Hello anyone and everyone!
Thought I'd share with you all a nightmare that my ex and I are going through at the moment.
We are both being sued by our ex-Landlords to the tune of almost 5k, for 'dilapidations' to the property upon our vacation at end of tenancy.
The case has been hanging over my head like grey grey cloud for the past year and we finally have a court hearing for next month.
Amongst the catalogue of stuff they are claiming for, the main context of it is in actual fact repairs outstanding from when we were tenants. Paying our rent and carrying on our busy lives whilst reporting and reporting and waiting and waiting for someone to come and repair faults such as:
*the big black hole in the hall ceiling from where the shower had been leaking since the house was built and still continued to leak in another spot down an electrical light pendant
*the damage caused by the plumber who fixed the first shower leak
*the leaky plumbing in kitchen
*the faulty fridge
*the boiler that work intermittently and when it does work it clanks like a steam engine on superheat
*various, mysterious leaks from plumbing in bathroom and hot water tank making tidemarks and mould patches on kitchen ceiling
*there's more but I really can't be bothered to continue listing leaks and disrepairs that not only did I have to suffer as a tenant but still continue to haunt me now
They are also suing (as they are fully entitled to) for the last month's unpaid rent, which in any other circumstances I would have remitted the £575.00. However, once I realised how dirty they were playing I decided I wasn't going to take this lying down. They still have a £500 deposit that, while they admit they still hold, to date they have not deducted from the amount they are suing for. I don't know why.
I am claiming off-set and compensation (up to the value of the outstanding rent and anything the Judge may deem me liable for) for inconvenience and loss attributed by many factors. This mainly includes incidences as a result of the Landlord's breach of contract. Namely failing to meet their obligations under clause 10.1 (d), which is basically to keep the property in good state of repair.
There was also a whole week in November 2004 where my children and I had no heat or hot water when the boiler completely packed up after six months of futile attempts of various plumbers trying to repair it. Consequently, I was out of pocket, having no alternative than to purchase an electric heater and radiator to keep the kids warm and the very very expensive electricity bill from having boiled the kettle 40 times a day to get hot water to wash with.
Also, I'm claiming loss and inconvenience for some personal possessions of mine that were unwittingly left at the property, of which they refused me access to collect. Then, they sue me for having to dispose of such items. Then, they deny there were such items and deny that they refused me access. Yet they still continue to include an undefined amount for the removal and disposal of my belongings in their claim. If this whole drama wasn't so unbelievably stressful (for me) it would actually make a good comedy, if written the right way...
In their claim they demand costs of redecorating and recarpeting the whole house. They say I was not allowed to paint the walls as per the last tenancy agreement. This is correct according the critical tenancy agreement, the one they base their claim on.
However, nobody seems to remember that I had been a tenant for five years and any decorating I did was done long before I signed the final year's tenancy agreement, and all previous agreements allowed me to decorate. Their 'piece de resistance' appears to be the clause that requires me to leave the property "in a state that corresponds to that at the commencement of the tenancy." This tenancy agreement began four years into my being a tenant.
Well. Fair wear and tear taken aside, I left the property in precisely the same state it was in at the commencement of the tenancy agreement, four years worth of decoration, redecoration, wear and tear, and outstanding repairs included! No inventory was carried out before this agreement was signed by me, my ex or the Landlords. But, given that they are using an inventory that was prepared in 1999 before I moved in as their basis for comparison, no wonder we have inconsistencies...
As to the carpet, somehow red paid spilled onto carpet inside the wardrobe. Consequently, they want me to pay for a brand new carpet to the whole of the house. Yes, I maybe liable to bear the cost of replacing that no-bigger-than-2-sqm patch of carpet. I am not liable to pay the cost of a brand new carpet (!) to replace the original ten-year-old carpet (!) and neither am I. They claim to have deducted a figure for fair wear and tear but nothing to that effect is detailed in their court bundle.
They claim to have allowed for fair wear and tear in every aspect of the dilapidations they claim for. Again, no figures are present. The small allowance they have made was a sum of £270.00 that they deducted from the original amount of their claim after they had been served the Defences. They decided that they were liable for the £25.00 cost of replacing silicone sealant around a washbasin and window, the £45.00 cost of replacing the pendant light fitting that the shower had leaked down and the £200.00 cost of repairing the said leak from the shower.
Anyway, on we plough. It's turned out that the Landlord's company I'm dealing with is a complex network of limited companies that are managed by another company but that company still owns them, or are the "owning vehicles of asset's of..." etc. etc.
So basically, they are huge. Maybe I should have been frightened off at the first court hearing, where I was briefly shown a breakdown of the Claimant's costs for that hearing (in excess of £900.00) and was warned that this would get expensive and that I should back down now. The Judge ruled no costs at that hearing so I must be getting somewhere.
I will not back down. Some idiot f**cked up somewhere and I'm not paying 5k out of money I need for my kid's future for the next six years, and with a CCJ!
Anyway, I believe that I have already paid for the cost of those repairs. In the thirty one thousand, eight hundred and twenty five pounds of rent that they got out of my ex and I over four years and eleven months.
From the first Claim, submitting applications asking the court for amended particulars of claim (since the first were so vague), chasing the court to obtain copies of documents that the Claimants failed to serve me with on two occasions, filing and serving Defences, Allocation Questionnaires and, finally, to the Disclosure of documents; the last year has been...
hard work and unbelievably stressful.
The number of flaws there are in this case, mostly on their part, (I wish I could say I'm perfect but I'm not. I did get the odd date wrong) are laughable. I will quite happily describe them to you if you really wanna know.
What I am really trying to say to anyone in this or a similar situation is, don't back down! They are big. They are scary. But they are trying to take money from you that they are not entitled to. Money they have already received in extortionate amounts of rent charged.
I've still got to face it out in court and I am crapping myself. All I can hope is that the Judge is a fan of (and holds the same principles as) Judge John Deed...
Wish me luck!
Re: Sued by Landlord? 
Re: Sued by Landlord? 
