My husband and I recently moved out of a small 2 bed-semi that we rented for 5 years. The landlady did the check out with my husband - taking almost 3 hours. She pointed out a number of things she was no happy with in terms of cleaning (if there was a slight mark/spot that had missed it meant we hadn't cleaned it at all and it was filthy etc) and reluctantly my husband agreed to £100 'cleaning' bill - signed the check out sheet, as did my landlady. She sent it through to the DPS but due to no internet and started new professional jobs we didn't see it before she cancelled it and decided that she wanted to keep all of the deposit. Her reasons for keeping all the deposit kept changing as every time we told her that it was unreasonable/not true etc she'd come up with a new reason. She's the sort of landlord who would get fixated on one/two thing(s) regardless of the truth and convince herself it was the case e.g. she claimed that we put the (mainly empty) boxes on the unboarded areas in the loft - we told her that we hadn't and asked her to look, she replied with well they were the last time I looked - they hadn't moved since we put them up there! She also mentioned the additional wear on the carpet of the bottom 2 stairs. I told her that this was how it was when she rented it to us and that she had even written it on the inventory - showed her and she mumbled something in disagreement - has now decided that 'more wear on lower steps' is referring to a non-existent stain! This is despite her inventory being OTT compared to others I have seen (i.e including garden wall, electrical grate coverings etc) guess my main questions are: 1. What would be considered the average lifespan of a mattress (1000 sprung double)? If there are marks from the metal bed frame, can she claim that it is no longer fit for purpose and therefore claim? She says it was £377 and should last 8 years and therefore is claiming 3 years. She told us she always gets a new mattress after she has had long term tenants hence why we had a new one as the previous tenants had been there for 4 years. 2. The sofa has about 5 threads pulled on the back corner which have been fabric glued back down but leaves v. small gaps over an area about 6cm x 4cm. It also has a patch on the arm from where the vanish cleaning product made it slightly darker (she requested it was cleaned and we stopped after we saw that it wasn't doing anything and making it darker). She is claiming these things makes it now longer fit for purpose and therefore is claiming for it. She doesn't have an invoice and on starting the tenancy she told us that it was an old sofa but still very comfortable which is why she has kept it. She says she bought it is 2008 but I'm sure she mentioned that it was about 8 years old when we moved in in 2012! The inventory states it was in fair condition (as opposed to her good, v.good, excellent or new that other items are). She said that it was £800+ but using the figure £600 and states that on average it should have 12 years lifespan and so is claiming for 3 years (£150) Thank you for any help anyone can give.

Hi, I recently had a £800 repair bill to fix a broken wiring loom where it passed through a hinged part of body work designed and purposed for repeated opening and closing (power roof), the car is a 2009 308cc and i have owned it since 2011... Now to me this area is designed to move, it has wires that pass through it and as such if they have broken they have been spec'd or installed incorrectly at time of manufacture... Or do i have to suck it up and accept that parts of the wiring loom are subject to 'wear and tear' Thanks in advance for any advice... Paul

I have VTd my car and paid up to the 50% However, they are trying to claim a further £200 from me for a torn seat (which was there when we bought it and is a common fault) and some scratches that are hardly anything to be concerned about on a 2008 car. I have disputed the claim but they are saying it's up to me to prove the scratches etc were there at the time of purchase? Is that correct? The garage who we bought it off have agreed with us about these things being there at the time of purchase and have said they will back us up but if the car finance don't accept that where do we stand?

