Troublesome landlord has damaged my property and refuses to pay for repairs

buggy_boy

Do you have accidental damage on your laptop?

Even a like for like replacement would be betterment, you also need to accept some responsibility for leaving your room in a mess with the glass of water near the laptop when you knew the mattress was being replaced...

Think of it if a stranger accidentally spilt a drink on your phone in a pub would they be liable to buy you a new phone?

You could try to claim in small claims court however the cost involved would probably make it not worth while, with I suspect minimal prospect of winning, you would have to prove the laptop was broken by the landlord, you could have dropped water on it accidentally later on. (not saying you did but relying on probability rather that fact is more difficult.)

Given something like a laptop after not being new is barely worth half the cost of new I think a compromise asking your landlord to contribute to a replacement maybe £400-£500 would be a better strategy.

Alternatively you could try a none apple repair shop as they are known for not allowing repairs and turning even simple repairs into financially not viable to repair.

buggy_boy

AdrianC wrote: »

Oops.
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.


Which would have made little to no difference to value.


RAM and disk are both cheap and easy to upgrade. So we've got a ballpark for the damage - £600 max, not £1,500.

Yep totally agree, add onto that how much the tenant was to blame for leaving the room in a mess and with water in a place that could be spilt onto the laptop... I also think if you follow advice on here about taking court action for the full amount without being more pragmatic I think you should also look for a new place to live.

helrn

buggy_boy wrote: »

Yep totally agree, add onto that how much the tenant was to blame for leaving the room in a mess and with water in a place that could be spilt onto the laptop... I also think if you follow advice on here about taking court action for the full amount without being more pragmatic I think you should also look for a new place to live.

From my point of view regarding his comments about 'mess'... the room wasn't a mess. The landlord didn't come at the weekend as he had previously informed me, but rather arrived on a Monday while I was at work, and I had no opportunity to be around to assist.

He let himself into a flat with tenants in; he did not have permission to do this. He refused their help to carry out the replacement. If he felt the room was too cluttered to carry out the work, he could have refused to do so, or could have asked for them to clear the area, but did not.

Regarding my trying to claim £1500 for something worth less than that though, to date I have merely carried out the wishes of the landlord as regards inspection/quotation, and have no control over Apple's conclusion. I would be willing to accept a compromise, but don't feel I am to blame and do feel the landlord has acted inappropriately.

AdrianC

helrn wrote: »

From my point of view regarding his comments about 'mess'... the room wasn't a mess.

Yet a glass of water got knocked onto your laptop bag.

The landlord didn't come at the weekend as he had previously informed me, but rather arrived on a Monday while I was at work

Thought you needed the laptop for work?

He let himself into a flat with tenants in; he did not have permission to do this.

Totally irrelevant whether he let himself in or somebody else let him in, given everybody knew he was coming - and your flatmates had messaged him an hour earlier to find out why he hadn't turned up at the agreed time.

He refused their help to carry out the replacement. If he felt the room was too cluttered to carry out the work, he could have refused to do so, or could have asked for them to clear the area, but did not.

And if there was the slightest question over whether the landlord or your flatmate had knocked the water over? Or the laptop had gone AWOL?

If you were happy with your flatmates tidying your things up, why didn't you ask them to?

Regarding my trying to claim £1500 for something worth less than that though, to date I have merely carried out the wishes of the landlord as regards inspection/quotation, and have no control over Apple's conclusion.

Apple's conclusion was that repairing the laptop would cost more than it's worth. Nobody's arguing with that.
That doesn't mean it was worth the value of a new one.

I would be willing to accept a compromise, but don't feel I am to blame and do feel the landlord has acted inappropriately.

Perhaps he has, perhaps he hasn't.
Perhaps you carry some contributory negligence, perhaps you don't.
Unless you and he can come to some agreement, then the only way it's being sorted is by you launching a small claim.
If you win that, you may be awarded the entire value of the laptop immediately pre-damage, or you may be awarded a proportion depending on how much liability you are felt to carry.

helrn

AdrianC wrote: »

Yet a glass of water got knocked onto your laptop bag.

A glass of water being on a bedside table is a room being a mess?

AdrianC wrote: »

Thought you needed the laptop for work?

I have a PC at work... I use my laptop to also work from home. But your implication is pretty clear, and how kind of you to suggest it.

AdrianC wrote: »

Totally irrelevant whether he let himself in or somebody else let him in, given everybody knew he was coming - and your flatmates had messaged him an hour earlier to find out why he hadn't turned up at the agreed time.

Is this genuinely the case?? Like, okay I feel like you're playing some sort of devil's advocate here, but is a landlord genuinely allowed to just let himself into a property? What if someone was walking around nude or something? I'm intrigued as to what authority you're speaking from here.

AdrianC wrote: »

If you were happy with your flatmates tidying your things up, why didn't you ask them to?

