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Troublesome landlord has damaged my property and refuses to pay for repairs
helrn
Posts: 5 Forumite
I'm looking for advice on dealing with a rather unpleasant private landlord. Unfortunately involves quite a bit of a read to get the full situation, apologies in advance! :eek:
The story to date is as follows:
I contacted my landlord via email 3 weeks ago to report that a poor quality, old/sunken mattress in my room was contributing to back problems that have had me signed off work and in extreme pain.
He agreed quickly to replace the mattress, but was very vague in a chain of back and forth emails about when he would arrive at the property to do so. He attempted to contact me by email on a Saturday morning to say that he could be round within the next hour, but I was away for the weekend and did not see his email until Monday. After that he said that he would be able to come 'some time at the weekend but at present did not know when, not too early or too late' and would hope to give an 'hour's notice' ( these are direct quotes).
Within the email chain, he had requested that I check with the other tenants if he would be ok to use his flat key for access 'if no-one is home', to which I responded that there is usually someone in the flat at all times (my flatmates work from home), but were it absolutely necessary we would need 24 hours notice of his visit and then he could use the key if nobody was home.
I expected (perhaps wishfully!) the landlord to arrive with the mattress on the Saturday of the weekend. When he did not arrive by 5pm, I left the flat and went to stay at my boyfriend's house; the quality of the mattress was so poor that I was by this point sleeping on a mattress topper on the bedroom floor or staying elsewhere.
When my flatmates informed me on Sunday that they had still not heard from them and I had received no notice, I emailed the landlord again and was told in response 'we couldn't pick up the new mattress so we are going to try again to do it on Monday. Probably late morning /early PM' (another direct quote). I responded that I had passed this info on to my flatmates who would be at home working in the property at that time, as I was staying with my boyfriend and would be at work.
Monday 'late morning/early PM' came and went, and eventually one of my housemates decided to phone the landlord to find out where he was; this was at around 3.30pm. Housemate was informed that he would be there in around 20 minutes, but did not arrive until 5pm, letting himself into the flat with his key despite knowing that tenants were home.
In the process of removing the mattress and installing the new one, the landlord knocked a glass of water which was on my bedside table over a number of my possessions, including my Macbook. He did not tell any of the other tenants who were present in the flat (and who had offered him assistance in carrying out the replacement, which he refused) that he had spilled water on my computer. He did inform one tenant when he left the property that the reason my duvet was wet was because he had spilled some water, but made no mention of my laptop. He did not call me to let me know that water had been spilled on my computer.
When I arrived home from work none the wiser and attempted to switch on my laptop while eating dinner, I found that it would not turn on and was not showing any of the usual signs of activity (I sent panicked messages including pictures and videos in real time to my boyfriend and friends when I made this discovery). It was then that I reviewed my emails and found that the landlord had emailed me at 8pm (c.3 hours after spilling the water) with the following, 'Taking the old mattress off we knocked a glass of water over and it went onto your laptop case but luckily we caught it before your laptop got wet. The case is wet and needs drying out and I left the laptop on the side'.
Feeling rather sheepish to have to report this, I emailed the landlord that evening to politely thank him for the new mattress but inform him that unfortunately it seemed water must have got into the laptop, as it was showing no sign of life despite having been in perfect working order beforehand, and therefore could we look at getting it urgently repaired as I use the computer for work.
The next day at around lunch time, the landlord replied as follows: 'That's not something we can help you with. We tried our best to help you with the mattress replacement but your room was a complete mess and cluttered. We would have expected that you would clear the area as you knew that the mattress was being delivered on Monday and it appears your glass of water was hidden at the side. If some water drops have got into the charging port you may wish to dry it out but it all looked dry as far as we could see.'
I was very upset when I received his email given that I was already stressed about the awkwardness of the situation and the damage to my property, but also as it contains a number of falsehoods. The room was by no means a 'complete mess', and I felt his words implied that I knew far in advance that the mattress was going to be delivered on Monday, when in reality I was only informed the day before while staying elsewhere and could not be in to clear the area because of being at work. Additionally, the glass of water was not 'hidden', but plainly sitting on my bedside table.
I responded informing the landlord of my disagreement with his statements, and he again replied reiterating the same (false/exaggerated) points which he supposedly feel absolve him from being liable for the repairs - that because the room was not 'readied' for a new mattress, therefore it is my fault he has carried out the replacement and broken my computer.
