Brothers in a right mess

Angela_D_3

My little brother moved into a privately rented house which was in a complete state when they took the keys, the inspection report commented on the condition of carpets etc.
Anyway he has now moved out and the landlord has kept the 3 month deposit/bond - nearly £1100 and has issued a summonds for £4,000
for decorating, replacing carpets, fuel he claims was in the oil boiler (although no record of this was listed in the tennancy agreement) and because the boiler was so bloomin inefficent it kept running out of oil faster than they had been led to believe it would and an engineer had to be called out to get it started again, the LL is claiming £2,000 for that repair too, £300 for the garden the list is crazy and goes on and on.
Now the point of this being that little bro just about keeps his head above water at the best of times, they pay their bills, have about £10k on a credit card, Mrs can't work, twin babies, basically they are over drawn every month.
Now the legal advice he has been given is that at worse case the judge will award this man half to keep everyone happy, but D couldn't even begin to pay that, he was fully expecting his deposit back and had to borrow money from parents to move into his current home, I'm literally talking not a pound spare every month. Surely a judge couldn't/wouldn't make a judgement against him when he clearly cannot pay.
Any experience/wise words ?
Thank you
Ps I saw the property and the LL is talking !!!!!! and just wants his house done up to sell at D's expense.

RAS

Hi

Much better to post this on the House buying and renting board. There are people who know their stuff.

pania

Do you still have a copy of the inspection report? if this details the condition of the carpets when Bro moved in it should help. Also get him to speak to the letting agency he took it out through see if the oil store was ever mentioned or part of the agreement. They may also be prepared to state the condition of the property when he moved in.
I'd also speak to CAB, not sure how your legal advisor can speculate on the court outcome.
Good Luck!!
Angela

consumerpower

Oh what a nasty landlord, it is so common that when you leave they try to sting you for the deposit, but that is quite outagous.

Have a look on consumer action website, there will some foroums on there to help. The key is if you have any evidence of the condition of the property when your brother initially moved in. Did he sign anything with the letting agency?

I think there is two points here, 1. the deposit and 2. the additional compensation that the landlord is seeking.

For the first point there isnt a lot you can do but agrue that the reason for with holding the deposit is unfair, does your brother have any photographs of the flat when they moved in? He should request a copy of the tenancy agreement and look for particular clauses about upkeep and tenant responsibilities. You could argue that the landlord is basically seeking to be in a better situation than before the damages, there is a legal term for this and it is not allowed. You can only seek compensation to be put back into the same position as before when talking about property.

In the 2nd point, he will have to take you to court, I would initially not worry he is probably bluffing, I'd refuse to pay it until you actually get notice that a court date has been set. The compensation will have to be award by a magistrate, and worse case senario you can go defend yourself in a small claim court.

Go have a look on https://www.consumeractiongroup.com though.

Seaxwyn

Hi Angela

My OH and I were taken to court years ago by our landlady claiming we had not been paying rent. This was true, but only because she had not been banking our cheques.

Anyway, she had told a few lies in her report to the court, which we disputed (though we didnt have any 'proof') and the judge threw the case out of court, with a little speech to humiliate the landlady and her solicitors for having brought such an indefensible case. It must have cost her a bit too.