landlord not giving my deposit back!

ethansmummy2004

i left the house nearly a month ago now and left it in a decent state! but apparently not he has literally thought of every tiny thing and is trying to bill me for it!
he has £500 deposit and i really need it back as we are going on hoilday in june and its most our spending money, i honestly thought id get most of it back, now i honestly have no idea what we are going to do!!
here is a list of whats hes complaining about
kitchen floor- i put those sticky floor tiles down to cover his manky floor and hes said the house is unlettable with them down and they need to come up- fine i offered to send dave and his dad around to sort them out btw! he hasnt let us and SAYS when he pulled them up they have ruined (pulled up) the floor underneath.

toilet seat- when we moved in the seat was broken so i replaced it with a blue one with dolphins on- he says house is unlettable?

walk in wardrobe door- were broken and of runners, am happy to pay a small amount to fix (which by the way he told me wasnt much!)

carpets- stains were always stained and on invertory when moved in and we there for 4 years. wear and tear?

wallpaper- i painted the lounge and he was very happy i asked about doing other rooms and his exact words were 'do what you what' now hes saying that the contract i signed said no decorating? and i said you said i could do what i wanted after you saw the lounge and he said well i didnt look properly, so i said that aint my problem!!!!
he says he has the strip the walls i painted and i should never have wallpapered over paint?

curtains- there was one pair of white curtains up when we moved in i put them in the airing cupboard and there was a leaky pipe that got them wet and they went mouldy so chucked them? my fault apparently as i never mentioned the leaky pipe to him

hes also saying about few other things which surely are just wear a tear after 4 years??? blind in lounge arent in great nick, having to re-paint, and outside plastic 9light covers that got damaged in the wind.

he said his letting agent said we should get nothing back, and i said i wouldnt accept a little amount and would take him to court, as hes not given me any chance to fix anything, and the fact i lived with
a leaky lounge celiing (when ever you used the shower)
pipes all showing in the bathroom
the bath panel needed venting so he drilled holes in it!

and also we cut back some of the hedges in the garden and there was no grass underneath and we brought all new lawn and re-placed it

anyone know where i stand? or got any advice?
i just dunno what to do

had a 6 month tenancy to begin with which was never renewed i was there 4 years

poppysarah

Take him to court.

Most of it sounds wear and tear and trying to live with a poorly maintained property. report him to the local council when you're done with him.

confused31_2

That would really do my head in, i would face him and ask him why hes telling lies?

He sounds like a right xxxx i personally would tell him hes going to get the 500 pounds worth of damage if he dont pay up, then i would pay a couple of youths to pop a few windows and do his tyres.

He sounds like an arxehole so he needs to be treated like one.

not a very civil way, but im sure if you done this you might get your money back.

confused


I

ethansmummy2004

just emailed the local paper name and shame him!!

im so gutted tho lived in two rented propertys before this and always ahd my deposit back in full within a week, so this is all new to me!

barnaby-bear

ethansmummy2004 wrote: »

just emailed the local paper name and shame him!!

im so gutted tho lived in two rented propertys before this and always ahd my deposit back in full within a week, so this is all new to me!

Legally I think you would have problems getting your money back. The courts can only rule on firm evidence such as the contract and inventory. You have decorated and put down a floor (and possible damaged the old one) against the terms of the contract, you have wallpapered, decorated to personal tastes etc..., you have stuff missing like the curtains etc. Cupboards were broken. You didn't say anything about broken pipework opening yourself to liability for further damage.... It sounds like a court would rule in the landlord's favour if you didn't get permission for work in writing, it's just your word against a legal signed contract in which you agreed not to do such things.

[Deleted User]

It does sound like your 'made yourself at home' a little too much... landlords are supposed to replace/fix all the things you changed - it wasn't up to you to do it.

Good luck, but i doubt you'll see your deposit back as you 'didn't leave the house in the state you found it'.. even if you left it better, you made changes that weren't sanctioned

ethansmummy2004

well when i say decorate i mean paint magnolia over magnolia thats all the wallpaper was plain aswell just to freshen it up as ii say i was there 4 years and i did have premisson (verbal) he said i could and was really happy at the time, everytime he came round said how nice i kept the place and i was a really good tenant
the floor tiles yeh i didnt ask for but he saw them a million times and never said a word. and im happy to pay small amount, plus he haasnt given me the opportunity to sort them myself or given my 3 quotes to have the work done hes just billing me.
as happy to pay for wardrobe door they were only of the runners. but for bit of painting (which he'd have to re-do for new tenant anyway a toilet seat and couple of sticky floor tiles £500 seems a little steep!
im not un-reasonable everything i done he knew about and while i was there was happy how can he say yeh go ahead do what you want, then say contract says no decorating??? and then when i question it he says he didnt look properly, how is that my fault?
the toilet seat i said i would replace myself, he wont let me try and sort anything!
i dont feel i should lose £500 herem i should get something back to just ring me shouting down the phone isnt on surely?

