Hi Everyone,

It would seem that i am in a bit of a predicament at the moment. Here is a breakdown of the situation:

The landlord of the flat that i moved out of over a week ago said he is going to take me to court for a number of different reasons.

These are HIS reasons:

- compensation for non redecoration

- broken lights

- dirty flat

- missing items

- broken and damaged furnishings

- damage to walls

- failure to be vacated on time

- inconvenience to incoming tenant

- failure to replace sink in bathroom with equivalent

Some of the things above are correct such as: Missing items, broken furnishings, faliure to be vacated on time, faliure to replace sink in bathroom with equivalent.

Let me explain:

Missing items: When we first moved in we notified the landlord that there were a number of items that we didn't want including some tables and chairs etc. We stored these inside a locked compartment in the basement of the building we lived in. When we wanted to put these items back into the flat when we were due to move out, some of the items were no longer there.

Broken furnishings: This refers to a broken leg on one of the tables we stored down in the basement which was broken before we stored the items away.

Faliure to be vacated on time: In my email to my landlord i explained that we would be moving out on the 21st of August 2010.

I wanted to spend this day to restore the flat to it's original state e.g clean the property, paint the walls etc etc. I then get a phone call from the landlord explaining that he is one hour away with the new tenants ready to move in. Who organises a moving in and moving out day on the same day?

Faliure to replace sink in the bathroom with equivalent: This happened at the beginning of our tenancy when my girlfriend was cleaning the bathroom mirror. Above the mirror is a set of halogen lights. When cleaning the mirror one of these light bulbs fell down directly onto the porcelain sink and broke it. I told our landlord who provided us with a URL in an email to the place he had purchased the sink. We bought the sink, but now he claims it is the incorrect one?

Having said all of this. I witheld the last months rent because i learned that my landlord had not protected my deposit. I was scared that i would not get anything back when i moved out. According to some estate agents that i have spoken to he is required by UK law to do this and inform me of where the deposit is being held. In the tenancy agreement that i signed it says that they money was with DPS (Deposit Protection Scheme) but when i called them they said they had never had any deposit under my name or indeed the post code where i was staying. I also checked with the remaining two deposit schemes, but no sign of any deposit. After speaking to my landlord about this he said he never did it because "it doesn't work".

I told our landlord that i am more than willing to replace the missing items with equivalents but never heard anything back from him until now. In the inventory he sent to us 1 month after moving in he lists a number of items with prices attached to it. I told my landlord that i would be willing to replace everything providing that he can show me purchase receipts for each of the items shown on the inventory. This sounds fair to me? Otherwise how do i know he's not just making the prices up?

My question is. If he takes me to court on the grounds mentioned above what can i do to fight back using the points i made above?

Thanks in advance

Fred

Sorry a couple of things i would like to add:

The landlord has sent me an email with a facebook link. He has uploaded a picture onto facebook that apparently shows the damage i have done to his table foot. "This is what fred did to my furniture".

The second thing i thought might be important to add about this case is that when we first moved in our landlord never went through the flat with us and the inventory was not updated when the previous tenant moved out of the flat. Isn't it quite important for a landlord to keep his inventory up to date?

Thanks

The landlord doesnt have an option to use the Rent deposit scheme - its law.

Each tenant has to be given a new inventory and the tenant and landlord normally initial each page to prove its the true condition.

You had no legal right to without the last months rent regardless.

Going to court is just going to cost you both time and money.

Since your are both at fault I would suggest offering a lump sum in full and final settlement for a quick fix to the whole situation.

If you want to still replace/repair items he has to allow you access but limited time available.

Its not a legal remedy but a quick fix one but make sure ANYTHING YOU AGREE IS IN WRITING AND SIGNED BY BOTH OF YOU including taking photos of before and after pictures if you do anything.

Googley - what?!?

Why on EARTH would the tenant offer to pay the LANDLORD anything in this situation!

Lets look at the facts:

- Deposit not protected.

- Rent withheld - yes, possibly shouldnt have done so, but this isnt any large faux pas.

- Deposit not protected, hence NO LEGAL RIGHT for the landlord to evict using S21.

- Without a court order, tenant can stay as long as he likes, so no basis for "not vacating on time"

- No deposit protection, too late to protect, so as far as I can see if tenant proceeds to court he will automatically win 3 x deposit.

The tenant has made a judgement call to withhold rent on the basis that (as has subsequently been seen) the landlord would make unfair deductions. This is one of the few situations where it is appropriate to withhold rent.

I'm going to hazard a guess that there was no inventory either.

Also, quite frankly, the landlord is extracting the urine when he says stuff like "compensation for non redecoration".

At this stage, I would send a letter before action to the landlord, demanding payment within 7 days of the full amount of deposit, plus 3 time the value of the deposit, due to his non compliance with TDS, less the rent owed.

This really depends on whether you want to persue the 3 x deposit, or you would be happy with just the deposit back, and them leaving you alone.

In any event, if this goes to court, the landlord is going to get hammered.

If you want to still replace/repair items he has to allow you access but limited time available.

Also, that is completely and utterly untrue. The landlord has absolutely no obligation to allow access to the property after termination of tenancy for any reason whatsoever. In fact it would be a VERY bad idea for the landlord to do this.