Landlord Attempting to extort money from Mother

Just like to add that in my experience some landlords can get nasty like doubling the rent to force you to move. Simply because they found out you had been made unemployed. They all seem to have a hard attitude and a loud voice to go with it

I know you can refuse and fight it but it still adds to all the stress and strain.

Better with a landlord you can trust.
 
Ask for a breakdown of the labour costs. Hourly rate and hours worked, then see how that compares to what you observed...


May have been mentioned before but only on the end of page 1.
 
Allnamestaken said:
This is extortion plain and simple,
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No it isn't. Unless he is actually threatening you or your mother with violence it is not extortion.

I would start by asking the landlord to provide an invoice from the person he contracted to do the work for a start, then I would refuse to pay whatever it actually cost anyway because upkeep of the building is his responsibility. Then I would move.
 
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Sounds like an awful situation tbh.

Makes me glad of the landlady I have. She's great with repairs and such like, I've even done minor repairs myself and she's reimbursed me through 'rent discounts'
 
£510 for labour is a complete joke. I got an entire flat painted for £260.

Did they get two quotes for the work before starting? Can they prove that they did?
 
Allnamestaken said:
I will have a look back at that tonight and post back here fast. The damp is not a problem at the moment has not been for months the work done was literally a paint job that was all.

Also guys what would constitute "REAL" evidence of a tenant causing damp.
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Loads of washing all over the place drying indoors with no windows open has been blamed a few times I've read about.

As for that Labour Charge, not a chance LOL!

Wheres your deposit?
What does your contract state?
Anywhere you could crash if needed?

As for accessing the premises, yes he needs to arrange and iirc its minimum 24hours notice.
 
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Allnamestaken said:
Notice of access was given for them to "survey" my mother
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Sorry, I lol'd

Anyway, your mum has an idiot of a landlord. £570 to paint 1m x 1m? £145 to fix a broken switch by replacing the fuse? Just who is he employing to do these repairs?

He's clearly off his rocker. Ignoring the fact that you shouldn't have to pay anything to fix this, how has he proved it was any kind of negligence that your mother as shown? Like someone else previously said - he's gone into MS Word and typed a few numbers into a "INVOICES FOR DUMMIES" template.

Tell him you won't be paying the frankly hilarious "invoice" he sent you, or in fact anything at all.
 
In all honesty, i would pack up and leave. Pay the rent you're contractually obliged to pay and move elsewhere. Landlords like that will just make you and your mother's life more difficult if you go into legal action, just to be petty about it all.
 
Look for a new place, assume the landlord will keep your deposit in dispute over this so use your deposit as your last months/six weeks rent. Really there is nothing a landlord can do to you if you refuse to pay rent apart from go through long costly proceedings to have you evicted but that can take 6 months to a year. Be gone before that happens.

And whatever you do DO NOT PAY THE INVOICE. Don't let your mother be strong-armed into paying this. She's vulnerable and your landlord knows this, that's why he's trying his luck with this in the first place. Expect him to pay her some visits to try to threaten her with court etc. Just make sure your mother is ready to move out as soon as possible. I'd just stop paying rent at all and break off all contact with the landlord after you give your notice.
 
I paid a company £750 to paint an entire 1 bedroom flat, took 1 guy 3 days to do two coats and it was immaculate, cost included paint. I can't see how they justify those costs. If you didn't agree to pay before work started I can't see how they can charge you for it.
 
Hey Guys thanks for the advice, Im just at work at the moment so replying individually will be a little bit diffictult so il give brief ones till im home tonight.

Ultimately your all right 510 for the labourer is ridiculous. Mum will not pay she is willing to take it to court if he decides to get touchy, I spoke to another solicitor who said that if he has proof that we through negligence caused damp which caused mould on the wall that he doesnt need authorisation to do work. How ever we didnt cause it through negligence, we wiped the mould off the wall cleaned it and we dont live in a house and leave damp clothing around. We are very OCD we manage these things, when the builder came around he as I said just painted over the bit of darkened wall which by this point was completely dry.

They had a surveyer come and "assess" it and he has said that "we" through negligence caused it which is absoloute bs. How ever they did the work so fast that we couldnt get our own to come and give an honest assesment. If we go through the deposit scheme to raise a dispute often a letter from a surveyer is often enough to sway the dispute and in this case our landlord has taken it upon himself to make sure he did that then cover all the evidence up so there is no way for us to do the same.

I would honestly love him to end up in a ditch.:mad:
 
It's almost impossible to prove that the tenant is responsible for damp issues. Even if were, the charges for "repair" are massively over inflated.

Ask him to explain why he feels you are responsible in writing. Then get quotes from local painters and decorators and tell him to take you to the small claims court for the true cost. It's no more than £150.

The problem is, he'll likely do the same with your deposit.
 
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is your deposit held through the deposit scheme?

if it is at the end of the tenancy document everything? the Landlord is required to provide a schedule of cost i.e breakdown of the damage. then the abritration commences they will look at the inspection records at the beginning of the tenancy.

If the mould was documented at the beginning of the tenenancy and the landlord ignored it, then it's the Landlords responsibility.

has this been a regular occurance if so have you written to the landlord? whenever i request a change in the contract always do it in writing as it's a legal binding contract. and trust me they will always try and catch you out.

My advice is get the beginning of tenancy inspection records, and see what it saids about mould. Normally the Deposit Scheme holds in favour of the Tenant as 9 times out of 10 the Landlord will try and claim betterment
 
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He's not off his rocker, to me it sounds like he's mates with the handyman and is trying to take advantage by charging the tenant ridiculous prices, possibly for a kickback.
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Loads of washing all over the place drying indoors with no windows open has been blamed a few times I've read about.
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yea lol u would have to be operating a laundry business from your home to get enough moisture from drying clothes to do any real dmg..

some landlords would blame you for sweating to much if they thought they could make it stick
 
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