Tenacy problems

Walkerie · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:22

Hi all, a friend has just finished their letting period, it was student accomodation in a rented 3 bedroom house, from sep-july. The letting agency are asking for £400 for repairs to the one of the rooms to cover costs of mattress, bed, flooring, and paint.

I was under the impression that any non contractual payments like damages etc, do not need to be paid straight away or in a lump sum, i.e. they can pay off say £50 per week, is there any legality to back this up?

The company in question seems a bit cowboy and when ringing them up theyve basically said that it needs to be in one lump sum and done asap, im under the impression there just trying to intimidate the tennant into paying, anyone have more of an understanding?

Pestilence · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:29

This is what the security deposit is for.

What exactly did they do to the rooms to warrant £400 worth of repairs?

Walkerie · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:30

The bed was a pretty cheap and nasty wooden job, most of the slats have broken, the draws are apparently damaged, a few make up stains on the carpets and mattress damage was a drunken incidident with a bottle pretty potent colourful stuff.

Vonhelmet · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:41

WalkeruK said:
The bed was a pretty cheap and nasty wooden job, most of the slats have broken, the draws are apparently damaged, a few make up stains on the carpets and mattress damage was a drunken incidident with a bottle pretty potent colourful stuff.

Classy.

It sounds like they've definitely got a case to ask for something.

Is this what the deposit is for? I can't remember.

Walkerie · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:45

vonhelmet said:
Classy.

It sounds like they've definitely got a case to ask for something.

Is this what the deposit is for? I can't remember.

Im not questioning that, the tennant will pay but, I cant see how its legal to force the payment to be paid in full

Retikulan · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:51

If your friend has paid a security deposit then i would assume that the letting agency would keep that to cover the damage.
Are the letting agency asking for £400 to be paid as well as keeping the deposit?

Walkerie · 4 Jul 2011 at 13:55

the deposit was only like 150, so I imagine they want the further 250 straight off.

SeatIbiza · 4 Jul 2011 at 14:01

So they damaged the property, it cost £400 and they want paying but your friend doesn't want to pay...

Sounds reasonable to me!

Im sure she can offer to pay in instalments but they could just take her to the small claims court which will just add more costs to her final bill...

LOAM · 4 Jul 2011 at 14:02

If they don't want to pay it, don't trash it basically. Its pretty simple. I think its a pretty poor show to expect the landlord to foot the bill to make it let able again whilst your mate pays it off in instalments.

Icm76 · 4 Jul 2011 at 15:39

WalkeruK said:
The bed was a pretty cheap and nasty wooden job, most of the slats have broken, the draws are apparently damaged, a few make up stains on the carpets and mattress damage was a drunken incidident with a bottle pretty potent colourful stuff.

As a tenant you are entitled to "fair wear and tear" and landlords may not use damage deposits like "new for old" insurance (the legal term is "betterment")

Stained carpets and mattresses - you'd only expect to pay compensation of whatever the cost is to remove the stains. Damaged draws? well that just sounds like neglect. Cheap beds with wooden slats break all the time, it's possibly not fit for purpose and if it's old you could possibly argue fair wear and tear.

As for paying immediately, yes the landlord is entitled to compensation without delay. If the money is legitimately owed then pay it, otherwise the landlord is entitled to seek interest as well (at the standard rate specified by the courts) and any costs of seeking compensation - so if the tenant drags it out and the landlord has to go to court the tenant is going to end up paying a lot more.

Glaucus · 4 Jul 2011 at 15:44

You would off been better of replacing the stuff yourself. You can get new slats for a couple of quid. You might of been able to get stains out of carpet. Mattress is harder, but again you can pick one up cheap, even second hand.

Delvis · 4 Jul 2011 at 15:57

vonhelmet said:
Classy.

It sounds like they've definitely got a case to ask for something.

Is this what the deposit is for? I can't remember.

The deposit should cover any damges to the house or appliances etc given to the tenant...

They take the money out of the deposit, if that doesn't cover it they ask for more. They need to read the contract rather than just pay up £400