Captain_Mainwaring_2

ethansmummy2004 wrote: »

well when i say decorate i mean paint magnolia over magnolia thats all the wallpaper was plain aswell just to freshen it up as ii say i was there 4 years and i did have premisson (verbal) he said i could and was really happy at the time, everytime he came round said how nice i kept the place and i was a really good tenant
the floor tiles yeh i didnt ask for but he saw them a million times and never said a word. and im happy to pay small amount, plus he haasnt given me the opportunity to sort them myself or given my 3 quotes to have the work done hes just billing me.
as happy to pay for wardrobe door they were only of the runners. but for bit of painting (which he'd have to re-do for new tenant anyway a toilet seat and couple of sticky floor tiles £500 seems a little steep!
im not un-reasonable everything i done he knew about and while i was there was happy how can he say yeh go ahead do what you want, then say contract says no decorating??? and then when i question it he says he didnt look properly, how is that my fault?
the toilet seat i said i would replace myself, he wont let me try and sort anything!
i dont feel i should lose £500 herem i should get something back to just ring me shouting down the phone isnt on surely?

It really doesn't matter !! you must get written permission for anything you want to do.

Why do people do this? If you had issues with the property you need to put them in writing and make sure that the Landlord deals with them. One of the easiest ways is to get the nice people from Environmental Health involved.

Please also remember that the Landlord doesn't have to give anyone the opportunity to put anything right - you have a duty to hand back the property in the condition you received it save for any approved changes.

Try and get him to give a bit back if he will and put the rest down to experience.

barnaby-bear

ethansmummy2004 wrote: »

well when i say decorate i mean paint magnolia over magnolia thats all the wallpaper was plain aswell just to freshen it up as ii say i was there 4 years and i did have premisson (verbal) he said i could and was really happy at the time, everytime he came round said how nice i kept the place and i was a really good tenant
the floor tiles yeh i didnt ask for but he saw them a million times and never said a word. and im happy to pay small amount, plus he haasnt given me the opportunity to sort them myself or given my 3 quotes to have the work done hes just billing me.
as happy to pay for wardrobe door they were only of the runners. but for bit of painting (which he'd have to re-do for new tenant anyway a toilet seat and couple of sticky floor tiles £500 seems a little steep!
im not un-reasonable everything i done he knew about and while i was there was happy how can he say yeh go ahead do what you want, then say contract says no decorating??? and then when i question it he says he didnt look properly, how is that my fault?
the toilet seat i said i would replace myself, he wont let me try and sort anything!
i dont feel i should lose £500 herem i should get something back to just ring me shouting down the phone isnt on surely?

You kind of did have the opportunity to put things back to how they were when you moved out. From a dispute and court point of view permission verbal isn't provable, perhaps your landlord menat painting but not papering?. A court would also rule on reasonable cost to put things right, not assume DiY, if the landlord lived far away or had to get a decorator/carpenter to do it the costs would rack up. You'd have to pay small claims fees if partially sustained that the landlord has a case which on paper he sounds like he does. Stripping wallpaper and redecorating a lounge 200 quid, fixing the floor 150, fixing the cupboards 100, new curtains 50, paying agent to source and fit loo seat 25.... he only needs to break down the materials and LABOUR costs to have a paper case and the courts go on what's on paper....

I personally wouldn't think a rental property was well presented with a blue loo seat with dolphins on and would regard the neutrally traditional house next door subconciously higher - maybe potential renters have said something.

If you do redecorate against written contract terms it's so important to get written permission and to make sure what you leave matches the written description. My old rental has a "brown vase" - not the original one that got smashed at a party but there's a "brown vase" there to get the deposit back....

barnaby-bear

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Please also remember that the Landlord doesn't have to give anyone the opportunity to put anything right - you have a duty to hand back the property in the condition you received it save for any approved changes.

I think this is pretty much how a court would regard it...