In this final email, he instructed that 'as a gesture of goodwill' he would pay to have my laptop inspected by an independent engineer at location of his choosing, and that they should send their report straight to him. I did this, following his exact instruction on Friday: the findings of the report stated that the laptop has been damaged by liquid, with visible liquid corrosion to the logic board, battery, flash storage, etc. It concludes that the laptop is unecomical to repair, with the parts and fitting equal to approximately £1600, and that a replacement equivalent Macbook is priced £1499.
This report was sent to the landlord (with me copied in), and I also sent him a separate note at 12:50 on Friday stating that I had had the laptop inspected as per his instruction and could he please acknowledge the receipt of the report in order to keep me up to date. Four days later, I have received no response to this email.
I am now at a bit of a loss as to my next steps! I am reassured by the fact I have it in black and white that my landlord spilled water on my computer, and I feel confident that he is liable for the costs of the damage.However, given the radio silence and my current laptop-less state, I'm rather at odds as to where to go from here.!
If you've managed to reach the end, any words of advice would be much appreciated and you surely deserve a... :beer:
The story to date is as follows:
I contacted my landlord via email 3 weeks ago to report that a poor quality, old/sunken mattress in my room was contributing to back problems that have had me signed off work and in extreme pain.
He agreed quickly to replace the mattress, but was very vague in a chain of back and forth emails about when he would arrive at the property to do so. He attempted to contact me by email on a Saturday morning to say that he could be round within the next hour, but I was away for the weekend and did not see his email until Monday. After that he said that he would be able to come 'some time at the weekend but at present did not know when, not too early or too late' and would hope to give an 'hour's notice' ( these are direct quotes).
Within the email chain, he had requested that I check with the other tenants if he would be ok to use his flat key for access 'if no-one is home', to which I responded that there is usually someone in the flat at all times (my flatmates work from home), but were it absolutely necessary we would need 24 hours notice of his visit and then he could use the key if nobody was home.
I expected (perhaps wishfully!) the landlord to arrive with the mattress on the Saturday of the weekend. When he did not arrive by 5pm, I left the flat and went to stay at my boyfriend's house; the quality of the mattress was so poor that I was by this point sleeping on a mattress topper on the bedroom floor or staying elsewhere.
When my flatmates informed me on Sunday that they had still not heard from them and I had received no notice, I emailed the landlord again and was told in response 'we couldn't pick up the new mattress so we are going to try again to do it on Monday. Probably late morning /early PM' (another direct quote). I responded that I had passed this info on to my flatmates who would be at home working in the property at that time, as I was staying with my boyfriend and would be at work.
Monday 'late morning/early PM' came and went, and eventually one of my housemates decided to phone the landlord to find out where he was; this was at around 3.30pm. Housemate was informed that he would be there in around 20 minutes, but did not arrive until 5pm, letting himself into the flat with his key despite knowing that tenants were home.
In the process of removing the mattress and installing the new one, the landlord knocked a glass of water which was on my bedside table over a number of my possessions, including my Macbook. He did not tell any of the other tenants who were present in the flat (and who had offered him assistance in carrying out the replacement, which he refused) that he had spilled water on my computer. He did inform one tenant when he left the property that the reason my duvet was wet was because he had spilled some water, but made no mention of my laptop. He did not call me to let me know that water had been spilled on my computer.
When I arrived home from work none the wiser and attempted to switch on my laptop while eating dinner, I found that it would not turn on and was not showing any of the usual signs of activity (I sent panicked messages including pictures and videos in real time to my boyfriend and friends when I made this discovery). It was then that I reviewed my emails and found that the landlord had emailed me at 8pm (c.3 hours after spilling the water) with the following, 'Taking the old mattress off we knocked a glass of water over and it went onto your laptop case but luckily we caught it before your laptop got wet. The case is wet and needs drying out and I left the laptop on the side'.
Feeling rather sheepish to have to report this, I emailed the landlord that evening to politely thank him for the new mattress but inform him that unfortunately it seemed water must have got into the laptop, as it was showing no sign of life despite having been in perfect working order beforehand, and therefore could we look at getting it urgently repaired as I use the computer for work.
The next day at around lunch time, the landlord replied as follows: 'That's not something we can help you with. We tried our best to help you with the mattress replacement but your room was a complete mess and cluttered. We would have expected that you would clear the area as you knew that the mattress was being delivered on Monday and it appears your glass of water was hidden at the side. If some water drops have got into the charging port you may wish to dry it out but it all looked dry as far as we could see.'