I bought a car from CARCRAFT 14 months ago- I have purchased a @DRIVE HAPPY " warranty and paid £1000 for this! Gear box is knackered in my 3 year old car - that I've owned 14 months! And guess what ... They are not paying out... And guess why .... Wear and tear! I was sold this warranty by being took into a back room by a woman - she told me that she had recently had lots of problems with her car and the warranty covered everything!!! She insisted this warranty was amazing best money could buy for " peace of mind!" I am now told that it doesn't cover the gearbox of my 3 year old car that I have had for 14 months ! Because ...... It's wear and tear...., they have a "fairs fair policy" does anyone think that this is fair ??? I have seen my MP today who has asked for documentation from CARCRAFT LIVERPOOL - went down guess what .. . They can't give it to me - I have to write in!!! I am a single mum with 21 month old twins. I have been without my car for 15 days now . They have told me that I can come and collect it but .. The engine is hanging out!! The gearbox is in bits !! And the suspension is not connected!! If I do wish to come and collect my car in bits then I will have to pay near £500 pound for the pleasure ... . Because they want paying this amount for taking out the gearbox to be inspected . . FOR THEIR WARRANTY COMPANY. And for the inspection to be done!!!! Alternatively .. I can give them £1300 to repair the gearbox and get my car back . I should have known better when the first car I bought from them broke down as I drove out the showroom on the east lancs road with my two babies then 6 months old but tiny having been 2 months premature ! I was stranded with the babies !! Then the next day changed it for this one!!! Now this one is not fit for purpose nor has it lasted a reasonable length of time . . As per statutory rights and sales of goods act 1979. Please think about this if you are considering buying from this company !!

Hi, I am in a bit of a long running situation and would really appreciate some advice. My situation is an extremely long running affair and I will try and summarise where possible in order to get to the point. I bought a 2.0D Nissan Qashqai with extended warranty for £9500. The car was 4 years old and had only done 32000 miles. 11 months after buying the car and only doing 6000 miles in it, it broke down. We returned the car to Stratstone Honda where we had bought the vehicle from, they spent 5 weeks attempting to diagnose the issue by replacing several parts in the vehicle linked to the fuel system. They could still not get the car to work when they gave up and sent it to a Nissan dealership. The Nissan dealership also struggled to diagnose the issue and presented a quote for £11,500 to fix the car. This was rejected by me and they requoted for £1200 to attempt to diagnose the issue (with no guarantees). I rejected this and at this point we found that there was a potential mileage discrepancy on the car. This was investigated by Trading Standards who have effectively put it down to a previous admin error and advised that I should pursue the garage for the standard of the vehicle as they thought I would have more luck. At this point the Citizens Advice Bureau advised I should get an independent engineer out to provide a report. This has now been done and below are the observations and conclusions that I would really appreciate your input on. In my opinion (and I know I have blinkers on at this stage) I do not feel that such a failure can be considered fair wear and tear on a vehicle this old and only done 6000 miles from when I purchased it. Do I have a leg to stand on. Thank you Observations: As instructed, inspection was carried out in order to establish the cause of the engine not starting and check for possible diesel fuel contamination of the injector wiring. I would confirm the engine would not start. Diagnostic fault codes found by the current repairer, "Bristol Street Nissan", indicated electrical circuit failure to all 4 fuel injectors as being the cause. Initial inspection of the engine found no visible cause or evidence of fuel leakage. The repairer then removed the bolt on injector cover from the cylinder head. This exposed the fuel injectors and wiring. The entire surface of the cylinder head under the cover was heavily coated in carbon and diesel fuel leakage. Heat from the engine had baked the fuel leakage turning it into a solid crust of carbon and tar deposits - see attached images. The fuel leakage had also contaminated the wiring connectors to the injectors which would explain the diagnostic fault codes found. Conclusion / Opinion: Having inspected the vehicle in respect of the reported concerns I would advise; The cause of engine non-starting was fuel and carbon contamination of the injector wiring. The extensive presence of burnt on fuel, carbon and tar deposits indicated that fuel leakage had been occuring for a considerable period of time prior to final electrical failure. The area of leakage was enclosed under the bolted and sealed injector cover. There would have been no visibly detectable evidence of leakage. If it was present at purchase it would not have been noticed during normal pre-sales checks and servicing as the area is hidden without dismantling. It would not have been noticed during any possible MoT test done. It was not possible to be specific as to when the fuel leakage first started. However, evidence was conlusive that it must have been present for some considerable period of time, as stated above. It was not a recent or sudden failure.

