UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi - this is really long winded, but I'm at my witts end and hoping you can advise. Its caused so much stress and anxiety, I've had sleepless nights.

I've recently moved out of my privately rented property. I rented this property for 10 years. The original landlord sold the property in 2016, to another landlord, prior to this there were 2 agent changes. I still have the original inventory from 10 years ago, that was signed and checked by myself.

Neither of the landlords have ever spent money. It hadn't been decorated or had new carpets for some time when I moved in 10 years ago, all clearly detailed in the inventory, and neither landlord recarpeted or freshened up any paint in this time.

The house needed a lot of work to modernise it, the landlord wasn't prepared to spend money. It was mould ridden, the window in my daughters room didn't open due to the handle collapsing, this room had no heating and the ceiling was black with mould. We saved a new deposit and moved out. Our contract wasn't up until August, but the landlord said we could leave early if we gave 3 months notice and I offered to leave the deposit of £700 as a gesture.

The new landlord didn't carry out a new inventory in 2016. She is under the impression that the inventory that received from the original landlord qualifies as my inventory, despite me never seeing it or signing it. It doesn't detail the condition of anything, merely what fittings/fixtures were included in the sale. Its only since I've vacated the property I've seen this document.

We moved out before lockdown, but whilst the whole social distancing was being advised, so we agreed to not carry out a check-out, but we would forward on the inventory along with the keys.

She has invoiced me this week for £3000 + VAT for recarpeting, and decorating the whole house - accusing us of leaving it 'in a state'. Its been basically forgotten about for 10 years. We've done basic maintenance to make it nice for our children but neither landlord has ever spent money, other than on 'essential' repairs.

She states the carpets are 'ruined'....they're not, they are old and threadbare. She takes no notice of 'fair wear and tear' and refuses to use our original inventory which details the state of the house in 2010. She's accused me of being 'disgusting' because of a badly limescaled toilet - it's actually in a nicer condition than when we moved in! Some items of the previous tenant are in the shed, detailed in the inventory. I've never used the shed, so never cleared it. I'm being charged to remove this.

The original landlord kept the rent low knowing he wasn't spending money on it, and we were were happy with paying £575 for 6 years. New landlord put rent up to £700, then has increased every year since. The toilet cistern mechanism broke 2 years ago and she used this as a reason to increase the rent.

I also have never received an EPC, nor the deposit certificate. I have the original certificate, but its obviously changed due to new landlord. TDS has no record of the deposit being registered by the new landlord.

She twists words, says things and then says she 'didn't mean that' or 'you read it wrong'.I asked to communicate via email so as to have everything in black and white clearly for us both and have been called 'difficult'. To make matters worse, the landlord is also my GP!

She's implying we are dirty. I've treated this place as my home for 10 years and am actually really saddened that someone would think this of us. She has no proof as to the condition of the property 10 years ago, but she says this doesn't matter because she has owned it only for 4 years. The fact I've lived there for 10 apparently means nothing in the eyes of the law.

Can someone offer advice/words of wisdom on this? It's making me ill. Thankyou.

Change GP.

If you had already agreed to not have the deposit return, then the only option for your LL to get any more money would be either for you to willingly pay it, or for her to sue you which given the circumstances looks unlikely. If it were to happen, defend the claim, and you can always counter sue for deposit protection penalty and disrepair.

Did you take any photo of the condition of the property as you left it?

Quote from: KTC on April 14, 2020, 08:30:12 PM
Change GP.

If you had already agreed to not have the deposit return, then the only option for your LL to get any more money would be either for you to willingly pay it, or for her to sue you which given the circumstances looks unlikely. If it were to happen, defend the claim, and you can always counter sue for deposit protection penalty and disrepair.

Did you take any photo of the condition of the property as you left it?

Yes, we took photographs of everything. No photos from when I moved in 10 years ago though. Am I right in thinking that the onus is on her to prove we've left the house in a 'state'?

Yes      .

Your ex-Landlord can speculatively invoice you... you can ignore it.

You can communicate to-and-fro if you desire... but the only thing that really matters is (as said) if you decide willingly to pay up or your ex-Landlord takes you to Court to force you to pay up. In your circumstances I would get on with my life and see what transpires. If Court papers head your way then you can fight it then... with facts as you've laid-out... which (certainly on the face of it) seem fair enough to me. The onus is always on the Landlord to prove anything like this... so rather than stressing, I would shut up shop and stop communicating with your ex-Landlord at this juncture. If you want to fire off one last email - as that is how you're communicating - then say "Thank you for all the communication on this topic. I have now had time to take advice on this matter and I have been told that there is no basis for your claim. If you wish to pursue this further please do it via the Courts. As there is no basis for your claim I do not expect you will pursue this, but if you do then that is how we will proceed. This matter is now closed and I will not enter into further debate."

I know this must be terribly worrying,but really this is just bluff. Even if the place had been freshly carpeted and decorated when you moved in,any decent landlord would expect to spend money redoing these things after 10 years.I would send the letter advised  above,and maybe for good measure attach your query here with the responses.I would certainly change your G.P.I don't think I would want someone like that "caring" for me if I became ill.If she tries any nonsense regarding your status as a patient at that practice,report her to the GMC.Good Luck!