Help/Advice needed

tykesi

Brook89 wrote: »

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

These two paragraphs demonstrate how little you understand about this situation and your rights. Can I respectfully advise you answer people's questions fully and listen to the advice being given.
There are some very knowledgeable people on here who can help but you have to accept you might be wrong in your thinking about some of these things.

saajan_12

Those dates are quite spread out.. were they during or after the tenancy? Lets start with basics, what were your tenancy start / end dates? deposit paid? deposit protected in a scheme?

It would be more helpful if you gave a simple list of the claimed damages and whether you did each damage and the charge.

marksoton

Money order?

They're having a laugh.

Pixie5740

Brook89 wrote: »

@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.

From your later posts it sounds as though you had a joint periodic tenancy. Only one of the joint tenants needs to serve notice to end the tenancy. Legally, you should have moved out on/before the notice expired. The landlord could pursue you for double rent under the Distress for Rent Act (1737) for the time you remained in the property after the notice period.

See Ending/Renewing an AST for further information.

Brook89 wrote: »

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.

No it's not like saying that at all. Your landlord is suing you for the damage he claims you caused not for work that he may or may not do. You could damage my Porsche 911 Carrera 4S (in Miami Blue) beyond repair and I could sue you for £90k+ but I don't have to replace it with another Porsche Carrera 4S, I could just pocket the money and sign up to City Car Club instead, or start getting the bus, or buy a clapped out Fiesta, it doesn't matter.

Brook89 wrote: »

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

Why is that obvious? We don't know how long the doors, lights and flooring have been in the property nor do we know the quality of said items.

Brook89 wrote: »

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

So that inventory will perform part of the landlord's evidence as to the condition of the property at the start of the tenancy compared to the condition when he eventually got you out.

Brook89 wrote: »

What do you suggest I do now?

From what you've told us I'd say that you do owe your landlord some money. Whether that's the total amount that the landlord is claiming I do not know. I suggest you contact the landlord and try to negotiate a settlement figure. The alternative is him taking you to court.

Guest101

Brook89 wrote: »

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 - do you owe the LL money? out of me saying it's for legal costs - some legal costs are recoverable, some are not. 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. - Well have they? you should have received paperwork by now if they had

Anyway I requested proof of all these alleged costs in the form of receipts - not necessary to provide 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 - were you evicted by the courts? and another company on the 15th of July 2016 called tinkerbelles £40 to dispose of medical waste. - did you leave medication or medical devices?

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 - did you damage any of these? , and they said they had to replace a drawer in the kitchen and 2 under cupboard lights. - or these?

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 - did you leave property? were you given opportunity to collect it? and shed and a further £150.00 to clean the property so total being £730.00...... - did you clean the property?

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. - were these clean when you moved in?

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 !!!!!!!!! - was the shower broken?

Total for all the above £2440.00

So I requested proper official receipts from them - you don't have a right to this. 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 - that is a receipt then.

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 - ditto.

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 - that's an invoice...

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. - seems reasonable.

So if that's the case then surely they can get PROPER receipts - what's a proper receipt look like? from the company that allegedly just for some clearing of rubbish and some cleaning charged well over £1800 just for that.... - well you should've cleaned it yourself.

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. - you are.

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

answer the relevant questions...

Guest101

Brook89 wrote: »

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. - show them photos of an empty room? What a memory!

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) - so why didn't you change them back?? 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. - sure, but change them back!

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. - irrelevant. what you want isn't what you'll get

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

2 cleaners + supplies + disposal working 1 full day is easily that amount.

Guest101

Brook89 wrote: »

@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) - Right. Well that doesn't end a tenancy for at least one month. 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. - so you owe them double rent for the period you stayed over until evicted. I suspect they will add that to the charges shortly.

I'm curious as you claim the landlord doesn't have to provide receipts, well of course he does - no he doesn't. he doesn't need to get the work done. You owe him for damages, he's entitled to be compensated for those. how he spend that money is up to him. , 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 - what you think is largely irrelevant. , also the landlord has proved nothing to me regarding damages, I've seen no photos of this alleged damage or anything for that matter - well that will be included in any claim which goes to court. , and how do you work out that he wouldn't even have to do any of the work to charge me, course he does.. - no, he doesn't. Lets say you write off my car by crashing into it. I can claim the value of the car at the time, I don't need a receipt for a new car... 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. - What you think is largely irrelevant

And obviously the landlord is trying to claim for new doors, lights, vinyl flooring etc. - he cannot claim new for old - google betterment.

There was a check in inventory completed when we moved in back in February 2012. - and how was the house compared to that?

What do you suggest I do now? - await court papers.

@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. - you owe double rent for the period you stayed past your notice

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 you didn't bother to pick up the phone for £595? and in all honesty with my illness I just couldn't be bothered contacting the deposit company as stupidly I just thought sod it. - Well then sod £3k?

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. - I don't understand this point

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? - the court 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 - no 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.

They need proof, but not receipts. photos for example, estimated damages etc.

G_M

1) You need to list out each item of damage that they've claimed and decide whether it i true or not eg
* clearing medical waste - either there was, or wasn't, medical waste - which?
* changing the locks - clearly you changed them and failed to replace the orignal andlord's locks when you left

2) Once you've decided which items are reasonable and which are not, you can write to them offering to pay for the relavant items

3) if they take you to court, you can defend those items which are unreasonable. If you defend items for which you are clearly responsible, this is likely to influence the judge's opinion of you

4) legal costs are not claimable in Small Claims hearings, so ignore he legal costs being claimed.

5) Settlig out of court by agreeing a compromise is the simplest way forward.

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

parkrunner

Brook89 wrote: »

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.

Brook89 wrote: »

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.

Why do you need receipts for things you haven't broken etc? You say the costs are massively inflated which suggests you accept the damage etc just not the amount to fix the problems.

csgohan4

The OP perhaps is not telling the whole story. Unusual a LL would bill you if you say you did nothing.