Landlord owes us money

ohhellosailor

This post has been deleted.

agrinnall

Letter Before Action, small claim using Moneyclaim Online.

Comms69

ohhellosailor wrote: »

Hi,

We're moving out of our rented flat in three weeks and our Landlord has gone AWOL.

The lock on our back door (to get into our garden and our fire exit) broke on 20 Aug and left us unable to open the door at all. Our landlord was away so we agreed with him that we would get three locksmith quotes and go with the cheapest. The locksmith came, told us the door would need to be totally replaced, and charged us a call out fee which we paid by credit card. - your fault. You should've been clear this was for a quote only He gave us a receipt and this was sent to the landlord with a request for him to pay us asap.

The landlord asked us to wait until he got back from his trip (which was two and half weeks later) and he'd replace the door himself. We agreed because we couldn't pay for a new door ourselves (thank god we didn't) and asked him to pay us for the call out fee in the meantime.

Someone did come to have a look at the door because last month we came home to find a temporary padlock and a door which now opens but looks like it's been smashed in. Not ideal, but least we can get in the garden again. He's obviously not going to get a new door now til we leave and we're still waiting for the £70.80. We can't take it off our last month's rent because we're up to date with all our payments. So now we're at a loss of what to do? We've sent him numerous emails but he's not replying. LA can't do anything because they don't manage the property. - nor do they work for you

We've been very good tenants and are being VERY reasonable about viewings (of which there have been over 20 so far - unsurprisingly no one wants to rent a flat with a broken back door and leaking ceiling for £1500pm).

Any advice is much appreciated.

Normally I'd suggest small claims court, but this is one of those circumstances where you are liable for the bill.

Comms69

ohhellosailor wrote: »

No we are not liable. To be clear, we got the three quotes over the phone (which included separate call-out and estimated door fix costs) and agreed with the LL that the cheapest locksmith would come and fix the door. It wasn't until the locksmith started fiddling about that he found it would need to be totally replaced. As the LL told us to wait, we couldn't allow the locksmith to replace the door, so we had to pay the call-out fee and let him go. We have email evidence of the LL saying he would pay.

3 quotes over the phone? That's not a quote, that's not anything.


The reason it's not a proper quote is because - as you've discovered here - a phone consultation doesn't provide an accurate result...


Like I said, if I was the LL I could defend this very easily. You weren't qualified to diagnose the fault and getting a telephone quote was insufficient to make an accurate assessment of the work required.

parkrunner

ohhellosailor wrote: »

No we are not liable. To be clear, we got the three quotes over the phone (which included separate call-out and estimated door fix costs) and agreed with the LL that the cheapest locksmith would come and fix the door. It wasn't until the locksmith started fiddling about that he found it would need to be totally replaced. As the LL told us to wait, we couldn't allow the locksmith to replace the door, so we had to pay the call-out fee and let him go. We have email evidence of the LL saying he would pay.

Sounds like the locksmith's fault then. He gave you a quote to fix the lock and then decided he couldn't do it, his problem not yours.

Comms69

parkrunner wrote: »

Sounds like the locksmith's fault then. He gave you a quote to fix the lock and then decided he couldn't do it, his problem not yours.

This could also be a good argument.


I don't see how the LL is at all liable.