lucyelastic1 Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi everyone, Without boring you all with the nightmare that was my (just) ex tenants. In a nutshell they left the house I rented to them in an appalling state, even down to the filthy poo encrusted toilet which in the nearly two years they were there had obviously never been cleaned. They left a load of my furniture that I had furnished the house with outside either broken or burnt and needless to say the list goes on and on... I have, I think fairly in this case, withheld three quarters of their deposit and given them a breakdown of all the expenses even including the broken double glazed window that they omitted to tell me about before their departure but had merely closed the (now torn) curtains over it and when I questioned them about it they merely gave me a load of abuse. I have had several abusive phone calls from them and now they are saying that they will take me to Court for the balance of the deposit. It has scared me guys as I am I hope a law abiding person without so much as a parking ticket to my name. What will happen to me as I fear that like most people they will have the Judge on their side as they will say they are the poor, sole parents on income support who have this nasty landlady to have to take on and this is not the case. That house is mine and my husband's pension as god knows we don't have anything else. Anyone relate. Anyone out there who can make me feel more confident that these two rat bags are not going to win? I fear that they will and that, not the money makes me feel so powerless that I can't even sleep for worrying about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPEL Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Did you do a schedule of condition of the property prior to the start? Explain to your tenants that you have been reasonable however, if they persist in abusive calls, advise them that you will complain of harassment. Also advise them that if they take you to court then you are prepared to defend it. If they do take you to court defend it and don't take too much notice of heresay, scaremongering and anecdotes about judgement. As from next month, all deposits will have to be insured or held in a custodial deposit protection scheme. Disputes such as this can be referred to the scheme for arbitration and helps protect landlords interests from unreasonable and aggressive tenants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rwhitaker Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi Lucy, See post from me last week titled 'Retaining Tenants Deposit' , sounds like you and me are in a similar predicament. I'm going to court before the end of the month to defend my action, share the concerns you have but pretty confident I can win if the judge is prepared to listen. Will let you know how I get on, don't lose sleep over it, I'm looking at this as a learning exercise (or at least I'm trying to convince myself that's what it is!) Regards, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 Hi Lucy, I agree with GPEL - don't be intimidated by the tenants. If they take you to court then they take you to court. If they have damaged your property then you are entitled to be recompensed from the Security Deposit. You have nothing to fear (other than fear itself) !! Good luck, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyask Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 I have no experience of a court case, but I were you I would take digital photographs of every broken or damaged item in the property and ensure you keep all the bills as you get stuff repaired and fixed. What irks tenants is when landlords (or ladies for that matter!) deduct money from the deposit with absolutley no intention of spending it on the issues or problems that have been raised. Consider using an agent in future to shield yourself from this type of abuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 As b4 take photos - gather evidence - keep all invoices and get witness statments( for damage) - also report abusive phone calls BT have a facility where as soon as you get a call you can press button 1 and the time date and call itself will be recorded although it has to be requested by the police - I was assaulted on one occassion and had threatening calls to follow so have first hand experience of this and it can be very frightening - Telling me i would be locked in my office and then they would burn it down with me in it ! As for threats to take you to court - lots of people threaten but very few actually follow through - but as above you need to be prepared just in case! If you cant get bt service above get an answer mach that will record calls or set your pc up to do it then sue for threatening behavior. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPEL Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Yes, record the call but I think that you'll need to advise the caller you are doing so otherwise you cannot use it as evidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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