UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all, My tenant left 20 June not finishing his contract on 31 July. He should have given notice 2 months but left only 1 month before but he's gone now. The contract he signed says " two months notice is required ". He did not pay me June and until 31July. He claimed that he should only pay until the time he left on the 20 June and he only offered to pay £770 for June. Months before he left the property he burned the carpet with iron and he only offered to repair it and pay £300. Unfortunately the 4 carpet companies I asked quotation and estimates from all said that the carpet cannot be repaired because the same carpet is not available and the iron mark is located in an area where it is conspicuous and will always be noticed. They all advised that the whole carpet should be changed as all parts of the flat is just one same type of carpet. All 4 carpet companies gave an estimate of around more than £1000 plus including fitting.

Three years ago  the bathroom floor had an issue and was fixed by a man he recommended. Last year the flooring that was fixed by that man he recommended resulted into another problem which caused the wood under the vinyl wet and the plywood applied became soft and bouncy when you walk on it.  Also, the wife previously damaged the top of the toilet cistern and caused the toilet top broken into two. The same colour bathroom suite is not available anywhere so we are now in the process of changing the whole bathroom suite which is now costing us more.

I have presented all these to the arbitrator and now the arbitrator from the deposit scheme had awarded me all the deposit of the tenant but the amount of which is less than the 2 months rent plus the carpet. My question are :  Where and how do I start  to claim

1. Can I now go straight to the small claims court to ask for the remaining outstanding payments expected ?.   

2. How should I legally proceed to start asking the tenant? I have no forwarding address but I still have his email and  mobile number. I'm sure he will ignore my emails or text just like before.

3. Is it right to send a letter to his work place ( to the Metropolitan Police Office ) if he will not respond to my text or emails?

4. Now that the whole bathroom is being changed can I claim for this as he did acknowledge this before he left? Can I present estimates to court rather than receipts?

Many thanks again

I think I would start here...

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

...and start something, at least. I would doubt you can submit estimates instead of receipts, however, I have not gone through it and I believe this kind of thing does happen on Judge Rinder.

I would then have a serious think about the ideas of betterment and depreciation. While morally, logically, whatever... you will find it hard, I believe, to justify to anyone that all of the carpets in each room of a flat need to be changed because of an unsightly burn in the carpet of one room. Likewise... changing the entire bathroom suite over because the colour of one broken piece cannot be matched. These are the kinds of things that don't fly.

We've seen this kind of things with burns in kitchen worktops in the past... a hot pan burned part of a section of a worktop, and the Landlord wanted the whole thing replacing (various sections and upstands and suchlike) as it wasn't possible to match... the idea is that the functionality of the worktop is still intact... sure, it looks awful with a big burn mark in one section of it... but inherently it still serves the purpose for what it was intended. It is a worktop, as it always was, therefore replacing the whole thing will be rejected.

Good luck, someone else may have gone through this process and be able to advise you more concretely.

£1,000 to change 1 carpet? I call BS.

And if you are trying to say you NEED to change the whole property carpets to match, you're in cloud cuckoo land!

As far as the carpets are concerned just because something cannot be fixed does not mean you can claim for the full cost of a replacement. You can charge a compensation fee and the £300 the tenant is offering is a lot more than an adjudicator would award a landlord if this went to a dispute.

In my last tenancy my shower blocked and I put an unblocker on the shower tray. I stupidly left it on too long and stained the tray.  My agent tried charging £450 for a replacement.  I offered £50 compensation. It went to a dispute and I paid £50.

I think you trying to charge the entire amount for new bathrooms and carpets is way over the top.

Quote from: El Porto on August 17, 2021, 08:59:26 AMAnd if you are trying to say you NEED to change the whole property carpets to match, you're in cloud cuckoo land!

The OP appears to be saying this is what has been recommended by numerous carpet companies.

But of course they did.

It's not 100% clear due to imprecise wording, but it's where I arrived at... having carpeted a whole house for around £950 a few years ago I think it jives.

Obviously this is not going to fly. But it's likely not down to insatiable greed on the part of the OP, but ignorance.

These are costs that all Landlords have to bear at some point in time when there's a tenants such as yours. I went through the deposit scheme arbitration and to me it seems you actually got more than most because the process is very detailed and loaded more in favour of the tenants as always imho. Anyway, yes you could pursue it further but to be perfectly honest this is the time to cut your losses, save your time (= money) and effort. You got some money back, not all but it's much better than nothing and he is gone.

You don't say how old the bathroom suite and carpets are.With all due respect it does sound as if you are using this opportunity to get them replaced at no cost to yourself.I would not change a whole bathroom in good nick for the sake of a cistern lid.Admittedly I have rather bohemian tastes,but would it hurt to have a toning colour,or plain white? I had a tenant leave a carpet burn from an iron.I could have got a fitter to take a bit from under the sofa and swap it,but it was 6 years old so I replaced it,and did not charge the tenant.Unless you have finest Axminster in the house, no way should it cost you £1,000. They have obviously not been great tenants, but two wrongs don't make a right.

The OP did relay that the Tenant offered to repair it (unsure of the details) and pay £300.

This seems more than fair.

Trouble was the carpet fitters said it couldn't be repaired - which is expectedly convenient. I would then take the £300 and be relatively happy.

Thank you all for your great advise.