Ignorant Landlord

alcaponey1982

The below is all post check out and keys handed back.

My landlord and I tried to speak like adults at the beginning of the "Im not happy with the state of this, I need to charge this much" conversation that I am sure so many of us have had at the end of the tenancy.
Part way through the call he hung up on me and then when I tried to call him back he has been bouncing my calls and hanging up on me.
I have sent various texts and had very little response back from him and several times I have asked for his email address to communicate on and still no details given to me.

Text replies and any comms then stopped from his side completely for about a week, then I get a just over £1100 bill for items that we reckoned would have cost £200 tops.

My question is, the dispute avenue looks the only way to go, but where do I stand on him being VERY unreasonable and not even letting me have a chance to put things right, then getting all the work done without even consulting me, then just lumping an £1100 bill and making that our disputed amount?

I even tried to supply details of a carpet cleaning company that were looking at charging £50 - £100 to carry out very minimal spot work on the carpets (His quote came in at £420) as he has had the whole house done.

What annoys me is that he never gave me the whole "Landlord/Tenant negotiation and discussion period. Instead I have been ignored like a kid at school!!! This can't be allowed?

missile

Sounds like you caused damage and he paid to have it repaired?

It was you who caused damage and the onus was on you to make good. Calling landlord names is not helpful.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74897066#Comment_74897066

G_M

Once the tenancy has ended, and you have left, you have no right to enter the property, nor any right to make repairs.

Sure - you can offer to arrange repairs, or you can suggest contractors, but only in the same way that I can do this for my mum! Your landlord, like my mum, can decline the offers, reject the recommnendations, and indeed choose to ignore me/you completely. As your landlord has done.

Reading between the lines I suspect (apologies if I'm wrong!) you were somewhat forceful, even demanding, during the phone call, and understandably the landlord decided to revert to the formal process:

* he found his own contractrs
* he obtained his own quotes
* he advised you of the deductions proposed based on those quotes.

You now have the option to either

* agree the deductions or
* contest them via the deposit scheme arbitration route or
* contest them in court

where do I stand on him being VERY unreasonable and not even letting me have a chance to put things right, then getting all the work done without even consulting me, then just lumping an £1100 bill and making that our disputed amount?

As explained, you stand..... no where. Though I'm not sure what 'lumping' means in this context - do you mean 'showing', or do you mean that various works were 'lumped' together without clear specification of the various jobs involved?

he never gave me the whole "Landlord/Tenant negotiation and discussion period.

Hmmmm.... is this an area of tenancy law I have overlooked all these years? There is no such 'period' (though I agree that as part of human relations 'negotiation and discussion' can sometimes be productive. Regular readers here will be familiar with my [in]famous 'tea & cake' approach).

Comms69

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

The below is all post check out and keys handed back.

My landlord and I tried to speak like adults at the beginning of the "Im not happy with the state of this, I need to charge this much" conversation that I am sure so many of us have had at the end of the tenancy.
Part way through the call he hung up on me and then when I tried to call him back he has been bouncing my calls and hanging up on me.
I have sent various texts and had very little response back from him and several times I have asked for his email address to communicate on and still no details given to me.

Text replies and any comms then stopped from his side completely for about a week, then I get a just over £1100 bill for items that we reckoned would have cost £200 tops.

My question is, the dispute avenue looks the only way to go, but where do I stand on him being VERY unreasonable and not even letting me have a chance to put things right - you don't have a right to do that! , then getting all the work done without even consulting me, then just lumping an £1100 bill and making that our disputed amount? - irrelevant, he didn't need to have anything done and still claim

I even tried to supply details of a carpet cleaning company that were looking at charging £50 - £100 to carry out very minimal spot work on the carpets (His quote came in at £420) as he has had the whole house done.

What annoys me is that he never gave me the whole "Landlord/Tenant negotiation and discussion period. Instead I have been ignored like a kid at school!!! This can't be allowed?

Why not? You sounds rather ignorant yourself. There is no obligation to negotiate.


Infact legally speaking there is a loss, it is quantified and that is the nature of the dispute.

saajan_12

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

The below is all post check out and keys handed back.

My landlord and I tried to speak like adults at the beginning of the "Im not happy with the state of this, I need to charge this much" conversation that I am sure so many of us have had at the end of the tenancy. - okay, what damages / deteriorised 'state' was he talking about? Were these indeed damaged / worsened during your tenancy?
Part way through the call he hung up on me and then when I tried to call him back he has been bouncing my calls and hanging up on me. - okay, sounds like the conversation got heated. Probably wise to minimise direct contact and reduce to a more formal process.
I have sent various texts and had very little response back from him and several times I have asked for his email address to communicate on and still no details given to me. - While texting / emailing may be a convenient way to discuss, the LL doesn't have to converse like this, especially if you're sending 'several' texts adn demanding info.

Text replies and any comms then stopped from his side completely for about a week, then I get a just over £1100 bill for items that we reckoned would have cost £200 tops. - okay so you can dispute that through the ADR. Ask him for a breakdown of the costs and get your own quotes if you think the costs are inflated or the scope of work exceeds what you are reasonable for.

My question is, the dispute avenue looks the only way to go, but where do I stand on him being VERY unreasonable and not even letting me have a chance to put things right, - the tenancy has ended, so you have no right to access the property or 'put things right'. Your chance to do this was BEFORE returning the keys. then getting all the work done without even consulting me, then just lumping an £1100 bill and making that our disputed amount? - he doesn't have to consult you to do the work. If you damaged the property, he can choose the tradespeople and get the work done, or not, but either way just charge you for the fair cost.