It wasn't a mess... the landlord decided it was a mess retrospectively, presumable as an excuse to absolve himself of liability. He mentioned it being too 'cluttered' in the room, and if he felt it was too cluttered, he could have asked for their help to clear the way or refused to carry out the replacement until I could be home to do so.

AdrianC wrote: »

Apple's conclusion was that repairing the laptop would cost more than it's worth. Nobody's arguing with that.
That doesn't mean it was worth the value of a new one.

I haven't asked him for the vaue of a new one. All I've done is pass on the report and request acknowledgement of receipt. That's why I'm here... asking for advice.

AdrianC

helrn wrote: »

Is this genuinely the case?? Like, okay I feel like you're playing some sort of devil's advocate here, but is a landlord genuinely allowed to just let himself into a property?

It's a shared property. He was expected. There is no infringement of quiet enjoyment.

It wasn't a mess...

IYHO

the landlord decided it was a mess retrospectively, presumable as an excuse to absolve himself of liability. He mentioned it being too 'cluttered' in the room, and if he felt it was too cluttered, he could have asked for their help to clear the way or refused to carry out the replacement until I could be home to do so.

He isn't your mother. It's not his job to tidy up after you. His job is to change a mattress with the minimum hassle, as quickly as possible.

Have you ever tried to move a mattress? They are large, heavy. uncooperative wiggly things. You want as much space as you can get.

You'd been on his case to get it changed, and you were expecting it to be changed that weekend. You went away until after it had been changed.

And you're still dodging what you would have done or said if there was the slightest question of whether it was a flatmate that spilt the water or the landlord.

I'm not playing devil's advocate, here. I genuinely think you carry some contributory negligence, and you're trying to raise a whole raft of irrelevant points to try and get out of that.

Simple fact: The water and laptop were left there by you, even though the landlord's presence and the mattress change was expected. Agreed?

I haven't asked him for the vaue of a new one.

OK, great. So we're all agreed on ~£600ish replacement value.

helrn

AdrianC wrote: »

You'd been on his case to get it changed, and you were expecting it to be changed that weekend. You went away until after it had been changed.

I went away on Saturday when he did not come to avoid sleeping on a floor while in excruciating pain. If he'd come on Sunday, I would have returned to be there. He didn't inform me until the evening before that he would be coming on Monday while I was at work. My email response to him shows that I didn't receive his email until Monday morning.

AdrianC wrote: »

And you're still dodging what you would have done or said if there was the slightest question of whether it was a flatmate that spilt the water or the landlord.

I have no idea what I would have done or said, that isn't the situation. I don't feel if my flatmate accidentally spilled water on my laptop they would immediately blame me for it and refuse any help.

AdrianC wrote: »

I'm not playing devil's advocate, here. I genuinely think you carry some contributory negligence, and you're trying to raise a whole raft of irrelevant points to try and get out of that.

Simple fact: The water and laptop were left there by you, even though the landlord's presence and the mattress change was expected. Agreed?

Agreed that the landlord's presence was expected and there was a glass of water on my bedside table, with my laptop on a nearby (not below or directly next to) desk. But again, I do feel the landlord has acted carelessly without regard for my property and refused help when perhaps it was needed given your statements about the difficulty of manoeuvering a mattress.

wishuponastar

Might have been a better option and cheaper to just buy your own mattress, that way you can choose exactly what you want since it is you sleeping on it, arrange delivery for it yourself etc and then take it with you when you move or sell it, whichever is easier.


I know that doesn't help you in your current situation but may help for future similar situations perhaps.

Cakeguts

The whole problem I have with this is the fact that you have got a bad back. You say that the mattress provided contributed to your back problem. To be honest that is not the landlord's fault. It isn't the fault of the landlord that you have a back problem. The chances are that anyone without a bad back would not have complained about the mattress.



So starting from the fact that you have a bad back the landlord agreed to change your mattress to help you with your bad back. They didn't have to do that at all because the bad back is your problem not your landlord's. Then what happened because the landlord didn't change the mattress as fast as you thought they should you didn't leave your room in the kind of state that would make moving two mattresses around easily. You didn't seem to take into account that the landlord might well have a full time job and be fitting in your request in their spare time.



So starting from the point where the landlord was not obliged to give you a new mattress because of your previous medical condition of a bad back most people would want to know why you rented somewhere where the mattress was provided and didn't have your own that was suitable for your back.



The whole story feels to me as if you are trying to get someone else to pay for a broken computer. Simply because I can't see how water from a knocked over glass of water on a bedside table could land on the keyboard of a computer unless it was open on the floor right where you would stand on it when you got out of bed.



You got a new mattress out of this that the landlord did not have to provide and now you are trying to get a new computer as well. This scam of yours will only work for the mattress you will not get a new computer as well.

need_an_answer

A cautionary tale to all tenants who think its not important to have some form of contents insurance with accidental damage

Its something basic and cheap and it protects your property when you live in shared or rented accommodation.

A laptop is expensive to replace if something untoward should happen to it

Why wouldn't you?