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Landlord claiming costs for her storage

Started by Yazmin2021, April 02, 2021, 10:44:53 AM

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Yazmin2021

My landlord gave me 6months notice in middle of lockdown. I've struggled to find a property in that time but have now moved out. 19days after the notice period ended.
In that 6 months she has rung me or messaged me almost every day asking when I'm moving out or sending me property details. Sometime 12 midnight or 5am
I've now moved out and she has sent me a bill for excess rent which we had agreed at a set amount but now she's gone back on that an amount for redecorating and an amount for her storage cost!
She wants to move back into the property and is charging me because her belongings are in storage.
What are my rights

KTC

You pay whatever 19 days worth of rent is, or the amount you had agreed if that differs, and then dispute any attempted deductions you don't agree with through the scheme it's protected in.

The six months (section 21?) notice didn't end your tenancy. All you were liable to was rent until your tenancy did end, in this case appears to be through mututal surrender. And usual deductions from deposit for any damages beyond normal wear and tear.

Yazmin2021

Thank you so much for replying.
I've emailed her back and pointed out the amount of rent we had agreed on and I've agreed to pay for the redecorating which she has said was unacceptable.
I've refused to pay for her storage cost.
Ive had no response yet.

cindyp

I agree with KTC; you have the right of disputing any monies that you feel the landlord is holding back unreasonably.  I had a really crap tenant a while back and investigated the dispute process because I wanted to hold monies back.  Seems to me that the dispute process is pretty fair and actually more likely to err on the side of the Tenant than the landlord.  The landlord has to make a serious case with proof of costs etc if they want to hold back monies.  In the end, for me, I decided not to hold back monies, not because the Tenant hadn't  cost me a bucketload extra but because I just wanted to put it all behind me and get shot of her rather than have the emotional baggage of having to read through her daily threatening text messages trying to justify her behaviour.   In short, given the circumstances as described, it's my view that you're more likely to win the battle than your landlord is if it goes to dispute resolution.

Inspector

Quote from: cindyp on April 07, 2021, 04:43:56 PM
I agree with KTC; you have the right of disputing any monies that you feel the landlord is holding back unreasonably.  I had a really crap tenant a while back and investigated the dispute process because I wanted to hold monies back.  Seems to me that the dispute process is pretty fair and actually more likely to err on the side of the Tenant than the landlord.  The landlord has to make a serious case with proof of costs etc if they want to hold back monies.  In the end, for me, I decided not to hold back monies, not because the Tenant hadn't  cost me a bucketload extra but because I just wanted to put it all behind me and get shot of her rather than have the emotional baggage of having to read through her daily threatening text messages trying to justify her behaviour.   In short, given the circumstances as described, it's my view that you're more likely to win the battle than your landlord is if it goes to dispute resolution.
The attitude of the deposit protection is that the deposit is the tenant's money and if the landlord or agent wants to take any then the onus of proof is on them.

From the info we have I would say the tenant is in a strong position to get most of the deposit back.  It's rare the tenant would be liable for full redecoration costs so I wouldn't be agreeing to that either.