I even tried to supply details of a carpet cleaning company that were looking at charging £50 - £100 to carry out very minimal spot work on the carpets (His quote came in at £420) as he has had the whole house done. - would the spot work provide the same finish? You can certainly provide this evidence to the deposit scheme if you think his damages are inflated, but the LL has no obligation to use your choice of tradesperson.

What annoys me is that he never gave me the whole "Landlord/Tenant negotiation and discussion period. Instead I have been ignored like a kid at school!!! This can't be allowed?- Of course its allowed, no one HAS to enter into endless discussions with you.

Firstly it sounds like you did damage the property to some degree as you are disputing the level of cost, not the liability in general. The LL was entitled to receive teh property in the same condition as you received it (less wear & tear) so you are in the wrong. The LL can only charge you for costs to rectify it, but he's also losing rent while completing these works so its reasonable for him to want to get moving rather than waiting for endless discussions with you. The tradespeople he uses are nothing to do with you.

If the cost quoted is too high, then dispute this with the deposit scheme and provide your evidence for the fair market rate for specific jobs. The LL will get what teh ADR decide is the fair cost, and can then pay for the difference himself or pocket the money and live with a damaged property or whatever..

alcaponey1982

saajan_12 wrote: »

Firstly it sounds like you did damage the property to some degree as you are disputing the level of cost, not the liability in general. The LL was entitled to receive teh property in the same condition as you received it (less wear & tear) so you are in the wrong. The LL can only charge you for costs to rectify it, but he's also losing rent while completing these works so its reasonable for him to want to get moving rather than waiting for endless discussions with you. The tradespeople he uses are nothing to do with you.

If the cost quoted is too high, then dispute this with the deposit scheme and provide your evidence for the fair market rate for specific jobs. The LL will get what teh ADR decide is the fair cost, and can then pay for the difference himself or pocket the money and live with a damaged property or whatever..

If you call £75 to fill 2 holes in a wall which he authorised us to put up, then I guess you can call that fair pricing, to me, this is not (maybe he used solid gold nuggets to fill it).

The spot work that needed doing on the carpet in 2 rooms totalled to about the size of a 1p piece so clearly the whole house needed cleaning lol.

£87 to replace 2 freezer draws on a 6 year old freezer..... hmmmmmmmm

Relaying an entire landing and stairs carpet that was also 6 years old due to three dots at the top stair and a couple of claw/bobbling markings from 2 cats (which a professional carpet cleaner with streams of qualifications said could be sorted with a bead trimmer)???? £264 replacement cost.

There were also plenty of items that were in a much better state than when we moved in, but obviously he refused to talk about them as they were not the negative items he decided to hone in on.

Some people need a reality check.......

Comms69

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

If you call £75 to fill 2 holes in a wall which he authorised us to put up, then I guess you can call that fair pricing, to me, this is not (maybe he used solid gold nuggets to fill it). - Why didn't YOU fill them?

The spot work that needed doing on the carpet in 2 rooms totalled to about the size of a 1p piece so clearly the whole house needed cleaning lol. - Why didn't YOU do it?

£87 to replace 2 freezer draws on a 6 year old freezer..... hmmmmmmmm - Ye its to much, fine, though again why didn't you do it?

Relaying an entire landing and stairs carpet that was also 6 years old due to three dots at the top stair and a couple of claw/bobbling markings from 2 cats (which a professional carpet cleaner with streams of qualifications said could be sorted with a bead trimmer)???? £264 replacement cost. - you still owe a proportion

There were also plenty of items that were in a much better state than when we moved in, but obviously he refused to talk about them as they were not the negative items he decided to hone in on. - You don't get bonus points for that kind of thing

Some people need a reality check.......

Indeed, 'some' people do...

Wanderingpomm

Ok so let’s start with: you need to learn some manners

If you have this attitude with the LL then, no he will not speak to you.

But apart from that, no he cannot recarpet at your expense. However as you didn’t bother to fix before you left you left yourself open to this.
Freezer drawers are probably £30 or so,

The dispute resolution people will decide what’s fair for you to pay so your best just to go straight to them

AnotherJoe

A freezer drawer can easily be £25-£35. Maybe it's a Neff or something where they are much more. The fact the freezer is 6 years old isn't relevant unless you are claiming betterment but I'm not sure that applies to something that doesn't really wear out, it's either broken or it Isn't.

Filling in holes, well it's not so much the cost of filling in in terms of time and materials, if he employed someone to do it, that's probabiy the cost of a call out for a tradesman.

The same applies to much everything else you mention, it's all stuff you could have fixed yourself for a few pounds before you left. Since you left these items in this state, he's called tradesmen in, and you are paying top whack without him necessarily ripping you off. You'll just have to go via the dispute route.

Slithery

alcaponey1982 wrote: »

If you call £75 to fill 2 holes in a wall which he authorised us to put up, then I guess you can call that fair pricing, to me, this is not (maybe he used solid gold nuggets to fill it).

Seems fair enough to me. You try getting a tradesman out to fill some holes in a wall for cheaper.

If you wanted to only pay material costs then the time to do it was before you left, not afterwards.

missile

Wonder if OP will need a reference for his next rental <LOL>