I was very upset when I received his email given that I was already stressed about the awkwardness of the situation and the damage to my property, but also as it contains a number of falsehoods. The room was by no means a 'complete mess', and I felt his words implied that I knew far in advance that the mattress was going to be delivered on Monday, when in reality I was only informed the day before while staying elsewhere and could not be in to clear the area because of being at work. Additionally, the glass of water was not 'hidden', but plainly sitting on my bedside table.
I responded informing the landlord of my disagreement with his statements, and he again replied reiterating the same (false/exaggerated) points which he supposedly feel absolve him from being liable for the repairs - that because the room was not 'readied' for a new mattress, therefore it is my fault he has carried out the replacement and broken my computer.
In this final email, he instructed that 'as a gesture of goodwill' he would pay to have my laptop inspected by an independent engineer at location of his choosing, and that they should send their report straight to him. I did this, following his exact instruction on Friday: the findings of the report stated that the laptop has been damaged by liquid, with visible liquid corrosion to the logic board, battery, flash storage, etc. It concludes that the laptop is unecomical to repair, with the parts and fitting equal to approximately £1600, and that a replacement equivalent Macbook is priced £1499.
This report was sent to the landlord (with me copied in), and I also sent him a separate note at 12:50 on Friday stating that I had had the laptop inspected as per his instruction and could he please acknowledge the receipt of the report in order to keep me up to date. Four days later, I have received no response to this email.
I am now at a bit of a loss as to my next steps! I am reassured by the fact I have it in black and white that my landlord spilled water on my computer, and I feel confident that he is liable for the costs of the damage.However, given the radio silence and my current laptop-less state, I'm rather at odds as to where to go from here.!
If you've managed to reach the end, any words of advice would be much appreciated and you surely deserve a... :beer:
0
Comments
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You need to take him to the small claims court. You should win on the balance of probabilities. Send him a reminder and ask him when he will be buying you a new laptop. If no response letter before action.0
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Do you have any form of insurance with an accidental damage option?in S 38 T 2 F 50
out S 36 T 9 F 24 FF 4
2017-32 2018 -33 2019 -21 2020 -5 2021 -4 20220 -
'course, he doesn't owe a new laptop... That would be betterment.
What would a used laptop of the same age and spec cost?0 -
* Get a quote for a like-for-like replacement laptop
* send a 'Letter Before Action' (yes, a letter) to the LL at the address provided "for serving notices", enclosing the quote, and referring to or enclosing the report, and ask for full payment within 7 days or legal action will follow
* if no payment, start claim here
* Attend court and get awarded you money
* chase money
* expect to receive a S21 Notice in due course
Alternatively claim on your contents insurance.0 -
Unfortunately I don't currently have contents insurance and so am not able to claim myself. Regarding an equivalent used laptop of the same age and spec, I'm not sure this would be easy to source given that the computer had several upgrades (completed by Apple) on purchase... a cursory Google has found a similar used model from the same year for £549, but it still only has half the storage capabilities of my now broken computer. Further research possibly required.0
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Oops.Unfortunately I don't currently have contents insurance and so am not able to claim myself.
Mental note for the future, eh?
Whether it's "easy to source" or not is irrelevant. If he owes anything, he owes its value immediately before the water hit it. Not a penny more.Regarding an equivalent used laptop of the same age and spec, I'm not sure this would be easy to source
Which would have made little to no difference to value.given that the computer had several upgrades (completed by Apple) on purchase...
RAM and disk are both cheap and easy to upgrade. So we've got a ballpark for the damage - £600 max, not £1,500.a cursory Google has found a similar used model from the same year for £549, but it still only has half the storage capabilities of my now broken computer. Further research possibly required.0 -
Send an LBA TODAY!0
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I'd claim full replacement value.
If the court reduces that based on betterment, so be it.
If the LL offers the betterment value of £600ish pre-hearing, I'd probably accept ( plus any court fees to date).0 -
If the boot was on the other foot, and a landlord was asking here about claiming £1,500 new price for used goods valued around £550-600...?I'd claim full replacement value.
If the court reduces that based on betterment, so be it.
If the LL offers the betterment value of £600ish pre-hearing, I'd probably accept ( plus any court fees to date).0 -
Take laptop back to apple, get an estimate for the repair and a report on the damage the water has done.
You will be unlikely to get the costs of the upgrades back. But leaving water by the laptop was always courting danger, you could have knocked it over as easily as the Landlord.
You can get insurance just for expensive items like the laptop (but make sure it includes accidental damage). If its expensive and essential, its worth the insurance.0
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