Mariusz
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4 Posts
Hello,
I would like to ask for an advice how to best proceed with my ex-tenants and/or letting agency.
My tenant of 4+ years did alteration to my property w/o my consent and since I was denied access to the property for last several months I could only find out last week when they moved out. I am afraid that the total costs of fixing things will far exceed money in deposit (biggest work will be related to restoring garden). List of all issues beyond wear and tear is long and also includes rotten skirting board smelling of urine (tenant had a dog). Overall I concluded the tenants breached 7 or 8 contract terms.
The letting agent, the property was let out and maintained (supposed to be) by, claims I am overreacting and on receival of my email with details including photos, the agent suggested to talk over the phone rather than using emails.
Letting agent is also owner of the DPS account and did not reply to my demand of giving me authorisation to do the claim. He also did not reply to my enquiry about inventory report on tenant moving in and out. Verbally before letting me back to the property he assured me of its excellent state.
According to the tenancy contract I have 10 days to settle the claim which means if I don’t do it within next 3 days by default tenant will get full deposit. According to the same contract I agreed for dispute being settle via ADR.
Now it looks that if I want to file a claim I have to do so via letting agent w/o having access to what is really claimed on my behalf. I also did not have a chance yet to gather all estimates for all the work required (first thing I found in the property was dripping pipe, not reported, that I focused on). If I am correct having agreed to ADR means agreeing to its ultimate conclusion not challengeable in a court. Now the questions galloping through in my mind are:
- How can I support claim to dps via letting agent without supporting materials from the very same letting agent ?
- How can I claim amounts for jobs I don’t have estimates yet for? - Can I use “google-based†estimates ?
- If my claim will contain garden work and the claim will be refused by ADR – does it mean I can’t challenge it afterwards in the court ? (despite it is alteration w/o my consent/knowledge affecting external wall)?
- How can I keep letting agent accountable for not informing me about alteration to the property (it is also a breach of the contract between me and the letting agency)?
- Can’t jobs related to clear breaches of the contract (electric-, tap-installations, locks, etc.) be challenged later regardless to ultimate conclusion of ADR?
- Overall what is the best strategy for me at this moment to proceed ?
I believe the tenant does not have a reason to complain about me as the landlord. The only fault of mine was that I let fire alarms be outdated but as son as I realised I contracted electrician to carry the work but unfortunately my tenant refused access to anyone. I also did not seek tenant to compensate my legal expenses of dealing with his arrears.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Best Regards
Mariusz
