Landlord Blaming us for Water Damage

LemLem2456

Hey,

So we are a family of 4 with 2 disabled children, we had been renting a property for 6 years. Before we even moved in there were issues with the property including cracks in the sink basin and bath panel. These were evidenced in the check in and checkout inventory. Unfortunately the property is very old and was in need of a renovation for quite some time, we were told these things would be repaired and sorted but when moved out still hadn't been. One major issue was it was an extremely old kitchen that due to the dampness and mould had materials decaying, the kitchen was directly below the bathroom and always had some form of leakage, which various plumbers came out and said a lot of the pipe work needed changing and the waste pipe was in a bad state. There was also a hole in the floor under the bath so when any water escaped it accumulated and fell through there. Eventually the landlord decided to change the kitchen, during this process the installer had to wait an extra 2 days and just dehumidify that very back wall because it was so damp and he couldn't place anything on it yet. I even took pictures when a new washing machine came in because they said they couldnt place the machine near the wall otherwise it would break it, this was before the new kitchen was even put in. we had various people come in to look at the bathroom upstairs as it was always blocking, they constantly just re-sealed it and continuedly said how corroded the pipes were underneath. We had one guy show my partner how to loosen and tighten the trap so he could unblock it himself as they had so many call outs just for this. fast forward despite speaking with our landlord several times i was bathing my daughter and all of a sudden the water was flooding through the kitchen ceiling. We immediately told the landlord and sent a video as proof. Following this there were small holes and a sagging ceiling that sat like that for a further 18 months and no communication from him to fix this. within this time he offered us another years contract which we refused as he tried putting the rent up by £200 and asking for another 355 on top of the deposit without reason despite this breaching our contract. Fast forward where we had just had enough of the mould and various issues around the house we decided to move out. As you can imagine, he is now claiming everything he can and more from the deposit, and im talking things like the handle on the downstairs toilet and because it also had some limescale in it. Im talking, re-painting, re-cleaning. And now hes claiming £1000 just for that kitchen ceiling saying that it was us that caused all the water damage because my partner unblocked it a few times. But i have photo evidence of before the new kitchen was put in and that happened where you can see the back damp wall and puddles of leakage. baring in mind the kitchen was installed 2022. All this was sent to him yet hes claiming he didnt know about it etc. I have messages that i sent to friends and family every time someone came over to look at the pipes and what they said etc, can these be used as evidence as they are also from years ago?? Its just so upsetting when we put up with so much and always paid our rent and never really bothered him unless there was a problem. 

KxMx

Submit all your evidence to the deposit protection scheme.
Anything that refutes his claims can be used, even if it's a few years old.
Try not to take it personally, seems like you are well rid of him as a landlord.
Wear and tear is counted within the deposit schemes, and he isn't entitled to betterment, such as a fully redecorated room or say a brand new carpet due to a hole in a very old one.