Help/Advice needed

Brook89

I'm looking for some advice as I had a letter from a solicitors representing the landlord, altogether they're trying to get £2914.50 out of me saying it's for legal costs and damages originally saying if I don't pay it by the 23rd of November they would register a money order against me for the arrears.

Anyway I requested proof of all these alleged costs in the form of receipts and they simply sent me a statement of account and payment advice which says on the 11th of July 2016 a company called TKB Property apparently charged £200 to gain entry to the house and to change the locks and another company on the 15th of July 2016 called tinkerbelles £40 to dispose of medical waste.

On the 15th of September 2016 the company David Brook joinery (the company owned by my ex landlords brother) apparently had to pay £235 to supply and fit new doors to the hall/kitchen and the rear bedroom and to replace broken window in the lounge which wasn't actually broken it just had a crack in it, and they said they had to replace a drawer in the kitchen and 2 under cupboard lights.

On the 16th of August 2016 the company TKB property maintenance ltd apparently charged £580.00 to clear and dispose of property inside and in the garden and shed and a further £150.00 to clean the property so total being £730.00......

On the 9th of September the same company allegedly charged £210.00 tidy all external areas to a high standard, jet washing driveway and refreshing with a fine sand, cleaning rear patio and decking and weeding all stone areas.

The same company on the 9th of September allegedly also carried out maintenance such as renewal of taps, wastes and shower at a cost of £1025, seriously !!!!!!!!!

Total for all the above £2440.00

So I requested proper official receipts from them which they said they'd obtain them and send me them, so today I received a letter from the solicitors with so called receipts attached which all they are is a printed piece of paper with the heading Belvoir Doncaster simply saying the word Receipt on them and directly underneath that heading the landlords address and the following.

25/07/2016 Fund paid for property clearance incl 2 skips £580.00
25/07/2016 Fund paid for property clean £150.00
25/07/2016 Fund paid for external work to driveway areas £210.00

Total Receipt Amount £940.00

Next printed page again with the heading Belvoir Doncaster, the landlords address and the word Receipt and that page says,

25/08/2016 Fund for carpets, underlay, hardboard & vinyl £1125.00

Then the last page again with the heading Belvoir Doncaster, landlords address and the word receipt,

This time saying

18/08/2016 Fund required for works £2400.00

Now in my mind those 3 printed paged may well have the word receipt on them but there's no way they are receipts for the work done, the solicitor claims that enclosed are receipts of payments made by our client. They make the payments to their Agent who in turn paid the contractors.

So if that's the case then surely they can get PROPER receipts from the company that allegedly just for some clearing of rubbish and some cleaning charged well over £1800 just for that....

I find that very hard to believe and I don't think I'm asking too much for proper receipts considering they're trying to get thousands out of me.

Can anyone help me out with what my next move should be?

Person_one

Did you break all those things and leave that rubbish behind or are they making it all up?

Brook89

Nothing was broken and no I didn't leave any rubbish, the only thing was there was a crack in the small glass window that was in the living room enabling you to see into the kitchen, but to fix that would have been no more than £50 at most.

walwyn1978

Did you take photos of the property when you moved out, and/or was there any kind of checkout procedure? The changing of the locks thing - why did that happen?

Brook89

I took photos of 2 of the bedrooms before I left but I didn't take any photos of anything else, basically I only took photos of what used to be my kids bedrooms so I had memories I could show them and they were spotless, no other photos were taken.

And the locks were changed for security purposes early on in the tenancy as I always do wherever I rent as I've got a young family (3 kids under 10) and I can't risk their safety, say 1 day where all sat on the settee and the previous tenant or anyone else with a key decides to let themselves in, not worth the risk, you don't know who it could be these days and I'd rather feel safe and know my family are.

Basically I need proper receipts from the solicitors not just what they're passing off as receipts as I strongly believe the values they're trying to claim for are massively inflated.

If someone said to you it would cost £730 for cleaning etc you'd say there's not a chance that's happening right?

Hoploz

Was there really no check out procedure followed? And no estate agent?

Brook89

The agency is Belvoir but as far as I know there was no checkout done unless they did it without me being present?

AnotherJoe

Brook89 wrote: »

And the locks were changed for security purposes early on in the tenancy as I always do wherever I rent as I've got a young family (3 kids under 10) and I can't risk their safety, say 1 day where all sat on the settee and the previous tenant or anyone else with a key decides to let themselves in, not worth the risk, you don't know who it could be these days and I'd rather feel safe and know my family are.

You could, indeed should, have put the original lock barrels back when you moved out.

Pixie5740

How was this tenancy ended? Did you serve notice or did a court have to grant an eviction order?

When you left, since you did not change the locks back, did you give the landlord or his agent a set of keys for the new lock?

The landlord doesn't have to provide receipts. All he had to do is prove that you caused the damage. He doesn't even need to carry out any of the work to be able to charge you for it. However, he is not entitled to betterment. In other words he does not get new for old. He cannot claim the cost of brand new carpets for example because he will have had some use of the carpets which were installed during your tenancy.

Was there ever a check-in inventory completed?

FBaby

This all sounds very strange. Were you evicted, did you leave at the end of your tenancy?

Did you pay a deposit and if so, what has happened to it? Did you get it back?

Considering the extent to the claimed damages and state of the property if the invoices are to go by, either your perception of the state it was left in is seriously impaired, or they got the wrong address?

In any case, they can't expect to receive full payment for full replacement of everything, so regardless of the situation, it is highly unlikely they would be granted the full amount they are requesting.

Brook89

@Pixie5740

The tenancy ended when my partner decided to leave me while I was at the hospital having treatment for kidney failure, she went into the agents office and said she was handing her notice in (it was a joint tenancy and I was the lead tenant whatever that meant) anyway she left and I stayed and due to me having no guarantor for a new place and no way of getting one I stayed at the house until they got me out via a court order.

I'm curious as you claim the landlord doesn't have to provide receipts, well of course he does, I couldn't ask you for thousands of pounds for work done unless I could prove the work had been done AND had receipts proving it did cost what I said it did, also the landlord has proved nothing to me regarding damages, I've seen no photos of this alleged damage or anything for that matter, and how do you work out that he wouldn't even have to do any of the work to charge me, course he does.. that's like me saying I'm going to do some work for you but me saying I don't even have to carry out the work to charge you for it and you will pay me, it's absurd.

And obviously the landlord is trying to claim for new doors, lights, vinyl flooring etc.

There was a check in inventory completed when we moved in back in February 2012.

What do you suggest I do now?

@FBaby

Yes eventually I was evicted, the original tenancy was for 6 months then it went onto periodic for the rest of the time we were there.

Yes the deposit was £595 and the landlord claimed all of it and got it due to an error on the website where I couldn't click anything to contest it and in all honesty with my illness I just couldn't be bothered contacting the deposit company as stupidly I just thought sod it.

My perception of the state the place was left in isn't wrong or impaired at all but they've made it clear they're trying to claim the money for the property we rented.

What do you suggest I do now then as you said it's highly unlikely they'll be awarded the full amount they're asking for, awarded by who? As all I've got is a letter from the landlords solicitor saying if I don't pay the money they will seek a money judgment for the outstanding arrears, surely to get a money order they would need receipts to prove they did have to pay what they're claiming they did, they can't just say I owe x amount of money with no proof.