Problems with landlord- Lodger agreement

G_M

Please clarify:

A) Your 'lodger agreement':

1) Who is named as 'The Landord'? The property owner or his daughter?
2) Who lived at the property? The property owner, his daughter, or both?
3) who does the agreement tell you to pay rent to? The property owner or his daughter?
4) who did you pay rent to?

the mattress.
5) how old was it when you moved in (aprox)? New? Old?
6) Have you looked online to see what that particular matreess costs new? Price?
7) What quality was it? How long would it be expected to last from new? 5 years (a cheap one)? 7 years? 10 years( an expensive one)?

C) the shower
8) hhave you any evidence the daughter broke it? Witness to the breaking? Witness to her admitting breaking it?
9) is there evidence of when it was broken? And where you were at the time?

I very much doub tis will actually go to court - they are just trying (and succeeding) to scare you!
But if it does, you will have plenty of time to write a defence in reply to the written claim. And you will be able to put your point of view to the judge.

It will be a 'Small Claims Hearing' which is not held in the courtroom - it will be an informal hearing sitting round a table with the judge in a back room.

In the meantime, I would keep communiction with the daughter/father to a minimum, or none at all. You have tried discussing and got nowhere, so there is no value in furter discussion. In fact you risk saying something that can be used in court.

layla958

G_M wrote: »

Please clarify:

A) Your 'lodger agreement':

1) Who is named as 'The Landord'? The property owner or his daughter?
his daughter
2) Who lived at the property? The property owner, his daughter, or both?
his daughter
3) who does the agreement tell you to pay rent to? The property owner or his daughter?
the rent goes to his daughters account , property is owned by his daughter as well
4) who did you pay rent to?
his daughters account

the mattress.
5) how old was it when you moved in (aprox)? New? Old?
brand new
6) Have you looked online to see what that particular matreess costs new? Price?
yes it was £278
7) What quality was it? How long would it be expected to last from new? 5 years (a cheap one)? 7 years? 10 years( an expensive one)?
Im guessing 7-10 years as it seems expensive
Stain was small and washable - obviously im am idiot for overlooking it

C) the shower
8) hhave you any evidence the daughter broke it? Witness to the breaking? Witness to her admitting breaking it?
no but there is evidence of her friends using it and the stories not adding up
9) is there evidence of when it was broken? And where you were at the time?
I was out and the landlord knows this but chose not to mention this to her dad and theres also evidence of me suggesting to fix it myself , but the landlord was instructed by her father to tell everyone to leave it alone.
I very much doub tis will actually go to court - they are just trying (and succeeding) to scare you!
But if it does, you will have plenty of time to write a defence in reply to the written claim. And you will be able to put your point of view to the judge.

It will be a 'Small Claims Hearing' which is not held in the courtroom - it will be an informal hearing sitting round a table with the judge in a back room.

In the meantime, I would keep communiction with the daughter/father to a minimum, or none at all. You have tried discussing and got nowhere, so there is no value in furter discussion. In fact you risk saying something that can be used in court.

I have sent a final email to him to try and settle on an amount ( half of the mattress cost) + other things. If he doesnt agree when I will go to court.

steampowered

layla958 wrote: »

I have sent a final email to him to try and settle on an amount ( half of the mattress cost) + other things. If he doesnt agree when I will go to court.

I think this is absolutely the right attitude.

If he accepts your offer, fine you can put this issue to bed.

If he doesn't, let him justify his claims to the judge.

layla958

steampowered wrote: »

I think this is absolutely the right attitude.

If he accepts your offer, fine you can put this issue to bed.

If he doesn't, let him justify his claims to the judge.

Thank you for your response to my message by the way, it didn't give me an option to reply but I really appreciate it, really helpful !!

G_M

So I have some difficulty understanding :

....I asked my landlord to take my deposit as my last months rent. He refused at first, until I showed him the contract and then he had to agree. After agreeing he stated that there will then definitely be extra charges to pay. He knew he was going to take money from out deposit before we even moved out.

He sent me an email a few weeks later

You keep saying 'he'. And yet your landlord seems to be a female. What is going on here?

