Landlord being unreasonable at end of an 10 year 10 month lease

11years_a_renter

anselld said:

Decoration - nil value after 10 years.  Redecoration is on them.

Cracked and damaged appliances - that is on you, but they dont het nef for old, they get the value of a ten year old scond hand appliance without such damage.  Decent second hand appliances galore approx £80 a go on gumtree, facebook, etc.

No, you dont need to be worried.  Make them a fai offer for the things you have broken and leave it at that.

Yes I understand we have dones some appliances, that's why I included the details of damage, as I wanted a fair response not one sided in my favour giving me a false sense of everything's going to be OK. 

We don't have any pictures from when we moved in unfortunately.

Thanks for all your responses am starting to feel a little more at ease that I'm not going to be paying out £15000 for a new kitchen or something like that, that's really is how they're making out what's about to happen. If I end up giving them £100 per appliance I could live with that 

Emily_Joy

Do you have any rental agreement? To be honest, if I let a family member to live in my property for a nominal rent I would expect them to take care of the place, furniture, and appliances. If they haven't I would see it as they have betrayed my trust. OP, I would suggest to get off your bum, go to ebay, find suitable kitchen appliances there, deliver and install them at your aunt's house at your own expense.

KxMx

They may want you to pay for these things and expect you to do so, but you are under no obligation by the sound of it. 

steve866

How much under market value was the rent? Sometimes people rent to friends or family cheap on the understanding that they will maintain the home. Doesn't sound like there is any obligations for you to though.

theartfullodger

km1500 said:

I suspect they need to be worried. Have they complied with the various regulations such as a gas safely check every year, electrical safely checks every 5 years? If not, these are criminal offences - they could get a substantial fine or even worse.

Did you pay a deposit? If so it needs to be held in an approved scheme, again with substantial penalties if they didn't

Have they declared your rent on their tax return and paid tax?

You are probably in a stronger position than you think.

Exactly.  Especially the declaring ALL the rent.  Also I doubt any section 21 notice  (to evict you) would be valid due to the many things this dumb landlord failed to do.

Just wait until served any ANY ! formal notice then ask us again!

Suspect you are safe there.  But they can put rent up to whatever is market rate (but you can appeal against that).  

Keep smiling, be polite and calm, wait for something formal being served on you.

Artful: Landlord since 2000

lookstraightahead

GDB2222 said:

It sounds like your family member had different expectations from you. They let you have it cheaply, expecting you to look after it. They clearly feel you let them down. 

IMHO, they should have charged you more rent, so they'd have a pot of money to refurbish. You may want to bear that in mind, and make a voluntary contribution.

As a tenant, you are expected to do basic maintenance, eg tighten loose screws, or defrost the freezer. If you didn't do that, then theoretically you are liable for the damage caused. However, after 10 years +, a lot of wear and tear is expected, anyway. 

But these are just moot points as the owner hasn't been doing their job as a landlord.

11years_a_renter

steve866 said:

How much under market value was the rent? Sometimes people rent to friends or family cheap on the understanding that they will maintain the home. Doesn't sound like there is any obligations for you to though.

Well it was Maybe around £50 a month cheaper than the going rate at the start of the tenancy, but we've never had an increase in rent

11years_a_renter

theartfullodger said:

km1500 said:

I suspect they need to be worried. Have they complied with the various regulations such as a gas safely check every year, electrical safely checks every 5 years? If not, these are criminal offences - they could get a substantial fine or even worse.

Did you pay a deposit? If so it needs to be held in an approved scheme, again with substantial penalties if they didn't

Have they declared your rent on their tax return and paid tax?

You are probably in a stronger position than you think.

Exactly.  Especially the declaring ALL the rent.  Also I doubt any section 21 notice  (to evict you) would be valid due to the many things this dumb landlord failed to do.

Just wait until served any ANY ! formal notice then ask us again!

Suspect you are safe there.  But they can put rent up to whatever is market rate (but you can appeal against that).  

Keep smiling, be polite and calm, wait for something formal being served on you.

Artful: Landlord since 2000

Thank you for your response, we have moved out now, but the lease doesn't end till the 28th

propertyrental

You have two ways to approach/respond to this:

1) It's an informal family arrangement where there have been some misunderstandings over expectations. Sit down over tea and cake and thrash out a compromise, thereby retaining a positive family relationship.

2) learn the law and play hardball. Nearly all the claimed issues would come under the category of 'fair wear and tear' after 10+ years and be dismissed by a judge. And even the damage to the fridge would be subject to the concept of 'betterment'.

The LL cannot claim a new fridge to replace a 10 year old one. So, let's assume a fridge of the quality of yours (these are made up figures) has a life expectancy of 12 years. It's already 11 years old, so has a future expected life of 1 year. That's the max the LL can claim ie 1/12th of the cost of a similar replacement fridge.

As for evicting you, providing you continue to pay rent he must use the S21 notice process,wait 2 months, and then apply to court. Given the numerous serious breaches (gas reports, electrical +see link below) te court will throw out his application and you can stay till he gets everything done properly and re-serves a S21

S21 checklist (Is a S21 valid?)

and read:

Post 4: Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

sourpuss2021

11years_a_renter said:

steve866 said:

How much under market value was the rent? Sometimes people rent to friends or family cheap on the understanding that they will maintain the home. Doesn't sound like there is any obligations for you to though.

Well it was Maybe around £50 a month cheaper than the going rate at the start of the tenancy, but we've never had an increase in rent

So by the end you were paying perhaps £500 a month less than the market rent?