Landlord Claiming for damages and betterment

G_M

Fair point.

CraftyTwinkle

Thank you to everyone for the replies. I'm still undecided but some good points have been raised, particularly regarding maintaining an argumentative dialogue for no real benefit (this is something I am usually guilty of). On the other hand, based on the last 4 years, I suspect that the LL either doesn't have a good understanding of the law surrounding letting properties, or possibly acts that way in order to 'get away' with doing or not doing certain things. If it is the former, then a letter outlining that we refuse to pay and why might help.

martindow

I think I would agree with sending a short note explaining betterment to the LL, who doesn't seem to know about this, and then make no response to any further messages.

John_Deer

Totally agree wiyj what you propose, Being a landlord myself, I know there are so many rules that we must follow, such a putting deposits in a deposit protection scheme etc etc (otherwise we cannot serve a notice to evict). He sounds like he a bit of rogue landlord so I very much doubt we would want to take this to a small claims court as he would be the one ending up in a lot of trouble. You also get a solicitors letters sent to him outlining the facts very cheap these days. Our local one charges less approx £30 when I need to send one out and that usually does the trick when people are not behaving etc.
Also , Carpets is a wear and tear item, They have a reasonable shelf life but the fact that the landlord said he should have replaced them before you moved it proves they are old. I am sure you will also have photos etc showing their condition throughout your tenancy.
I always have a clause in my contracts with my tenants to have them cleaned at the end of the tenancy but in the past some of them just rent a professional carpet cleaner from companies like bestathire and do it themselves. As long as it looks good I don't have a problem with that but others may.

CraftyTwinkle

UPDATE

So, I went down the route of ignoring the note and have now received a letter, reiterating the request for £200 but now with additional damages thrown in for good measure (both would have been obvious defects when he checked the property with us on the last day). I've therefore come to the conclusion that the landlord knows exactly what he is doing, rather than being naive. I have written a letter in response disputing all of the damages.

G_M

Thanks for the update. Keep us informed.


Be interested to know what you wrote (or the gist).