I am hoping i can get some advice as I am currently in a frustrating situation and facing costs which I think are unfair. A little background I started renting in December 2010 with my partner this was the first time we have ever rented. When we moved into the house in 2010 the house was cheaply decorated walls painted and new carpet, we moved out on 28/03/14 so roughly three years. Prior to leaving I spent best part of 2 days cleaning the house I have had a letter today listing dilapidations which were picked up on the exit of the property. One of them is a full clean of the house with the cost of £144 I have already paid them £70 for cleaning of the carpets, the company I paid to clean the carpets do the work on behalf of letting agent and actually advertise them on their van, they have also been invoiced for the £144 work to be carried out. They attached photos of the areas they see a problem with, the photos they sent me are like crime scene photos they have gone in and taken pictures of tiny specs of dust which I feel is unfair, almost looking for evidence of dirt. I spoke to the general manager and he said the house has to be left in the same condition as it was when we moved in, which we feel we have for one the oven has been dirty since day one and some of the items just generally look dirty due to age. I am sure even with a professional clean they could not been cleaned to a good standard. I checked my inventory and highlighted some concerns such as it does not go into enough detail as to the condition of the house, I raised this with the general manager who said back then the inventory where not good and now we take photographic evidence. One example is that majority of the doors look to have tiny punch marks, these are not listed on the original inventory in detail but when having a conversation they apparently have notes. Repainting of front room and landing, over the three years we hung some photos as expected they now want us to pay a proportion of the costs to paint the areas I would have thought this comes under fair wear and tear it seems not, not do they have an outline policy stating what they deem as fair wear and tear. Overall they are arguing that the property has to be returned in the same state as how we got it one quote from the Manger is that “In your case this is easy, because the house was freshly decorated” with this in mind how can anyone return a house in a freshly decorated state after it being lived in for three years. It is also worth a mention on my house inspections everything was marked excellent. I have now asked for an itemized bill of what they plan on charging me and a breakdown of costs. Unfortunately I have misplaced my contract during my move I plan on asking for this and a summary of what they deem as fair wear and tear as at the moment it seems down to the individual.

Hi Everyone, Just looking for a bit advice here. We have a 2008 (58) plate Vauxhall Zafira (purchased September last year from a car supermarket) and on the 13th (definitely unlucky for us!) we broke down 100 miles away from home. Not to worry, we had a warranty (or so we thought!) Our car got recovered to a garage where the problem was diagnosed as gearbox failure and the gearbox repair specialist sent his report to the warranty company (which stated that the 'pinion bearing failed and damaged 6th gear and gearbox housing'). The warranty company (the RAC) didn't seem to do anything until I called them who claimed they were waiting for contact details of the gearbox specialist (who had already sent them his report with his contact details on the top!). After I chased this up they eventually decided they were sending an assessor out 3 days later.) The assessor turned up, looked at the car and gearbox, and then the report came back... you guessed it 'wear and tear' and not covered. Now, not only do I expect a gearbox to last longer than 5 years and 79,000 miles, if you google M32 gearbox it will show you how common the boxes are to go - obviously a manufacturing default somewhere along the line, and nothing to do with wear and tear. Not only this I feel completely ripped off by the warranty company, as it appears that any possible problem would come back to wear and tear. I appealed the decision got what looks to be a standard letter back saying they could not overturn the decision. (I think it is a standard letter and the heading does not even get the vehicle's fault correct!). I have appealed this again I am just looking for some basic advice on where I stand with this, and if I have any chance with getting my money back for the repair (we had to have the repair carried out as I need vehicle and it had already been 4 weeks without the car!). The repair cost £1200-£1300. Thanks in advance. Ps. Having done alot of research I found another thread on here regarding requesting documents from vauxhall so I contacted vauxhall and requested the documents, they did originally ask me to take my car to a vauxhall garage however once I said the car was repaired now I just got an email back saying they would not release those documents to the public.

Hi guys In November I bought a 55 plate Skoda Fabia with new MOT. Last week I put it in for a full service and discovered the brakes were shot. I needed new pads, discs, shoes and cylinders. I realise all these things fail subject to wear and tear but since I purchased the car I have only done 4800 miles. Simple question: Is this fair wear and tear or should the dealer have known about these faults when I bought the car. If so do I have a claim under SOGA?

Hi guys this is my first post so hopefully im in the correct forum! My land lord came round sunday afternoon for a routine inspection. He noticed that one of the bathroom floor tiles is cracked. I agreed that it needs replacing but instead of replacing the one tile (which im sure would be almost impossible to find the correct match) he suggested i take all the tiles up and replace the entire bathroom floor with lino that he would choose and i foot the bill! this seems extremely over the top and far too expensive for me to pay for. I was wondering if this would be general wear and tear? any help or advise will be appreciated. thanks in advance.