace
No TV as we were promised in the contract

Kitchen/Diner:
Unusable freezer
Completely filthy over
Half broken kitchen chairs

Garden:
Weeds up to my waist (I'm 5foot 7, not exactly short for a female either...)
Broken garden chairs

My Room:
Stained carpet
Stained curtains
Broken yale lock
Belongings left in drawers

Housemate A's Room:
Broken desk chair

Housemate B's Room:
No light bulb (??)
Broken lock

Housemate C's Room:
Dirty underwear left in drawers
Stained walls
No hanging space (there were wardrobes but no rails?)

The landlord only sorted out the freezer and the weeds in the garden, so we've bought new garden chairs (quite happy to leave them & have told him this!), housemate A bought a new desk chair (same deal as the garden chairs), and housemate C's father is a builder and not only put up rails in the wardrobes but also a shelf.

However, the landlord is now threatening to fine us if we leave any of these improvements in place. He is also threatening to sue us because when he came round unannounced at 9am there was washing drying on clothes horses in the living room and it was "dirty". Honestly, it was just some washing drying!

The house has not be let for next year and he is blaming us because apparently we're "dirty sluts" (his words not mine!), simply because of the washing incident (mentioned above), he saw some shoes not on the shoe rack in the hallway (it was the morning after a night out!), and he saw housemate C's boyfriend in her room. There is NOTHING in the contract about people sleeping over, plus they were fully dressed and were watching a film at 5pm...

The landlord regularly comes round unannounced early in the morning or late at night, will knock on the door then simply unlock it with his keys (won't wait for us to let him in), will do the same with bedroom doors (!!).

So yeah, there's some background, but I'm simply wondering is he does attempt to sue/fine us could he actually win?

I'm leaving the property tomorrow morning, though housemate C is staying on and we're both planning to take photos when we leave, but is there anything else we could do to protect ourselves.

princeofpounds

Did you pay a deposit?

Is it protected in a scheme?

Did you receive the prescribed information about said deposit?

Do you have contracts for the whole house or individual rooms?

Basically, the LL is likely to use the deposit arbitration scheme rather than sue anyone.

He will need to provide proof of condition at the beginning and the end of the tenancy in order to even think about getting anywhere.

He can only claim for damage, and not wear and tear. He is also not entitled to betterment (for instance, he cannot fully charge for a new carpet to replace an 8 year old one).

Obviously thing like washing are nothing to do with the courts, unless you have caused a damp problem. Ignore this.

The chairs - if he doesn't want them, get rid of them. He could charge you to dispose of them. Who wants garden chairs left in their house?

As for the wardrobes, that could count as damage if permission was not given, unless it was fixing a rail where one was not present. However, I doubt he would win much.

The key thing for you is for the LAST person to take as much evidence as physically possible on check-out.

Depending on your tenancy, you could have changed the locks to keep him out.

BitterAndTwisted

What you do to "protect yourselves" is to ensure that the property is in exactly the same condition on the last day of the tenancy as it was on the first. And that you can prove it.

In your position I would revisit the property before it's handed back on the 30th so that you can ensure the pace is clean and tidy. Leaving now opens up the possibility of those remaining may not keep it clean in the interim.

DO NOT leave any items in the property which the landlord did not supply. Even if you think they might be useful landlords can and often do charge their outgoing tenants for the cost of removal of said items.

MangoStan

Pretty sure your LL shouldn't have just turned up without warning; could you take any of this up with the letting agency?

Sounds as if the work you've done is removable, so I would aim to leave everything as you found it. Have you still got a copy of the checklist housemate A completed? Might be useful for reference. I know what it's like being a student tenant, I know how much they can take advantage of students because you are less experienced and more transient - in future you may want to take dated photos of everything (maybe hand them to the letting agency at the beginning of the tenancy) so you can prove its original condition.

If you have a deposit, that may be at risk, but LL should have to prove also that you caused said 'damage' he would cite as being reason to keep any of your deposit. Maybe examine the contract for what you technically had permission to do/not do. I once had a LL take deposit from each of my 4 flatmates and I for lighting in a communal corridor outside our front door. We pointed out in writing this was not part of the contract and threatened legal action: they coughed up the taken deposit pretty quickly.

Kastanie

koee wrote: »

Dirty underwear left in drawers

Hope you kept this so you can return the place exactly as you found it :eek:

Gross.....