A) Your 'lodger agreement':

1) Who is named as 'The Landord'? The property owner or his daughter?
his daughter
Make up your mind!
'He' (I assume the father) has no legal connection with you.
IGNORE HIM COMPLETELY.
'HE' IS NOT YOUR LANDLORD.
2) Who lived at the property? The property owner, his daughter, or both?
his daughter
Whose daughter? Certainly not your landlord's daughter as the daughter is your landlord!
3) who does the agreement tell you to pay rent to? The property owner or his daughter?
the rent goes to his daughters account , property is owned by his daughter as well
The daughter is your landlord. 'He' is a nobody and should be ignored.
4) who did you pay rent to?
his daughters account
any emails, letters or other correspondance from the father should go straight in the bin.
HE IS NOT YOUR LANDLORD.

the mattress.
5) how old was it when you moved in (aprox)? New? Old?
brand new
OK
6) Have you looked online to see what that particular matTreess costs new? Price?
yes it was £278
OK
7) What quality was it? How long would it be expected to last from new? 5 years (a cheap one)? 7 years? 10 years( an expensive one)?
Im guessing 7-10 years as it seems expensive
Stain was small and washable - obviously im am idiot for overlooking it
Let us assume the stain cannot be cleaned (though cleaning may well be possible).
Let us also be generous and say the mattress's expected life would be 8 years (easy maths!)
You used it for 4 years. So it was exactly halfway through its life.
So the LL (daughter!) can only claim half the cost of a new mattress: £139.
Claiming £278 is called 'betterment'.

C) the shower
8) have you any evidence the daughter broke it? Witness to the breaking? Witness to her admitting breaking it?
no but there is evidence of her friends using it and the stories not adding up
Good. What 'evidence' Document it.
9) is there evidence of when it was broken? And where you were at the time?
I was out and the landlord knows this but chose not to mention this to her dad and theres also evidence of me suggesting to fix it myself , but the landlord was instructed by her father to tell everyone to leave it alone.
Please describe this 'evidence'.
.

* the daughter can write to you demanding money. The father should not. If he does, ignore him.

* the daughter can take you to court. The father cannot.

But I repeat.
* Court action is very unlikely.
* you should minimise communication with the daughter (landlord). Indeed I'd ignore her
* you should certainly not communicate with the father. Or my father. Or anybody else's father.
* if the daughter does start a court action, all the points above are relevant to your defence.

layla958

G_M wrote: »

So I have some difficulty understanding :
You keep saying 'he'. And yet your landlord seems to be a female. What is going on here?

* the daughter can write to you demanding money. The father should not. If he does, ignore him.

* the daughter can take you to court. The father cannot.

But I repeat.
* Court action is very unlikely.
* you should minimise communication with the daughter (landlord). Indeed I'd ignore her
* you should certainly not communicate with the father. Or my father. Or anybody else's father.
* if the daughter does start a court action, all the points above are relevant to your defence.

Basically to explain better, some wealthy man has bought his daughter a house and decided to let the rooms out to other students in the area. Although he has paid for this, the house is in the daughters name along with the lodger contracts. Shes only 20/21 and so thats why most of the communication about the house is done through her father, as she goes to him with all the problems herself anyway. He is also the one who emails everyone with the deposit situation or repairs / visits to the house and not his daughter ( she lives with us). Im guessing hes just acting on her behalf !
Hes the type of guy to take me to court just to prove a point , so im going to try and settle with an amount of £230 from the £380 he is asking for. If he is stubborn and doesnt agree then I will have to go to court. But i dont fancy seeing his stupid face again

G_M

You still have not got it have you? It does not matter where the money for the house came from.

The house belongs to the daughter.
You were a lodger sharing with your landlord (the daughter).
You paid her.
The contract has her name.

IT COULD NOT BE MORE CLEAR. THE FATHER HAS NO LEGAL RIGHTS AT ALL.

IGNORE HIM!

dimbo61

It is totally up to the Landlord to prove what condition the property, bedroom, mattress ,shower were in before you moved into the property!
A Video inventory done by an Inventory Firm is the very best way to do this, a writtern report should be signed by all the tenants ! WAS THIS DONE ?
Were you provided with a Gas Safe Certificate ?
Was the Deposit held in the deposit protection scheme ? ( there are 3/4)
Did you get a copy?
How many stories high was the property 2 or 3/4 ? HMO ? how many tenants ?

Slithery

dimbo61 wrote: »

Were you provided with a Gas Safe Certificate ?
Was the Deposit held in the deposit protection scheme ? ( there are 3/4)
Did you get a copy?
How many stories high was the property 2 or 3/4 ? HMO ? how many tenants ?

All irrelevant.

OP was a lodger not a tenant.

scd3scd4

No need to make this more complicated than it is. Take a little control offer half and then say its that or nothing. I will see your daughter in court where she may get nothing plus costs. Then don't reply unless they accept. Do nothing more, forget them until they do something next.


Me...........they would get nothing. People love to say they will do this and that when in fact most are bags of wind. I have issued 3 cc claims and won 3.


Let them earn the £300 odd pounds or get lost.